Park Slope Mommy Rage Hops the Pond to the UK

Don't look now, but the Cult of Momma Bean, the raging Park Slope mommy who tossed a can of beans and cracked the back windshield of a car that turned in front of her, is making news across the Atlantic in the UK. So, now, a whole lot of people who've never heard of the hills above Gowanus know that the territory is inhabited by some very angry moms. (We would expect that this weekend's story about the 12-year-old Prospect Park mommy and stroller baby muggers will also make their way to Europe as an emblematic urban tale.) The UK story, which appeared in the Sunday Times, headlined "Angry Moms Tell the World," calls our Bean Tossing Mommy "an unlikely new superhero."

Here goes:

An unlikely new superhero is stalking the streets of New York. She does not wear a costume, unless you count the pushchair she wheels from the supermarket to her Brooklyn home. And although she possesses no superhuman powers, she is deadly accurate with her weapon of choice — a tin of beans from her grocery bag.

The mothers of New York were last week agog at the reported exploits of a housewife who succumbed to a bout of “mommy rage”, an incendiary moment when the pains and pressures of motherhood erupt in a torrent of grief, frustration and flying tins of beans.

According to witness accounts that have ignited an internet frenzy this month, the Brooklyn mother in question was wheeling her toddler across a road in the trendy Park Slope neighbourhood when a car shot past her, narrowly missing the pushchair as it braked for traffic lights at the end of the road.

The mother reached into her bag and hurled a tin of beans at the car. When it missed, she threw another, and earned cheers and applause from passers-by when it struck the car’s back window, causing a thick crack.

The incident has sparked angry exchanges on the internet, with many mothers rallying to the bean-thrower’s cause in a discussion entitled “Park Slope Pedestrian Mommy Rage”.

Reaction also surfaced on a website that is attracting international attention for its insights into the lives of mothers who feel trapped by their husbands, their children and their working or stay-at-home lives. There is a lot of mommy rage at UrbanBaby.com....

The story goes on to deal with the subject of mommy rage in general and also deals with the Stay at Home Mom (SAHM) issue.

Glad to know Brooklyn bloggers are having an impact on our cousins across the way.