How would you feel if another parent disciplined your child on the playground?

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s a letter to the stranger who disciplined her child at the playground… thanking that parent for stepping in sternly when her son was acting inappropriately.

A mommy-blogger has set off a touchy debate when it comes to scolding children who are not your own, attracting both support and criticism online.

The blog is called Baby Sideburns and author Karen Alpert effusively thanks the other mom who stepped in to talk to her son while she was distracted with another crying child, saying it takes a village to raise a kid.

“Because even if you aren’t his parent, you are the adult. Which means you are smarter than he is. And yeah, I know there are probably a-holes out there who would be all pissy about some stranger getting mad at their kiddo, but not me,” posts Alpert. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to do my job, so thank you for helping me do it.”

Alpert’s blog is getting a lot of positive reaction, but there are many who do get angry and defensive at the the thought of another parent getting mad at their kid.

 

“I think what’s key about this woman’s experience is that she wasn’t there,” says Leah Rumack, deputy editor at Today’s Parent.

“She was on the other side of the playground and she didn’t witness it and so in that case, I think it’s okay. Particularly, if another kid is in danger … please step in!”

But Rumack says the issue gets a lot more fuzzy if the child’s parent is present.

“There are incidents where kids are being mean to each and I might say something to the kids if I walked over to them, but I wouldn’t yell from the sidelines if the other kid’s parent is sitting there and thinks it’s okay because that’s just insulting to the other parent,” she tells NEWS 1130.

“It’s basically saying ‘you’re not doing it right so I’m going to have to do it for you, obviously.'”

Alpert’s blog post has received hundreds of thousands of “likes” on Facebook and hundreds of comments.

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