Out of order comments - keep quiet or speak up?

[Marjie3]

I was out for a walk yesterday and whilst I was getting out of the car I could hear a mother shouting at her son. " You're nothing but a horrible, aggressive bully" (he had been hitting his 2 younger brothers). He was about 9 years old and his brothers maybe 6-8. She then shouted "Don't worry when you're 18 you are out of here!' At this point a woman nearby who had overheard told her she was out of order and would be responsible for giving her child mental health problems. The women then exchanged several more heated comments. Should this woman have got involved or minded her own business??

The woman did what I would like to be brave enough to. Can't bear name calling. Maybe it made her think

Perhaps she was at the end of her tether...

The trouble with labelling children is that they grow up to fulfill that label. In fact if the child is a bully it sounds like he learnt it from his mother, but it was probably pointless for that lady to have made the comment.

I think she should have minded her own business. The mother probably got angry at her son for a split second, it doesn't mean she is abusing him or causing him any health problems and I think it's bloody rude for a passer by who sees 10 seconds of a mother getting annoyed at her son to get involved in any way. She doesn't know any of them, it's nothing to do with her imo

Definitely good to pull her up on it. Speaking to someone like that is out of order. Even if it was just the one time it's still not ok. Those momentary words can stay with a child forever.