Mojo In The Morning

The Mom Didn't Like Kev Talking to Her Child

11 min
Mar 9, 2026about 1 month ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

The Mojo in the Morning team discusses an awkward encounter Kevin had at Target where he made faces with a young child in a shopping cart, causing the mother to become uncomfortable and protective. The hosts debate whether this innocent interaction was inappropriate, with callers sharing perspectives on parenting concerns and social boundaries in modern society.

Insights
  • Parents today are hypervigilant about stranger interactions with their children due to heightened awareness of safety concerns, even when interactions are clearly innocent and lighthearted
  • The same behavior may be perceived differently based on the gender of the person initiating contact with a child, suggesting gender bias in parental threat assessment
  • Context matters significantly—a child's behavior can escalate parental stress during shopping, making them more defensive when strangers engage their already-demanding child
  • Social norms around casual, friendly interactions with strangers' children have shifted dramatically, creating awkward moments even for well-intentioned people
Trends
Increased parental anxiety and protective behavior toward children in public spacesGender-based perception differences in how strangers' interactions with children are interpretedErosion of casual, friendly social interactions in public settings due to safety concernsGenerational shift in acceptable boundaries between strangers and children compared to past decades
Topics
Parenting and child safety concerns in public spacesSocial boundaries and stranger interactions with childrenGender bias in threat perceptionModern parenting anxiety and hypervigilanceGenerational differences in social normsPublic behavior and social etiquetteChild behavior management while shopping
Companies
Target
Setting for the main story about Kevin's interaction with a child and mother at a Target checkout line
iHeartRadio
Podcast network hosting this show and promoting the 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards and iHeart Country Festival
People
Michael Jordan
Referenced for a video where he appeared to grab a child's buttocks after winning the Daytona 500
Mr. Rogers
Mentioned in comparison to a store clerk named Mr. McFeely from the host's childhood
Quotes
"I feel like I was stranger danger, or that's how the mom looked at me."
Kevin
"We live in a day and age where people are always on the edge and we do not want to have somebody all of a sudden."
Host
"I think what happened is maybe the child was kind of getting on the mom's nerves throughout the day and then when she was standing in line and then she's over here like mommy mommy mommy so she's like oh this guy could have been riling the kid up."
Nick (caller)
"I get offended if somebody does not acknowledge my child. I'm like, wait a minute. Do they not think my kid is cute?"
Abby (caller)
Full Transcript
Next Monday, our 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards are happening live at South by Southwest. This is the biggest night in podcasting. We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative talent and creators in the industry. And the winner is... Creativity, knowledge, and passion will all be on full display. Thank you so much, iHeartRadio. Thank you to all the other nominees. You guys are awesome. Watch live next Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, free at veeps.com or the veeps app. almost 30 years together four kids and some of reality tv's most unforgettable moments we're taking you behind the scenes in our podcast Between Us with me Heather Dubrow and me Terry Dubrow the unfiltered behind closed doors conversations you wish you could eavesdrop on and plenty of did they just say that moments what's the latest rumor I'm gay right first of all if I were gay I would be gay open your free iHeartRadio app search Between Us and listen now Welcome to Dirty Rush, the truth about sorority life, the good, the bad, and the sisterhood. With your hosts, me, Gia Giudice, Daisy Kent, and Jennifer Kessler. The reality of Greek life has been a mystery for those outside the sorority circles until now. Is it really a supportive sisterhood that's simply misunderstood? Or is there something more scandalous happening on campuses across the country? Let's get dirty. Listen to Dirty Rush on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. and what it really takes to bring a story to life. The most important metric for me is, do I want to share this book with somebody? That's what creates community, and that's the main thesis of our book club and why we started it, was just to connect people together. Listen to The Bookmarked by Rees's Book Club podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Saturday, May 2nd, country's biggest stars will be in Austin, Texas at our 2026 iHeart Country Festival presented by Capital One. Tickets are on sale now. Get yours before they sell out at Ticketmaster.com. That's Ticketmaster.com. All right, Mojo in the morning. This is interesting. So Kev was making a mom feel very uncomfortable when he was at Target. And tell us if you should not do this. If you're out and you see somebody with a kid, should you not do what Kev did? I feel like I was stranger danger, or that's how the mom looked at me. So I wanted to go self-checkout because no matter how long self-checkout is, it's going to go faster than the people that are regularly checking out. But for some reason, I'm like, okay, there's only one lady in this checkout lane and a billion people in self-checkout. I'm going to go to the checkout lane. So there's a lady. She got a bunch of stuff in her cart, too. I didn't see that, or I would have went self-checkout. Bunch of lady, bunch of stuff in her cart. She's pulling everything out, and then you see her daughter in the cart. Like her daughter is not where the legs are, but she's like physically in the larger part of the car. Yeah. And her daughter is looking at me. We're there