We understand that ‘kids will be kids,’ but there’s a threshold where this excuse no longer holds for their misbehavior. It’s crucial for children to learn accountability, and parents play a vital role in teaching them the difference between right and wrong. In this collection, strangers recount the most astonishing instances of child behavior they’ve seen in public. Content has been edited for clarity.
Problematic Family
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“It was a Sunday at Red Lobster, and all the people began to pour in after their church service. One family came in EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY and brought their snot-nosed kid. Now, if you are a problematic family at a restaurant, you will tend to wind up with a different waiter every time you go there because no one wants to take your nonsense. Well, it was my turn with the family, so I stepped up to take their orders.
When I started introducing myself, the young boy at the table was standing on his chair and kept yelling, ‘BISCUITS BISCUITS BISCUITS.’
I paused for a second and the mother looked at me and said, ‘Can’t you hear him?! He wants his biscuits.’
I stopped what I was doing and grabbed water and biscuits for the table. When I returned, the boy ripped the basket off my tray and began devouring his biscuits. I then started taking the order for the table as the small boy jumped off his chair and began running around me tagging my butt and saying, ‘GO GO GO.’
I ignored him and kept taking orders from the rest of the table. As the meal went on, the boy’s behavior continued to annoy me and the rest of the customers in the restaurant. When the meals came out, the boy began to shout, ‘FOOD IS HERE, FOOD IS HERE, IT’S ABOUT TIME LAME-O!’
Despite the child’s terrible insult, I was at my tipping point and I leaned forward to the table and said to the boy, ‘That’s not very nice, are you going to say you’re sorry?’
Just then the mother screamed at me and asked to see a manager. Long story short, their meal was comped and they ate at Red Lobster the following Sunday. I hate that kid and the family.”
Doctor’s Visit Gone Wrong
“I was waiting in the doctor’s office to get a physical, and I saw this chubby child stand there with his fist firmly jammed into his eye socket. Mind you, this doctor’s office had two waiting areas. One was for sick patients, and the other was for patients with no contagious symptoms. So when this kid kept complaining about his eye hurting, I was slightly worried.
He then went to his mom and asked what pink eye was. She explained to him as I sat horrified, knowing that this little kid went to the wrong area.
I told the mother, ‘Ma’am, this is the well side. The sick side is on the other side.’
She looked at me and told me something along the lines of ‘I know, but this side has fewer people.’
I can live with a kid not being on the right side if he has no airborne symptoms, but this drew the line. The kid came right over to me, wiped his balled-up fist on my chest and arm, and said, ‘What, you scared of sick or somethin’?’
Mom didn’t do anything.”
Bratty Kid On Board
“I was flying from Ireland to NY and there was a kid and his parents behind me. This kid would kick my chair every 2 seconds, he would pull the sides back, bounce me around, and pull my hair too.
After about 30 minutes, I asked the parents to control their kid and they yelled at me and told me to stop harassing their kid. He kept doing it so every time he would kick I would recline my seat so his legs would jam and he’d lock his knees. Oh and did I mention that they had 3 other seats to choose from but decided to keep him right behind me, even after seeing what he was doing?
He got a cup of soda and continued kicking my chair so I did what I normally did to respond to his kick and reclined, hard. His soda went flying off the table thing and he got soaked. The mother grabbed my chair and tried to snatch my hair but I leaned forward. After that, I called the stewardess and she moved me to a front seat near the emergency exits so I got more legroom! The kid began screaming just for the sake of screaming and kicking the empty seat.”
