to tell this woman that her ds had tried to hit my dd.

[flanjabelle]

I went out shopping today and as we were leaving the shop a little boy of about 4 tried to hit my dd in her buggy. He missed luckily and hit the buggy by her head, but his intentions were clear. He had tried to hit her in the face.

His mum had a smaller child in a buggy and was leaning over the small child attending to them at the time.

immediately after it happened I turned around and very politely, not at all cross, said 'excuse me, just to let you know, your little boy just tried to hit my little girl.' The mum appologised and had a word with her son. I said 'don't worry, I just thought you should know.'

DP thinks I shouldn't have said anything as he didn't actually manage to hit dd, but I feel the mum needs to know as she didn't see it. I would want to know if dd was trying to hurt other children and I hadn't seen it So I could adress the issue.

Should I not have said anything? my aim wasn't to make the mum feel bad or get the boy in trouble, but I feel the mum needed to know. Aibu? Would you have done the same?

I'm aware it's not a big deal, just checking I dealt with it in the right way.

i would have been mortified but grateful you told me.

YANBU. Now she's going to be more aware of him when other babies are near.

I would have told her, especially as she had a child in a buggy too. She needs to be vigilant, as he might go after his sibling at some point.

It's not about getting him in trouble... But protecting (both) her children.

YANBU. Maybe he'd had a long day and was overstimulated and getting aggressive, maybe he is jealous of a new sibling and acting out towards babies, Maybe he's attention seeking. Either way best for the mum to know so she can deal with it.

Dp felt that I didn't know if the mum would have gone off the deep end about it so shouldn't have got involved. I can see where he is coming from, but felt it was the right thing to do.

I'm not sure what planet your DP lives on

It's perfectly normal to tell a parent that their child did something naughty while their back was turned.

Or failing that, to say to the little boy "No, don't hit my baby. That's not nice", in full earshot of the parent.

Yanbu as it was not said aggressively. It would show the it the wrong message if his mum wasn't told.

YANBU.

Worra I feel very nervous about telling someone else's child off. I would stop them doing something if I could get there in time, but i would be quite concerned that the parent would react badly to me telling their child off.

Like a PP, I would have been mortified, but glad to know - so I could look out for similar behaviour in the future.

I would always want to know so i can discipline my child for the behaviour.

ywnbu

That is reasonable and I would want to know he was up to that while my back was turned. Shrieking 'your child is a monster' and swearing... unreasonable. A quiet, calm word to the parent... totally normal.

Thank you good to know iwnbu.