for a while because her mom is trying to pull all this stuff out. And she's trying to pay, get her abs, scan the code, put her points in, all this kind of stuff. So we're sitting there for a while. And the girl starts to look at me. She's probably six, seven, eight years old, something like that. Okay. And she goes, she has her cheeks all big, like full of air. She's like, like making faces. So I look at the daughter and I go, I start making faces back. We're doing this back and forth. And the girl kind of like... That's cute. The girl kind of like... She kind of like you know he doing it And then I look at her I look away Then I come back at her and I go and we having fun The mom doesn notice this And all of a sudden the little girl turns it into something She's like, Mom, he's copying me. And she's like being funny about it, though. She's like, Mom, he's copying me. The mom doesn't really pay attention. I kind of look away. I do it again. She's like, Mom, he's still doing it. And the mama looks at me like I was, I don't know, parrot the pedophile. It was like, I was on the list, bro. Look at that. A little creepy. Moved, grabbed the cart by the front. Stranger danger. I'm telling you, grabbed the cart by the front. Yanked the girl between us. Stood in the middle of us. Gave me a face and then went back to doing what she was doing. Wait, what were you wearing at the time? What does that matter? Something like you're wearing right now. I was wearing a trench coat, low hat, black sunglasses with a handful of suckers. If you had your rain jacket on, that trench coat rain jacket on. With the colors back. You have such a friendly face. No. I'm not going to take your daughter out of Target, lady. I think it's so funny when people do that. And Wes is the guy that does it to other kids, too. I think he misses having little littles. I see him do it all the time. You cannot do that. Why? I disagree with you. We live in a day and age where people are always on the edge. and we do not want to have somebody all of a sudden. When you're just making faces and clearly the little girl is having a blast. It's no fun zone. I wonder if she would have done the same thing if it was a woman. Probably wouldn't have. I'm 10 feet away. I'm not locking up to your daughter. Offering room pops and now later. We're just making faces, passing the time. You cannot do it. She was pissed though. She wouldn't smile. I'm like, I'm sorry. She ignored me. tried to make her feel more comfortable like i didn't mean anything by it she wouldn't acknowledge me at all i have i have a uh a belief that nowadays you got to be really really mindful because i think people are so worried about you know what's going on in this world and it's this is sick society i think that this is very different though than like if kev were to have like disciplined the girl for like you know you're too big to be sitting in that car or said something like that. This is so different. This is just so lighthearted. I didn't pull up Michael Jordan from a couple weeks ago grabbing a little boy butt. Almost. I didn't do one at all. You almost did. Did you ever see that video of Michael Jordan doing that? He wins. Oh, my God. Google it. He won the Daytona 500. After the Daytona 500, Michael Jordan, one of his buddy's kids was there, starts grabbing the kid's ass. It did not. What? Talking about he had ice in his back. He was trying to let the ice out of his t-shirt. He was trying to help the kid get his ice out. But from just what you saw in the video, I remember when I was young. I was a kid. You were young? Believe it or not. There used to be a store called Ben Franklin we would go to. It was Ben Franklin. The Benjamins. Ben Franklin was like a dime store or whatever. It was like a corner store, like a CVS or something. And I remember going in there, and there was always this old man that was in there. And the old man would be sitting there, and he had big old pants on. And he would say, reach into my pocket and get mine for candy. What? Okay, that's very different than making faces at each other. Can I tell you something? That man ain't had no draw zone. I don't know. I guarantee you. Did you do it? Oh, I did it all the time. Oh, my God. Look at me. I was, I got, if I could have gotten myself some now and laters, I would. Those are the worst candy, too. I love now and laters. Worst candy. Grape was my favorite. Terrible pick. Was he in there reaching around? So, no, he would go, reach into my pocket and grab some candy, and I would go. Go deeper. Go deeper. And he would do it. There's a surprising sign. And he was a nice old man. He kind of looked like did you guys ever watch Mr McFeely on Mr Rogers Neighborhood Mr McFeely would deliver the mail Oh the mail Yeah he was the mailman Yeah gotta watch out for him Was that his name Yeah Mr. McFeely. This guy was Mr. McFeely. Literally McFeely. Yes. And I would reach into his pocket. I would reach into his pocket. I'd grab the money. They named him McFeely. Yeah. Mr. Rogers, by the way. That wasn't an accident. A lot of people thought he was a very honest, nice guy. Oh, I do remember him. No. No, he was. Don't even start. No. He was on Epstein's Island. No, he was not. I think he was. No, he was not. I'm waiting for the entire list to get brought up. Anyway, so you reached into the guy's pants. So I would reach into the guy's pants, and I would pull out money, and it was crazy. I'd get all kinds of candy. That's what Kevin was without reaching into his hand. Hold on. Funeral Home Tom, what do you think about Kevin making faces at a kid in a cart? well I wanted to kind of comment on the Michael Jordan thing so isn't it like in basketball you coached basketball before right Mojo I did yeah so when someone scores wouldn't they you know go give them a pat on the ass like you did in the NBA all the time right yeah but you don't grab you don't like the little kid thing it just seemed it looked more or awkward than it probably was but I don't know let me ask you Tom you would never make faces at somebody's kid would you if you're standing in