Kids are still getting to know the world, so it’s natural that they’re curious. But when that curiosity turns into borderline vandalism, it might be time for their parents to step in and take control. If the parent fails to do so, it’s not uncommon that fed-up strangers may start doing the disciplining for them.

When something similar happened in this story, the entitled mother reacted less than pleasantly. The OP, a 17-year-old daughter who witnessed this altercation, shared it on the Malicious Compliance subreddit. Where was the compliance? The entitled mom told OP’s mother to handle the kids herself if they’re so bothersome and then pulled a surprised Pikachu face when she complied.

Bored Panda got in touch with the Redditor who posted this story, u/Scared_Fruit8486. She was kind enough to have a short chat with us and give us more context about the altercation. Read our conversation with her below!

Children are naturally curious, so they will try to touch and play with things in public places

Image credits: ebelodedova / envanto (not the actual photo)

But it’s the parent’s job to discipline them when they go overboard, something the mother in this story failed to do, so a stranger had to intervene

Image credits: ClaireLuci / envanto (not the actual photo)

Image credits: YuriArcursPeopleimages / envanto (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Scared_Fruit8486

The OP told Bored Panda that her mother didn’t usually resort to disciplining others’ kids

Image credits: Gustavo Fring / pexels (not the actual photo)

The OP tells Bored Panda she decided to post her story after reading lots of similar stories on the r/EntitledParents subreddit. “I low-key wished I had an entitled parent moment of my own to share. When this happened, I knew I just had to post it on Reddit,” the OP says.

First, she went to the Entitled Parents subreddit, and the post currently is still there. The upvote count is totally different, though: while the post on r/MaliciousCompliance has over 4.5k upvotes, the one on r/EntitledParents has only a little over 300. So when someone pointed out to the OP that her story also counts as malicious compliance, she decided to post it there as well.

We were curious to know more details about the situation. The OP’s mother did a good job letting the security know the products were being damaged in the store. But some people in the comments were wondering where the store clerk was at the time.

“There was just the lone cashier in the store at the time,” u/Scared_Fruit8486 tells us. “It was a really slow hour for them, I guess. Even the manager wasn’t available then. The cash till was located near the door while the lipstick testers were on the farther side of the store.”

“I do remember the cashier watching the kids messing up the testers, and I guess he didn’t interfere because a) he thinks he isn’t paid enough to handle these things and b) he didn’t want to get yelled at by the Entitled Mother.”

The Redditor says that her mom doesn’t always take it upon herself to discipline someone else’s kids. “I don’t really recall any situations where my mom acted this way with other people’s kids. With her own four children, she’s done this plenty of times.”

“I’m older now, so she’s not that big on these things, but she’ll always let us know when we’re wrong and where we need to be corrected. A true veteran parent!”

You should only correct the behavior of someone else’s child if there’s imminent danger to people or property

Image credits: Monstera Production / pexels (not the actual photo)

The OP’s mom in this story didn’t actually discipline someone else’s kid. She didn’t even interact with the children directly. She simply let the security of the shopping mall know that these kids were making a mess at the beauty store. And the Entitled Mother was the one who told her to take action if she was so bothered.

But is it generally okay to discipline someone else’s child in a public space? Robin McClure writes for VeryWell Family that in the instances where the kid is damaging property, hurting a pet, or putting other children at risk, other adults intervening is understandable.

Many experts agree that the first step should be to talk to the child’s parent. Parenting expert and author Dr. Justin Coulson suggests saying something like the following: “I’m sorry to bother you. It seems that your child is a little upset. He/she has been hurting some of the kids in the playground. I thought I should just come over and let you know.”

Naturally, physical discipline is always out of the question – always remain calm in such situations. If the parent refuses to discipline their child, McClure suggests trying to distract or redirect the kid.

“But, for the most part, it’s best to avoid using disciplinary actions against another person’s child,” McClure concludes. All in all, another parent or person should intervene only where there is danger or something is getting damaged.

For every other situation, it’s the parent’s job to decide how and when to discipline their children. The OP summarized the whole situation quite well herself: “Sure, kids will be kids, but parents better be parents and have basic common sense.”

Commenters shared their stories with unruly kids, and the OP reacted to most of them

Most commenters praised the way OP’s mother handled the situation and congratulated her for having such a cool mom

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