It isn’t easy to know what to do when other people’s kids are behaving badly in public. I’ve had the instinct to tell a kid directly to stop acting the fool, but something always holds me back. Whether it’s knowing their parents are probably embarrassed about their behavior or have told them to get their act together about 10 times already, sometimes you want to leave the parenting to the parents. On the rare occasion that I have intervened on a child’s bad behavior, it has consisted of telling their mom or dad, just so they know what’s going on. It’s really not my job to discipline a kid, even if they are a part of my larger community. I wouldn’t want to slight a parent by implying they can’t discipline or control their kids. However, there are those times when a kid really needs a talking-to by someone who isn’t their parent.