I witnessed something last week which made a colleague and I cry. It happened in a busy Blackburn cafe. I heard a noise behind me and when I turned around a red-faced woman was slamming a little boy, no older than 18-months-old, into his trolley and shouting, “I hate him, I hate him.”

My colleague reckons that the woman had whacked him. Everyone in the cafe who saw it was horrified and I was angry with myself that I didn’t do anything about it, but the woman was catatonic with rage and took off at speed.

What upset me most was the fact that the little boy, who had only a dirty blanket for comfort, just stared blankly ahead. Most children of that age would have screamed their heads off. So I can only imagine that he’s used to it. I’ve called the cafe, which has CCTV, and the matter will be investigated.

A few weeks ago I saw a man with a crying toddler who was so tired he could hardly walk.

He was on a rein and just needed picking up.

The man pulled him up by the rein to face level and shouted “shut up” in his face and forced him to keep walking.

Then I saw a couple who were feeding their baby chewy sweets while it was lying on its back in a trolley. Anyone who has ever tried eating whilst lying down will understand the danger of such an act.

The latter I can forgive because it’s sheer ignorance of good parenting practice. The other two cause me to question why some people bother having children when they’re not prepared to love or give them a fighting chance of leading a normal life.

Statistics show that a child born into brutality will become de-sensitised and violence becomes the norm.

Some will have the strength of character to break out of the vicious loop, but many others will be so damaged they can’t see beyond the next battering.

And when they come to have their own children they’ll do what was done unto them.

Sadly, there are some who have children simply because their friends have got them and if you’ve not got a job, then child benefit comes in very handy.

Blackburn is a town with more children than any other in the UK. We also know it has more than its fair share of problems — poverty, drug and drink addiction to name but a few.

But every child, no matter what family it is born into, deserves a chance of a decent life. Poverty, unemployment, drink or drugs are poor excuses for destroying a small human life.