Daniel Faitaua says it’s perfectly acceptable to discipline other people’s children because kids are becoming more and more disrespectful.
The Breakfast presenter was discussing the issue with his fellow hosts after psychologist Emma Woodward said it’s rarely OK to tell someone else’s child off.
Woodward said: “Telling a child off in terms of your judgement about their behaviour could be perceived as a criticism and therefore can create some defensiveness rather than the behaviour that you want to see.”
But Faitaua joked he doesn’t have time for that — saying he’d just tell the kids off for misbehaving.
“That is the problem with society today, the kids are becoming more and more disrespectful because we as parents are feeling like we can’t tell them off or have been told not to tell them off.”
Jenny-May Clarkson agreed, saying she tends to “come in hot” and tell the kids to stop fighting.
“There’ll be every mum and dad out there saying ‘I’m like you Jenny-May, you’ve just resonated with what I’ve said,” Faitaua added.
He said for example, if a child is causing havoc in a shop and the parent isn’t doing anything, the shopkeeper can step in.
“Your shop, your rules. You take on those kids and you pull them in to line.”
Faitaua’s views didn’t find agreement with all viewers – with some emailing in and saying he was a bit of “dinosaur”.
To see more discussion, watch the video above.