Would you correct your child if they kept interrupting and physically shoving another adult to...

[Boot]

Please note: The child I am talking about is 3 1/2 so not really a toddler but as his behaviour is so 'toddlerish' I thought I'd put it here. 

This happened this afternoon. I accidently bumped into a woman whose child I have been babysitting for a month or two on an ad hoc basis. This is the first time that I've hung out with the mum and the child together. When he's with me he is a bit bossy and demanding but I'm pretty strict with him and don't tolerate hitting, throwing, etc. I think he knows that now. 

I couldn't believe that the mum didn't correct him when he repeatedly shoved and poked me. I was holding my own baby and he was making me lose my balance a bit. He was doing it because he wanted my attention and could not tolerate waiting for me or his mum to even finish our sentence. Funnily enough, the other thing that he kept doing she DID correct him for which was yelling at my baby. I don't like it when he does that either but the baby doesn't care. Does the mum think that adults should just accept being punching bags for all children? I dealt with it by saying firmly but gently 'Please don't push me' and 'wait just one minute' and then giving him my attention after a few seconds. Maybe she felt that as I babysit him I could deal with it on my own. It's just weird to me. What do you think?

[tzs]

i think you are spot on with that. she might not have said anything because you know him on a personal level and independently of her, and thought you would interact with him the way you are used to...i can;t even imagine a parent not stopping a kid who was poking another adult around if that other adult had a more distant relationship with the kid. 

i also think the way you handled it was 100% right-on. i used to teach preschool and i definately interacted with my "students" differently than i would with some other random kid. you treated him fairly and in a way you would talk to your own kid or another kid while in your care. well done.