i told a boy off at the zoo today mum was not amused , so was i

[Mrsjay]

was at a local zoo today and a family walked towards us , Mum declared the pigs they were heading towards was ugly/stinking/vile so her son picked up a stone and was going to throw it at the pigs , mum said put that down , meanwhile his brother ( ithink ) picked up a stone and i said with a voice your mum said not to do that with a smile , Mum then went on to tut at me , i shouldve just kept my mouth shut sigh

Id have not liked it, because it sounds like she was dealing with it herself.

I think mum wound them up with her smelly ugly pig tbh .

can't be arsed to argue this, sounds busybodying to me

twofalls yes, but you can say the peacock will attack but unless they actually experience it doing that, have only your word for it

sometimes it's best to let kids test boundaries for themselves, whether annoying peacocks or throwing rocks and (probably leathery anyway) pigs

can you see my point?

YANBU. If I was the mother I would have actually appreciated someone reinforcing what I've said.

I agree with the it takes the village to raise the child idea.

BTW am that a child as old as 9 or 10 would think of throwing a stone at an animal.

I dont think anybody is arguing tbh just chatting its not a serious AIBU

hmmmmm, i was with my 2 yr old at a zoo and there was a beautiful peacock displaying his feathers. me and my son stood and quietly watched him strut about showing off until some little shit about 9 yrs old and said to his mum "look mum im going to rip one of his feathers out". she said no dont or hell have you. the boy replied to his mother "then ill have him". i was fuming i couldnt stop myself there was no way i was going to allow the little fucker to harm the animal so i told him "oi dont you dare touch that bird". mother grabbed his hand and stormed off.
oh well tough shit!

The OP wasnt talking about a toddler, she was talking about an older boy. I would have told the boy to "drop the rock" too

Agree with letting children test some boundaries themselves south.

But not when it involves hurting animals, and you saying it shouldn't hurt them because they've probably got leathery skin doesn't mean a thing.

It shouldn't hurt you if someone chucked a rock at your head because your skull is 'probably thick', but that's bollocks isn't it? It'd hurt like hell.

FFS, saying animals are fair game so long as they teach children boundaries is a disgusting thing to say.

YADNBU, I would have wanted to do the same.

Exactly agent, This is a case of an older child showing agression to anything weaker, it's bloody appauling. The child has not been taught something here which is rather worrying.

i agree i was really annoyed that this boy was that age and thought it was ok to hurt an animal . the mum was probbaly miffed because she was dealing with the other boy about 4 ,

Well done for doing something OP. Why on earth would any kid/adult want to hurt an animal? How on earth have they been brought up? :( One day an animal, the next another child or a future partner if their violent tendencies are not nipped in the bud.

Well Mrsjay you were right in what you did. Whether mum was miffed or not, a boy of 4, is not a toddler shouldnt be doing it and is cause for concern

yes it is worrying when children lift stones

Unless on a beach of course and putting them in a damn bucket good on ya Mrsjay

oh gawd both my dds had a thing about stones in buckets miss would bring them home for the collection , some of the collection is now int he back garden as a feature

With no dead pigs either huh

With no dead pigs either huh

no pigs were hurt in the collection of stones , bless em they were not that smelly or ugly i even stroked one

sticky "puter" alert.

southeastastra: "twofalls yes, but you can say the peacock will attack but unless they actually experience it doing that, have only your word for it"

But what about the peacock, it was seriously stressed? Should we all just sit back and watch kids taunt animals? Really?

YANBU. Not at all

And if he had thrown the stone at the pig, IMO you would not have been U to have thrown one at him.

Yanbu and I salute you Mrs Jay.

At the other extreme I was at a farm with my DDs t'other day and saw a sobbing toddler who had lost his mum. Lots of parents just standing around gawping. One woman told me she'd reported lost toddler to a farm helper but didn't want to touch him 'as he had his trousers down earlier'. I gave her my best WTAF look and comforted him and said mum would be with him soon. Other people tutted me! Mum came running over and thanked me. All this don't get involved is bullshit IMO.

I always get involved and just deal with the consequences afterwards, I can't bear to see children either frightened, hurt, or about to do something terrible, like hurting an animal or another person. It doesn't need to be done in a confrontational way.

I got told off by a neighbor recently for telling off her 10 yr old son, I knew the kid fairly well and everything.

He had roughly shoved a cat off a fence and I said "xx that wasn't very nice"

I got a right bollocking off her, you'd think I had slapped him!