Everyone has different ideas of what is right and wrong when it comes to parenting, especially in regards to disciplining, but is it ever okay to discipline a child who is not yours?
A woman recently sparked an interesting debate on this subject, when she revealed she had 'scolded' a child who played with her belongings without permission in a public restaurant.
The 23-year-old woman was out enjoying a meal with her family in a restaurant which was catered to families and young children, when a child aged around nine started yelling, running up and down the aisles and doing cartwheels.
"It was annoying but we just ignored him and carried on with our meal. His mother was sat at their table talking to the adults she was with and completing ignoring her son apart from occasionally telling him to come and finish his food," the woman wrote on Reddit's Am I The A**hole forum.
"We were sat in a booth and I had my stuff on the bench next to me, including a hat. One of the many times he ran past our table, he stopped, picked up my hat and put it on."
Just as the boy went to run off with the hat, the woman sharply told him, "give that back right now," and he obliged, with an embarrassed look on his face. The woman went on to tell him "it is extremely rude to take other people's things without asking, don't do that again."
The child then glanced over at his mum and caught her attention, prompting her to come over and see what was going on.
"His mum heard part of what I was saying as she came up to us and angrily told me to leave her son alone; I explained that he had taken my things and I was telling him not to," she explained.
"She told me I shouldn't stick my nose in and that as he's 'just a kid' and that I should have just let him play with the hat, or asked for it back nicely without scolding him."
The woman then turned to Reddit to question whether she was justified in 'scolding' the child, and she was met with overwhelming support.
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"I have four kids and I would be absolutely appalled if they acted this way in public," one Reddit user commented, while another added: "Kid needs to learn some manners somehow and it seems like his mum isn’t going to be the one teaching him how to act properly in public."
"Kids shouldn’t be allowed to run around inside a restaurant for any reason, let alone do cartwheels," a third wrote. "They could knock someone’s food over, hurt themselves or someone who’s just trying to do their job or enjoy a meal out. Mum needs to learn to teach her kids to behave or someone else will."
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