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I haven't seen any parents who ignore their kids' bad behavior (yet). I have, however, seen parents who yell at their kids.. Not a fan of the yelling. :T

I was in Target today and heard a child screaming as though he was being beaten or seriously injured. When I walked past the child (sitting in the cart), his mom was completely ignoring him. Since I'm not a mom I have no idea what it's like to deal with a screaming baby in a store but I definitely did feel bad for him.

@mrbee - I figured that his mom knew what she was doing. I am sure that ignoring is better than yelling or giving in!

Absolutely, but I'd still rather see a parent do nothing than one who lashes out abusively. I've called the cops twice on parents at Wal-Mart, and considered it many more times. For me, it has to be something really clear and obvious - I don't want a child ripped from his parents and put in foster care over his parent having a bad day and shoving him. But sexual abuse is a flat out call, no maybe about it. What shocks me is that these people do it in plain sight, and I'm the only one pulling out a cell phone. People just don't want to get involved, and it's sick.

Absolutely. I've never spoken up because I don't feel it is my place to tell someone else how to parent but I have certainly thrown some dirty looks and done the loud sigh to let myself believe they might understand my displeasure and perhaps do something about it (it is a delusion I allow myself). I try to be as considerate of others around me when in public as possible and remove my baby from the situation when warranted (crying, fussing, general upsetness that nothing I do will correct where I currently am) and will do my best to continue to do so as he grows up. If you can't behave, you don't get to be present.

The ONLY place I've ever said anything is at our community gym. It's a small gym in our community and it has a room for like toddlers that has Disney channel playing all day and it has given people a free pass to bring their kids to the gym.

Some kids behave REALLY well, it actually blows my mind. Other kids are HORRIBLE and their parents (well, Moms) just ignore them! I once had a 4 or 5 year old try to GET ON a treadmill that I was running on. The mother didn't say anything. So I walked the girl over to her mother and asked her to please ask her daughter to stop since it was dangerous for both of us.

Another time there was a little girl, again probably 4 or 5 playing on a weight lifting machine and I said something to her mom, since her kid was IN DANGER not to mention it was an expensive machine and she straight up scoffed at me. Then her friend actually said, "ummm, she's got a point..." And she grabbed her daughter and stormed out.

I bite my tongue a lot, but when parents are ignoring a dangerous situation, I can't help but speak up...