If that was my niece or nephew and the mother wasn't doing anything, I would have gotten down to eye level with the 2 or 4 year old, held them gently by both wrists, and said very firmly "No hitting. Hitting hurts and we don't EVER want to hurt Max!" The key here would be making eye contact.
Raising children is very hard, but consistency is key. Clearly the issue here is not a bad child but rather a lazy parent. Obviously the mother wasn't very concerned, which would have made me even more apt to correct the child. Honestly, I would have even done that with a stranger's child at a park (except the wrist holding). |