Photo: Olivia Mew
“Yes”

Jessica Thomson, mom of three
You’re sitting on a bench at the playground, watching the kids play (OK, half-watching the kids play, half-checking Facebook ), when you notice a pileup at the top of the slide. One kid keeps climbing up the wrong way and sliding down over and over, while the others are getting impatient at the top. Do you go over and say something to the climbing kid" I absolutely would?even if my kid is nowhere near the slide. I would also talk to that kid over there throwing rocks, and the one spinning that horrible spinning thing too fast for anyone else to get on, and even that group of older kids who aren?t being careful enough around the littler children.
While your kids are in your home, their discipline is 100 percent your responsibility. When you take them to a public space, though" Children need to learn how to share the world, and it?s up to the adults around them to teach those lessons. This includes coaches, teachers, lifeguards and, yes, sometimes even someone else?s mom or dad at the playground. If it were their kid on the receiving end of the rocks or getting spun off that spinny thing, I?m pretty sure any parent would want someone to intervene. How can we expect that from anyone if we?re going to get upset when someone steps in when our kid is the one throwing the rock" Intervening isn?t a judgment on anyone?s parenting or an insult to their kid. All children misbehave at some point or...