A smart parent knows their child. My ds, now 42, could have been beaten to within an inch of his life. That didn't serve as a good punishment. But, if I looked at him with tears in my eyes, from disappointment? Oh man...he bent over backwards to make it right!!!
However, my now 22 y/o, was fond of disregarding my rules as a child. When she was about 2, we were at a cookout at church. The church is on a short road, that is basically traveled by those going to the church, or to one of the 5 houses on that street..so not a busy road. The other youngsters were being allowed to play in the road. Ages ran between 18 months and 8 yrs. My dd ran after them. I went to get her, telling her that she was not allowed to play in the road...it's still a road, and at her age, she wasn't able to distinguish between what roads were safe to play on. Ok..she crept back out onto the road a second time. I went and brought her back to the grassy area. Yes, I knew it was hard for her to understand why the other kids could do it but she couldn't. Told her that if she did it again, her behind was going to get swatted!!! Ok....she looked at me sideways and stopped. But as soon as my back was turned (or so she thought!!) off she went again. I calmly walked out, picked her up, swatter her diapered behind. Well, you could have heard a pin drop. Finally everyone went back to what they were doing. The next day, at church, a man took me aside to tell me that if he had been there, while I abused my child, he would have had to take me aside and explain why I was so wrong and then give me the name of a counselor. Of course, as the years went on, the other kids in church wouldn't play with my dd. Why? They knew that she wasn't allowed to do sommersaults over the altar railing or run around in the parish hall while adults tried to enjoy coffee, or climb the supposedly off limits trees out front! Yep, I was the mean mother. But, dd has grown into a respectful young woman, who is able to make good choices. And for the record? I never had to lay a hand on her again. She knew that if I said to stop, or there would be consequences, there would be consequences! I never made idle threats!
I don't expect children to always behave...they're kids. It's in their rule book to try and get away with crap. But it is my job, as their parent, to catch them and stop that behaviour. No, my kids wouldn't have been allowed to go up to a performer and start banging on the piano. Then again, I'm lucky. My dd fully realizes that a piano needs tuning after that kind of treatment!! We're always tuning our piano's at church because parents think their kids are the next Liberace!!!
Children are the way they are (for the most part) because of the way they were brought up. If you allow a child to behave as if there are no consequences, well.....they're going to push the limits, and it is going to really annoy others when it happens in a crowded theme park. It is not my job to be my child's friend. It is my job to be their parent, one who sets limits. One who has expectations. It is also not my job to monitor what other people's kids are doing. Well, not unless it impacts me. And I have to say that standing in the Great Movie Ride line, being constantly hit on the back by the swinging rope, made me somewhat nudgy. That child, who was about 6, was never told to stop swinging the rope, at least not until she tried to sit on it and it completely pulled off both poles....the kid went flat on her behind. Her parents? Dad turned to Mom and said, and I quote, 'Disney should make these things more substantial. Someone could get hurt!' Seriously???