5-year-old crashes into 17-year-old and his 47-year-old mom on his bike, gets chewed out by teen for riding bike in a forbidden zone: 'His mom starts laying into me about how dare I scold her child'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
May 6, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

What is our responsibility as citizens when kids break major social rules and are enabled by their parents to do so? One of the biggest examples of this phenomenon is kids scrolling through Instagram reels in the movie theater. I'm not even talking about teenagers, I'm talking about 5-10 year olds who have been dragged to R-rated movies by their parents and disturb everyone around them by being on a phone the entire runtime. In any functioning society, bystanders would intervene, telling the parents to turn off their kids' phones or getting an employee to kick the disruptive family out of the theater, but that's not what happens. Most of the time, everyone just lets the kid break the rules because actually trying to solve the problem takes more work than stewing about it. I admire people who are willing to point out when a kid breaks the rules and faces the social consequences.

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  • The teenager in this story stood up for himself and his mother when another parent's negligence of the rules of the botanical garden ended in disaster. Instead of profusely apologizing for the harm her son did to the mother-son pair, this mom doubled down on her bad parenting. 

  • 01
    NYC FALCON
    via Andrey Matveev

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02

    AITA for telling a child and his mother that he is not allowed to have a bike in the botanical gardens?

    So, two days ago, my mom and I went to the Prague botanical gardens. An important detail is that the garden is on a pretty steep hill. We went down to the bottom of the hill and looked on a map to find a specific area in
    via u/Ahsoka_Tano07
  • 03
    Cheezburger Image 10502449920
    via Tamara Harhai

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 04
    the bottom of the garden, when out of nowhere a 4-5 yo is speeding down the hill on a bike, slips on the sand/gravel covered path and crashes into me, mom on foot not far behind.
    via u/Ahsoka_Tano07
  • 05
    I'm shocked, and start raising my voice at him, that he has no business having a bike here, pointing at the no bikes sign on the map, a sign that is by every single entrance to the garden and that there are little kids there that he could've hurt even worse than he hurt me (he crashed into my legs, I have some nasty bruises).
    via u/Ahsoka_Tano07
  • 06
    His mom starts laying into me about how dare I scold her child and that they'll raise him themselves, thank you very much. When I point out the sign banning bikes in the gardens, she just tells me that they didn't notice any sign at the entrance (more like they didn't look at all).
    via u/Ahsoka_Tano07
  • 07
    The mom then dragged the kid away while he was crying and cursed me and my mom out.
    via u/Ahsoka_Tano07
  • 08
    Cheezburger Image 10502450944
    via Ksenia Makagonova

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 09
    Edit: we did chew out the mother too the second she started yelling, she looked ready to slap me for the audacity to chew out her little angel that didn't even brake going downhill. She acted like the crash was my fault for standing in his way. Most of our ire was directed at her, not the child. I'm surprised his mother was responsible enough to even just give him a helmet.
    via u/Ahsoka_Tano07
  • 10
    The kid wasn't hurt, I was the only injury. I agree I could've handled it better. So, AITA?
    via u/Ahsoka_Tano07
  • 11
    Note for the pinned reason: I meant raising my voice at the kid and yelling at the mother. I didn't really phrase it correctly, that's on me
    via u/Ahsoka_Tano07
  • 12
    PM_ME_YOUR_TITS80085 NTA overall The child shouldn't have been riding a bike there, and the mom ignoring the signs is the real issue. That said, while a 4-5-year-old does understand basic right and wrong, they're still very young. It's fair to correct them, but raising your voice might've been too much, your frustration is valid, but the blame lies fully with the parent, not the kid.
    via u/PM_ME_YOUR_TITS80085
  • 13
    Ahsoka Tano07 OP Yeah, I wouldn't be normally raising my voice, but I was angry, in pain and my brain has barely processed what has happened, so raised my voice at him
    via u/Ahsoka_Tano07
  • 14
    MxMirdan Adrenaline is absolutely the mitigating factor here. If the kid had just zoomed down the hill past you before wiping out, it seems unlikely that you would have been yelling because your adrenaline would not have increased your heart rate and all of the other physiological reactions that arise. It's basically the lizard-brain response.
    via u/MxMirdan
  • 15
    The problem is mostly that the kid was doing something that, as far as he knew, he was allowed to do. The responsible party wasn't being responsible for him. Relatedly, he may not have known how to use his brakes on a steep hill without wiping out. I ride up and down some really steep hills these days, and there are places where I walk my scooter because I do not trust myself to keep my balance while breaking sufficiently hard. The kid may not have learned that yet, but that's why his responsibl
    via u/MxMirdan
  • 16
    khazroar Yelling over just breaking a rule would have been too much, but it's totally appropriate for dangerous behaviour.
    via u/khazroar
  • 17
    spood5505 Everyone here acting like it's such a bad thing to yell at the kid when that's probably the only proper parenting he's gonna have in his life ΝΤΑ
    via u/spood5505
  • 18
    Adding AnOtter A stranger yelling at them probably only registered as a scary incident with a scary person and they probably hardly processed what she was actually saying. I imagine mom that yells at strangers too for "parenting" probably only disciplines by yelling when the kid is interfering with her not doing anything. Kid probably gets plenty of yelling and no actual parenting.
    via u/AddingAnOtter
  • 19
    Prechrchet NTA, obviously. Bikes are not allowed, and with good reason. I think the real reason she shouted was that she was embarrassed and you were a convenient scape goat.
    via u/Prechrchet
  • 20
    I_am_legend-ary Op is the AH for yelling at a child
    via u/I_am_legend-ary
  • 21
    toffifeeandcoffee NTA Someone who isnt as steady on their feet as you have been might have suffered some serious injuries. Pre knee surgery this might have costed me my leg in worst case.
    via u/toffifeeandcoffee
  • 22
    ContactNo7201 NTA. You're in the right and the intents are just causing a stink for bring caught doing something so stupid and selfish. You haven't said how old your mother is, but got done elderly, bring knocked down can be a cause of death due to broken bones then ensuing health complication during recovery (if their fragile bones can even recover)
    via u/ContactNo7201
  • 23
    Ahsoka Tano07 OP I'm 17, she is 47
    via u/Ahsoka_Tano07
  • 24
    drythosedishes You're not even an adult yourself! As a parent, I've worked hard to learn other ways of communicating with my kid when they do something stupid/dangerous/etc. I think a stranger yelling after being hurt is a natural consequence.
    via u/drythosedishes
  • 25
    I'm also mortified that the other mom didn't check on your well being! Her kid hurt you -- and she didn't even apologize on his behalf? Regardless of your actions, an apology was in order for the original incident, and it says everything that she didn't start there.
    via u/drythosedishes

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