My favorite Gordon Ramsey moment is from the latest season of Master Chef Jr.
Gordon had run in to help a group of struggling kids with a team challenge and one of the older kids, a 12 year old boy, wasnβt passing attention while taking a pan out of the oven and not only spilled all the food but scalded Gordon.
Itβs clear Gordonβs leg is in pain. Heβs been badly burned without warning. But he doesnβt scream. He doesnβt yell, not even in pain, and he doesnβt go off on the child who is now frozen in fear. He calmly tells the child to set the pan down and to close the oven, safety first. Then tells him to go restart the food he was making, calm instructions.
My husband and I grew up in abusive homes where any mistake meant parents getting angry (my husband is terrified of spills or broken glasses because that meant beatings growing up, for me, anything going wrong, that could upset my mother, even if it wasnβt my fault meant screaming and emotional abuse).
I didnβt know someone could be so calm. That someone could not get angry, and put aside what theyβre feeling (in this case a lot of physical pain) and not take it out on those around them, even when someone around them had messed up, because that person is a child.
Gordon Ramsey is a survivor of child abuse himself and as an adult, the most non-abusive person ever when it comes to kids.