But you know, Adorame brings up an excellent point. It simply did not occur to me to speak to the mother. Not having children of my own, I just assumed that the mother would bring the kid in line via her own method of discipline (which she did-just not as long as I thought it should have been). Maybe speaking to my friend might have been the way to go. I was not entirely comfortable with trying to tell my friend that her child should be disciplined in time out longer, or saying "Did you see that- who's in charge here?" But I could have said that I was upset, and don't want the dog to be injured, so could she keep the kid away from him, or I can put the dog in the house if she could not.
So there are two sides to every situation. I still stand by what I did. But I can see where I do things differently in the future, should another episode like this occur.
That's what I like about this place...we can agree to disagree, and see a lot of viewpoints. I did not intend for this to become about childrearing, but I can say that I learned something today, or at least got a different perspective.
