Hi fellow parents, I was wondering if you've ever witnessed a parent harshly yelling at their kid in public? Did you interfere? I was recently in a mall and saw a mom reprimanding her son, but NOT constructively. I wanted to say something but didn't...did I do the right thing?

It's pretty difficult to gauge whether or not shouting at a child would constitute abuse or not. However, if you can clearly see that the parent is shouting extremely loud, and if the kid looks like he or she is traumatized, then it's your responsibility to step in, especially since if that's what they're doing in public, you can just imagine how the parent treats the child at home. Though, you will need to know how to properly talk to the parent. You don't want the parent to be violent with you, since that would just escalate the situation.