Dear Mrs. McVeigh,
When volunteering at my daughter’s school one day last school year, I heard another child say something rude to her. My automatic reaction as a parent was to ask the child to be more polite. I have a fear that the child went home and told her mom, who is a good friend of mine, and that the mom will be angry with me. Do you think I was out of line?
Unsure Parent
Dear Unsure,
It does take a village, so do not have any regrets about correcting another child’s behavior. Your friend would probably thank you. I never hesitate to correct a child when I see that he or she is mean or rude to another child, or is acting in a way that I know I would not want my child to act. I would thank a parent for correcting one of my sons, and would feel terrible that one of them was rude to someone. Continue to correct any bad behavior that you see, and do not feel badly if you have to correct a child again.