What would you do?

Rather than writing a lengthy diatribe on a specific incident today, I thought I'd outline the topic on my mind and pose a question. Then, as comedian Mike Meyers would say on Coffee Talk with Linda Richman - you can "talk amongst yourselves."

The latest airline controversy does not involve minors taking to the friendly skies alone, or disgruntled flight attendants flamboyantly quitting their jobs. This issue is a bit more complicated and really has less to do with the fact that it occurred in mid-air and more to do with the fact that it occurred in public.

On Monday, a flight attendant witnessed a mother hitting her one-year-old baby in the face while on a flight from Dallas to Seattle. She says she also saw the mother slap the child's legs and tell her to "shut up." After witnessing these actions, the flight attendant took the child away from the mother and walked with her to the back of the plane to soothe her. The father then came to retrieve the child and held her inflight until she fell asleep. The parents had previously argued about the mother's reaction and the father later told police that his wife would sometimes "pop" the child during a tantrum but he'd never seen her slap her face (though the child did have a black eye that the mother says came from a dog bite?)

So, the question is....did the flight attendant overstep her bounds or was she a good Samaritan stepping in to rescue an innocent victim? If you witnessed something similar in public, what would you do? Might you also intervene? Ignore the behavior in disgust? Contact the authorities? As a mother, how would you accept parenting criticism from a total stranger? When is it ok to step in and take action in such situations and when is it expected that we should "mind our own business"?

Now, talk amongst yourselves.....