line at target would you be worried what they would think you're your kid maybe but nobody else my kid my kid honestly would tell you to f off probably if he was that age he swore all the time shannon and i were having this conversation when i used to go to the store with uh with my uh kids joey would tell luke to just throw down the f-bomb randomly while i was in line at kroger and we would stand there and all of a sudden Luke would go, F off! And he'd be a little tiny kid and all of a sudden people would look and be like, that ain't my kid. And Joey would just laugh. What's up, Michelle? Hey, I just wanted to tell you, there's a Ben Franklin store still in Bowling Green, Ohio, just south of Toledo. Is there a man named Mr. McFeely? Oh, I don't think so. The amount of change I got from him you couldn't buy dick with nowadays. But you could grab it. Katrina, what's up, Katrina? I just wanted to call, and I think Kev is perfectly fine in this situation. People do this with my one-year-old all the time. If the parent wasn't standing there, I think maybe it's wrong. The parent was right there. He wasn't doing anything wrong. Thank you. Do you think the mom thought that Kevin was trying to hit on her? No way. Oh, maybe. Not making those baby faces. Was the mom white, black? What was she? Why does that matter, Mojo? Because I didn't know. Actually, that was my question, too. Honestly, I was wondering. She was black. She was a black woman. So she was probably looking at you like, uh-oh, here comes another baby daddy for me. I don't know what's going on. Did you ask her for her number? Hell no, not after that. No? She got a little too high strung. You couldn't. By the way, I'm surprised out of all people, he couldn't have gotten the mom to smile. Because you can get anybody. That's what I'm saying. You have such a happy demeanor. She was locked in. I don't know what was going on. Maybe she was having a bad day. Did it bother you that the kid was more interested in you than the mom? No. I mean, I was more interested in the kid. That sounds crazy, but, you know. Hold on. Save that for me. Yeah, that sounds crazy. Okay, Epstein. By the way, listeners are texting wanting to know if you called Deja over the weekend from the car contest. Oh, shout out to Deja. No? Oh, that's a yes. Do they talk, talk, text, or call? Are we still in our Lenten jersey? When you moan, yes, we are still in our Lenten jersey. When you moan Shannon I tell you What Wow Shannon please Look out on Hushmo Hey Nick what up hey how it going good man what going on so I think what happened is maybe the child was kind of getting on the mom's nerves throughout the day and then when she was standing in line and then she's over here like mommy mommy mommy so she's like oh this guy could have been you know what that is a great point the kid was probably finally quiet and then Kevin came and riled the kid up you know yeah boom boom Mom! Mommy! Mommy! I got four kids, so I know. Yeah. Mama! Exactly. It's like, I'm hoping she goes and takes a nap in the car, and this guy's riling her up right now. Ma! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mommy! Every day. Mommy! Mama! Mama! Mama! What? Hi. Makes me laugh all the time. What's up, Abby? I have to tell you, I get offended if somebody does not acknowledge my child. I'm like, wait a minute. Do they not think my kid is cute? Why aren't you making faces at my child? You should be, like, doting on my kid. And if you don't do it, I'm like, it's the opposite. I get offended. See, you would have been fine with coming. Exactly. What Target do you shop at? I mean, Southfield Target. See you there. Great one. Great one. Next Monday, our 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards are happening live at South by Southwest. This is the biggest night in podcasting. We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative talent and creators in the industry. And the winner is... Creativity, knowledge, and passion will all be on full display. Thank you so much, iHeartRadio. Thank you to all the other nominees. You guys are awesome. Watch live next Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, free at veeps.com or the veeps app. Almost 30 years together, four kids, and some of reality TV's most unforgettable moments, we're taking you behind the scenes in our podcast Between Us. With me, Heather Dubrow. And me, Terry Dubrow. The unfiltered, behind-closed-doors conversations you wish you could eavesdrop on. And plenty of, did they just say that moments? But what's the latest rumor, I'm gay, right? First of all, if I were gay, I would be gay! Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Between Us, and listen now. Welcome to Dirty Rush, the truth about sorority life, the good, the bad, and the sisterhood. With your hosts, me, Gia Giudice, Daisy Kent, and Jennifer Kessler. The reality of Greek life has been a mystery for those outside the sorority circles until now. Is it really a supportive sisterhood that's simply misunderstood? Or is there something more scandalous happening on campuses across the country? Let's get dirty. Listen to Dirty Rush on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Danielle Robay, host of Bookmarked, the podcast by Reese's Book Club. And this week, we are talking about a monster, or maybe the woman who refused to be one. I'm sitting down with Maggie Gyllenhaal to unpack her new film, The Bride. And trust me, this isn't your grandmother's bride of Frankenstein. What I was more interested in was the monstrousness inside of each of us. You can spend your life running from those things, or you can turn around and shake hands with them. Listen to Bookmarked, the Reese's Book Club podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Saturday, May 2nd, country's biggest stars will be in Austin, Texas, at our 2026 iHeart Country Festival presented by Capital One. See Kane Brown, Parker McCollum. Riley Green Shaboozy Dylan Scott Russell Dickerson Gretchen Wilson Chase Matthew Lauren Alaina Tickets are on sale now. Get yours before they sell out at Ticketmaster.com