When is it OK to Interfere?

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Actress Liv Tyler, was photographed interfering when she saw another mom hitting and yelling at her toddler who was mid-tantrum. Apparently she just couldn't stand by and watch and ended up in a screaming match with the other woman.

I've witnessed some scenes at park playgrounds but usually it's the toddler who is hitting the parent. ;-)

I like to think I would step up to the plate if I saw something like this happen. What would you do? When is it okay to interfere?

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Parent Replies to "When is it OK to Interfere?"

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Magnetmom,

Your last paragraph says it all. Sometimes that kind of interefernce can actually make the situation worse for children (atleast for the short term).

To me, abuse could be in many different ways. I'm not trying to defend parents who take their frustration out of their children, but we stop and look when we hear a child scream or cry, or a parent smack his/her child's bottom, but we don;t stop the parent who leaves his 5/6 year old out in the street with a bike without supervision! We don;t stop a parent who never packs a lunch or give lunch money for the school. We also never interfere when a 2nd grader sits outside the school wiating for a parent to pick him up while everybody else is gone (parents sometimes show up 1/2 hour later!).

Again, my point is that a lot of it is circumstantial and sometimes, its abuse! I still like 1seremen's idea of diffusing the situation! Cheers

eccentric,

You're right there are different parenting styles and some work with some families and others for other families. And there are grey areas where folks don't know whether to intervene because the bottom line is that there are people who do support a swat on the bottom.

If I thought it was a case where the parent was overwhelmed, I kind of like seremen's idea of sort of non-confrontationally asking about the weather or something to help the parent snap out of it.

Like I said earlier, if it were serious, I'd hope I actually was able to diffuse the situation, but people aren't always predictable and I'd hate to escalate it, or have the parent retreat to the car and make things worse.

Since we've been going to the park everyday, we have more stuff to witness! Yesterday, I had my two boys and my little neice and nephew with me. The little ones wanted to go to the slides and simply couldn;t do it because the kids playing over there were constantly throwing rocks! I finally had to tell them to stop because it could hurt somebody. The parent (dad) walked up to the chidlren the moment I walked away and give the little kid a showel to get more rocks!
I live in a very nice neighbourhood. Unfortunately, in certain cultures, its OK to be rough! Whatca gonna do!

Well, yesterday I saw a man lost his temper on his little boy in the park...I'm not sure whether the guy was the father or grandfather. Both of them were on bikes while I was walking with my boys in the park. The guys yelled so loudly that almost all the moms (by the swings) stopped and looked at him. Nobody interfered including myself. I'm not so sure I had interfered even if he'd hit the boy. I just feel that everybody has a different style of parenting. I know hitting should not be one of the styles, but I don;t know what goes on in another person's household. Remember the news where one mother was caught on camera punching her little girl in the car?! That to me was severe abuse and I would do something about it right away. A little smack on the bottom, I'll probably won;t interfere! I don;t think I'm explaining myself that well! :(

I will have a weather discussion with the mother and along the line hopefully both of us laugh over the matter. I will only interfere if a parent wants to shot his or her child.

I have young children and I sincerely understand everyday parents' struggle especially parents without help.
I guess the actress makes a lot of money and she thinks less of food on the table and baby sitters or caregivers.

Thanks for sharing!

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