‘I told another child’s mum off at soft play – she got angry but I don’t care’

A woman was left furious after she noticed a four-year-old boy snatching from her toddler – and since his mum did nothing about it, she felt the need to intervene

When you see injustice, sometimes it can be hard to sit back and just watch it happen – especially when your child is involved. One woman took to Reddit’s ‘Am I the a**hole’ forum to admit that she’s ‘probably one of those super-protective parents’, but she couldn’t just be a bystander when she noticed a boy ‘bothering’ her son.

She explained that she doesn’t mind other children playing with him ‘as long as they’re being nice’, but when she spotted a four-year-old taking a ball out of her son’s hand and throwing it so he either had to retrieve it, or just leave it, she was shocked and had to intervene.

She wrote: “I have a 17-month-old toddler, I take him to soft play every few days. I know I’m probably one of those super-protective parents but he’s my first and only baby right now.

“I follow him around to play with him and make sure no one bothers him. He does get a lot of older kids trying to play with him which I don’t mind as long as they’re being nice.

“The other day when we went there was another kid in the baby area. He must’ve been around 4. My son had two small balls in his hands. The kid came up to him, took one from his hand, and threw it. I stopped him but didn’t say anything when he tried taking the second.

“I gave my son the ball back. After a while, the kid came up to my son again and tried but I blocked his hand and said. Either play nice or leave him alone, it’s rude to snatch from people. He got shook and left.

“His mum was nearby and saw what happened she asked me what I said and I told her. I also said teach your son it’s rude to snatch from others, because I don’t tolerate that.

“She said I shouldn’t be speaking to her son. I then said I wouldn’t be speaking to him if he wasn’t bothering us, my son isn’t his age mate and he shouldn’t even be in this baby area. She just took her child and left after that.

“It was the first time I had to tell a child off because every other kid just plays nicely. We do get a few kids that don’t know how to play nice but luckily their parents correct them.

“Edit: I never yelled. I just said it in a normal tone. Am I the a**hole?”

People defended the mum, saying it shouldn’t have been up to her to discipline the child, but if there was nobody else there to do it, then it was good she did.

One wrote: “If the parent was watching nearby and not doing anything about their kid snatching things from people, then what other choice was there?”

“Agreed”, another fumed. “if nobody teaches the kid the difference between right and wrong then he’s gonna grow up to be very self-centered.”

Someone else suggested the mum should’ve gone a better way about it and been less confrontational, commenting: “It’s fine that she corrected the other kid but she was being an a**hole when the other mother inquired what was going on and her first words were ‘teach your son not to snatch from others’.

“That’s super confrontational and accuses the other mom [sic] of being a bad parent right out of the gate. Why couldn’t she have said ‘your son snatched a ball from my toddler and I was reminding him what it means to play nicely’? Would have cost her nothing and would have made an ally of the other mum.”

What would you have done in this situation? Let us know in the comments.