You’ve been there but you may have not done that. You spot a child pinching his younger brother when his mum is not looking, or slowly tearing a magazine at a newsstand when dad is out of sight – so what do you do? Grit your teeth and bear it because you feel it’s not your business? But when that baby brother is screaming away or that magazine he’s tearing is the one you have your eyes on, you need to make a call – alert his parents. They may scold the child, or may not, but at least you would have done your part. But there’s always the risk that those parents are the super-sensitive types who may berate you for butting in instead! Would you keep quiet to maintain a polite society, or take matters into your own hands?

Retail supervisor How Soah Kin, 33, isn’t one for keeping quiet. She encounters many mischievous children in the supermarket where she works. Once, she caught a little boy chucking bed sheets from the store shelves onto the floor while his mother was busy checking other items. Soah Kin walked up to him and told him straight to his face, “If you don’t stop, I’ll call the police!” Before she knew it, the boy ran to his mother but not without Soah Kin following closely behind. She told the boy’s mum what had happened. The woman chastised her son and played along with Soah Kin, warning him to behave himself or she would really call in the cops! So all was well at last.

However, not everyone would do what Soah Kin did, albeit it was her job to see to the order of things in the supermarket. In a corridor poll I conducted among mothers ranging from those in their 30s through 50s, the majority subscribe to the MYOB policy – mind your own business. “I would leave things be if the little tyke is not affecting me directly,” said one of the mothers. “I don’t want to risk offending anyone.”