I observed a situation the other day and began to wonder when it is okay to intervene when young children are involved. The situation I walked up on was outside a convenience store and involved a toddler aged child stomping her feet, screaming no and crying. Mom was bent over at eye level trying to reason with the child so they could return to their car. A man came up and said, “I’ll pay for it”. The mom looked up at him and said, “Excuse me?”. He said, “Since you don’t have money for what she wants I will pay for it.” Mom said, “I have plenty of money, but I told her she can’t have it and she is just mad about it.” My first thoughts were that this was a mom doing a really good job at setting appropriate boundaries and teaching her child that we don’t always get what we want. She had said no and was clear to the child and this stranger that no means no. My next thought was in regard to why a complete stranger felt it was okay to intervene in such a way. It seems a better approach may have been to begin by asking if everything was okay or if she needed any help. I decided that when I came back out of the store I would let mom know that I thought she was amazing for not giving in to the child’s demands or the stranger’s offer. Unfortunately she was already gone when I came back out. I wonder if it would have been okay to step in and compliment her in front of the stranger offering the unwanted and unneeded help. What do you think?
