I was climbing on the boulder at my local climbing gym today. It was near the end of the session so my fingers were starting to ache and I was getting really tired. I slipped off the boulder and landed on my butt. A girl, about 7 or 8, pointed at me and belched a loud “ha ha.” Then to my climbing partner, she turned and said, “I bet you could climb this.” She laughed at me again no more than five minutes later as I continued to work the same problem and again landed on my butt.

I was more than a little miffed. I wanted to turn to her and yell, “Look, I bet your chubby little ass wouldn’t even get off the ground if you tried to do what we were doing.” Of course, I didn’t; I couldn’t. That would demonstrate a lack of maturity—the same absence of which probably caused her to not care how obnoxious she was being in the first place.

I think it’s tempting to forgive—or perhaps even ignore—such annoying behaviour when it comes from kids. It’s often heard, more as excuse than explanation, “They’re just kids.” But is that really an appropriate response? At what point do kids begin to comprehend empathy or become aware that their actions evoke evaluation by others? And at what point do kids, in full realization of these processes, commit to being manipulative knowing the label of “kid” allows them to get away with so much?

Being mature isn’t just about avoiding doing the wrong thing. It’s more about not doing the wrong thing because it’s wrong—even if you know you can get away with it. I know I will never be a perfect parent (if ever I even become a parent to begin with). But until my kids become mature enough to make the right choices in how they behave, I hope that I will have the courage to reprimand the crap out of them if they pull stuff like that.