What do you do when parents let their children run wild?

I think it all depends on the situation. IF they are just wining for no reason then yes I would just ignore the situation. I use to be one of these parents, and it's not ignorance (well maybe with some) but often times the parents feels guilty like I did discipling them. I also have a hard time with were the boundry lines are for correcting someone else children. I often will say something if it's a family memeber or a close friend. If it's someone I don't know that well I probably wouldn't out of the fact that I don't want to overstep my boundries, people do it to me all the time and it's the worst feeling in the world .

I do understand the saying "kids will be kids" but sometime parents let them go a bit far. I'm in the grocery store and kids are playing with the damn veggies and fruits, throwing them on the ground and at each other, I get a bit annoyed by that. Sometimes you have to put your foot down and I would others would also.

I am also bothered by that situation. I have a friend who just allow her kids to run wild, even if they are in public or visiting another house. She can't control them, It gives me headache always and wanted to do something to help but it's hard, I mean when they are use to run and scatter things out even if they are not home, they are very comfortable of doing so! I believe it's the way my friend discipline her kids!

You just described every family function I have ever been too on my dad's side of the family. They all let their kids run wild. I guess they figure with so many adults around someone will be watching their kids. Or they just expected the oldest of the group to watch the younger ones. I used to always follow my kid around when we were at these things.

No...im also bothered same as YOu...!! well..that's WHY it is the mean reason of SPOILING the child to their parents...*sigh* so sad to know bout this .. weLL...I'LL BET....parents shall attend seminar that specializes on how to NOt tolerate such BEHAVIOUR of thier child.... @jam@ ~live life~ keep it simple...****

If it is a family/friend situation then i probaly would ask the kids to settle down a little, before they end up falling or tripping and ending up injured. and if that didn't work i would tell the parents that they may end up getting hurt if they don't calm down .I have actually left get-togeathers when children were let run wild because i dindn't want to be there when one of them ended up injuried,( or worse caused someone else to get hurt) because parents can't be bothered and the kid refuses to listen to anyone else.

I've had ppl do this and I have stepped in and corrected the child and if the parent says anything I let them know that since they weren't doing the job, somebody had to. Having kids is also about teaching them how to behave when they are out in public as well as at home. I don't blame the kids as much as the parents for not doing a better job. **AT PEACE WITHIN** ~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~

I would love to know the answer to that one! I hate it too! I mean how hard is it to control them - well I guess first you have to want to and that would mean teaching them manners and of course, we have to be politically correct to do that and what's so policitally correct about manners!!?!??!?!? I mean, isn't it a violation of civil rights to insist that a child sit in a chair at the dinner table - doesn't it invade his privacy to be told how to act properly!?!? Good grief....No you are not the only one who is bothered by this! even my 8 YO GD will comment on unruley children. "why don't she sit down and eat her dinner? It's getting cold"

I am not a mother yet but, I would be a Mom like my Mom was with my siblings and me. My Mom always knew when we would be a little less than well behaved in public way before the time came to go. She would pay close attention to us the day of the outing and, the minute we started to act up, she would threaten us. She would tell us that she and dad would be going out without us if we didn't straighten our acts out. And, if it was just one, or even two of us, she would threaten to take the better behaved sibling with them, leaving us with a babysitter. The jealousy factor was a great way to bribe us to behave better or risk seeing one or both of our siblings (there were 3 of us) go off to some fun dinner outing, a movie or even shopping with Mom and Dad while one or 2 of us had to stay home with the babysitter. And, the threats didn't stop there. If we did manage to calm down and act like civilized people, my Mom would tell us that if we didn't continue to behave, Dad would bring us back home and then there would be heck to pay for making him miss out on the a portion of the fun by having to drive us home, get the babysitter, and then drive himself back to the fun. We behaved in public. Period. There was no other choice. And, they did follow through with their threats to leave us home on occasion too, when we ignored their threats. It drives me crazy when parents let their kids run around all willy nilly, yelling at the tops of their lungs. I understand that, to some extent, parents tend to learn how to tune their kids out at home and, I think it isn't too hard for them to tune them out when they are in public too. But, they shouldn't! It is annoying to others and, it makes others mad at them and think that they aren't good parents. Then there are just some parents who don't care or, they think that that behavior is cute and therefore that everyone angrily staring at them and their kids, are all looking endearingly at the lot of them. Ugh! The cluelessness! LOL!

I don't mind it when kids play around but when they get 'wild' it really irritates me. I wait for the parents to correct their behaviour. If I know the parents, I tell the kids to behave. If not, I glare at them. It is not a very effective way of correcting them but I also don't want to go into trouble with the parents. Some can be really sensitive regarding their kids.

yes kids will be kids but there is a line of behavior they should not just be running wild thats how kids get hurt or dont respect other people or their stuff

You are not alone in this. It drives me up a wall and I want to strangle the parents. I have an ex-sister-in-law that is like that. When my neice was little she was into everything and all over the place at one time. When I had my last child, my neice who was about five at the time and would hang right over his face when I was changing him or trying to nurse him. My sister-in-law would use this whiney voice and tell her to get back. And that was all. The kid would keep right on doing what she was doing until I pushed her back and told her to stop breathing in his face. There were a lot of little kids in the family at that time and there were many family functions we just wouldn't attend because of this childs behavior. Fortunately she grew up okay. But more than once I wanted to blister her behind. I really wanted to grab the S-I-L by the front of her shirt, shake her till her eyes rolled around in her head and ask her what in the world was the matter with her. Make that kid behave. Kids that like that are annoying. But the parents are the ones who are 100% responsible for kids that don't listen.

It drives me crazy, too. We don't let ours run wild. But it is difficult to control them, when they see other kids' parents let theirs run wild. There is really not much you can do, if you don't even know them or are just acquainted. If it is relative, it depends on what the kids do. I will correct them if the behavior would potentially cause harm to my family or our property. However, in any situation, if our kids start imitating the behavior they will get a LOUD reprimand letting the other kids (and their) parents know that the behavior is not acceptable and why. Sometimes it works to shame the parents into doing their job. But there are those who really don't care, not even if their child is about to run under a truck. I will never forget the 'oh, she would have stopped'. Eh, no, my hubby caught her the last moment by tackling her from the side. You wouldn't believe how angry the parents were about my husband doing that. Some parents simply don't care!