AITAH for speaking to a child in public?
i am 23 nonbinary (relevant a little bit for this post) and i was walking through a quiet neighborhood.
as i was walking down the street, i saw a little boy, probably 2 or 3 years old, playing alone in his front yard, there was a metal fence around the yard. a woman opened the front door and was calling him inside, going "(name) come inside NOW" that sort of thing, and he was being a little mischievious and like smiling and laughing at her and running around, refusing to go in.
all of this happened in 30 seconds as i was about to walk right in front of their house. so im on the sidewalk passing their house, and he starts trying to talk to me, saying hi and babbling, while this woman still is screaming at him to come in from the front door. i paused and said in like a soft voice "listen to your mom, go inside" and i was going to keep walking, but she lost her SHIT on me and was screaming at me "NEVER SPEAK TO HIM, IM HIS GRANDMA, NOT HIS MOM, HIS MOM ISNT EVEN IN HIS LIFE, HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO HIM" etc.
i said "im sorry maam" and kept walking. my thought is that i didnt really want to be involved in this kid being defiant to his family, he was trying to use me as a reason to not listen and i was trying to be on the adults side. maybe it was dumb of me to assume she was the mom, but she looked young. i genuinely feel bad bc i was trying to be on her side and it wasnt taken as intended. but i dont think it warranted being screamed at for minutes as i walked away, treated like a creep or something. it was like a 5 second comment.
my question is- in 2026, is it considered weird to speak to strangers children in public, for any reason? i wasnt trying to override her parenting, i just didnt want to say hi back and potentially enable him to keep being defiant. i feel like i was in a lose-lose situation. maybe i could have crossed the street, but thats also weird? and i do sort of feel like she reacted this way partially because i look queer.