My sister is annoyed with our father. They live in different cities, and he came to stay for a few days recently. During his stay, he gave my sister's DS (9) £50 as a belated birthday present.
Nephew asked to go online to spend the £50 on 'some plastic thingy' (sister's words) but apparently it was really difficult to find, and nephew started moaning and kicking off about this. Sister and nephew were in the kitchen on the laptop and our father and BIL in the adjacent room.
Our father overheard what was going on in the kitchen and said, apparently in a harsh tone, to BIL: 'Go and take charge now, damn it! I didn't give him £50 just so he can spend it on some plastic rubbish'. (This is not verbatim, as they were speaking another language).
My sister and BIL think my dad was really out of order, and took this as a harsh criticism on their childrearing. I think dad should have been more diplomatic about it, but I also don't agree with letting a 9-year old spend all his birthday money on a plastic toy.