Clay feet, who me?
Question asked on Quora: What do you do if a dad and his son walk by your son’s sandcastle on the beach and the kid kicks the sandcastle and the dad laughs and he’s enormous?
Reply from Gus Griffin: If I’d been clever enough to think of it at the time (usually I’m not) I would have called out: Do you really hate your kid that much?
When I had the guy’s attention, following up with: Keep on encouraging behaviour like that and you’ll ruin his life—if you haven’t done so already.
If he’s man enough to consider it, suddenly you’re into a conversation. If he’s not, chances are you still would have got under his skin, perhaps planted a little seed of doubt about his role modelling.
You’d be surprised what even hardened crims will take on board, when the welfare of their own children is called into question. Promoting survival of the next generation is probably the most powerful instinct we’ve got.
For the same reason, speaking up on behalf of his son is also unlikely to attract a physically violent rejoinder. (Expect verbal protest and defensiveness, though.)
(See also my posting from a few days ago: Naked ape see, naked ape do )
