A stranger's child throws a piece of garbage onto the ground, out of sight of their parents. Should I say or do anything?
I am a male childless adult living in England. I rarely interact with children. Last weekend, I observed how a boy (perhaps 8 years old) threw a piece of garbage onto the ground, despite being metres away from a bin. His parents (or at least, an adult couple who appeared to have that role) were just around the corner and did not see what happened, they appeared perhaps 5 seconds later.
In such a situation, should I do anything? Some alternatives I could think of:
Do nothing, it is none of my business.
Tell the child to pick up the garbage (clean streets are everybody's business).
Pick up the garbage myself and throw it away (it is not up to me to reprimand a stranger's child and it is not my immediate problem if he grows up throwing garbage onto the street).
Pick up the garbage myself, hand it to the parents, saying I believe your child just dropped this on the ground or similar. Might get me some strange looks.
Tell the parents what just happened.
Anything else?
(2)2 Comments
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Interesting question.
I would definitely not tell the parents. Kids do stuff all the time that adults think is irresponsible, because they are often impulsive/irresponsible. Goes with the territory.
I like @user27143 's comment, but the bleeding heart in me says, life is hard enough, no need to go out of the way to make the kid feel bad by exaggerating the binning.
In the end, you don't know what made the kid do that or how he behaves 99.9% of the time. If he could see you, I'd either smile warmly as I was tossing it (sends a message that it's good to dispose of garbage properly, but you do not feel that he is a piece of garbage) or wait till he was gone and toss it.
If it's a kid you see often, and he does this routinely, I'd let the parents know - kindly - and let them correct the little criminal.
You are right "It's none of your business" on one hand, But if you look at it from another perception. You will find out that it is your social responsibility.
What can be Done:
In Addition to @user27143 's comment, if he does not see you tell him what is right with great love.
Okay and if he does not liesten to you tell his parents, it may also happen that parent's response are not as you expected.
Good mind, good find always does not work, Sometimes Stubborn people don't listen to you till they have a very good thrashing.
"There are only two ways to live life: Tolerate things the way they are... Or, take responsibility to change them."
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