Hey there

As the mother of a 2.5yo who is one of "those" children who sometimes gets a bit enthusastic with other kids (read: pushes them down the slide if they take too long ) and has strange ideas about "mine" (read: everything is HERS ) who also has a very clumsy 1yo to chase and try and minimise damage to his head (self-inflicted), I readily admit that I do not see everything aforementioned 2.5yo gets up to.

However - when I see things, I do intervene, so I think that parents who do not intervene when they are right there are not really doing the best by their child. Anyway...

I am fully ok with any other parent disciplining my DD. They have and will continue to do so as I can't be there at all times. Also, your house = your rules. It is ok to say so. As in "Bobby, at our house, we all help pack up the toys! Can you help Betty and me pack up?" and then... depending on your relationship with Bobby's mum, I'd even be tempted to say "Bobby's mum can you give me a quick hand please?" I think that's fine.

Oh and as for throwing rocks - I think any behaviour that is going to harm another person/child/animal/book/toy needs to be stopped immediately. That is a big no-no in my book.

I think there are two different scenarios - the child who is misbehaving without their parent's knowledge (as in my case) and then those where the parent is on a different wavelength and not stepping in to stop the behaviour. Please don't avoid the first scenario - again, as one of those parents, my DD needs to spend time in playgroups and things to learn what is ok. We talk about it at home, we enfore sharing and gentle behaviours with her brother, but when she is around other kids it is another level of concentration required.

But if the parent is not willing to do something about it, well, I don't think I'd want to be socialising with them either.