With kid gloves

WHETHER it’s your child’s play date persistently snatching the best toys, or a loudmouth kid on the bus shouting swear words, is it ever OK to discipline other people’s children?

“It depends on what we mean by ‘discipline’,” says Noel Janis-Norton, founder of the London-based Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting Centre. “Do we mean telling them off? Or do we mean teaching them? Telling off is not appropriate — it also doesn’t do much good. But I would take the opportunity to teach children — it’s part of what I believe an adult’s job is, and it can be done in a gentle, friendly way.”

Janis-Norton, who wrote a book, Calmer Easier Happier Parenting, says several generations ago communities were more cohesive and children expected adults other than their parents to have something to say about what they did. “That’s part of what kept kids behaving well,” she says.