When you’re a kid, little beats weekends spent playing sport with your friends.

If you’re lucky, you’ll have a kick around or shoot some hoops in the yard.

If you’re even luckier, you’ll be part of a team and actually get to play games with lots of other kids your age.

But the latter has some drawbacks, even in the most wholesome teams – and that drawback comes in the shape of other kids’ overbearing parents.

And as the stepfather in this story found out, these parents really can make or break a team – and a kid’s experience.

Read on to find out what a so-called ‘dugout mom’ did to cause this man to confront her.

AITA for confronting “Dugout Mom” for the way she was speaking to my girlfriend’s kid?

I was watching a little league baseball game that my girlfriend’s son was playing in, when I hear some lady yell his name, followed by “stop talking!”

I see him immediately put his head down.

He looked deflated, as if the fun he was having had just been sucked out of him.

The kid was in the outfield, just behind second base; definitely not in the dugout.

I looked at my girlfriend in shock, and all I could say was “what the hell?”

My anxiety over the situation started to take over, and I’d come to the conclusion I was going to say something.

I’ve known this kid for half of his life.

I kind of raise and guide him as if he were my own.

Let’s see how he chose to confront the woman.

So I waited for the game to end, when all the kids were lining up for their post game handshake on the field, so as not to make a scene in front of them, before walking to the dugout where this lady was.

I said “excuse me” to get her attention, and when she turned around, I asked “Was that you that yelled at so and so to stop talking?”

She said it was, and I said “There’s better ways to get him to pay attention. This isn’t the military or a school function. It’s not that serious, you all don’t even keep score in these games.”

I could tell she was becoming furious and started to say “all the coaches do it” (which I know to be not true, since I’m at a lot of his practices).

Read on to find out how he reacted to her lies.

Now this is when I really started to get angry, because of her lack of accountability, and I said in a louder, direct tone (still not yelling or trying to make a scene), “I don’t hear the other coaches say it. I heard YOU say it,” pointing my finger at her.

Then she said something about going to get the coach, but I’d said my piece and began to walk back towards my girlfriend.

After the game, the coach kind of ambushed us, with my girlfriend’s kid right next to us, and proceeded to talk over his mother while she tried to explain to him that the kid feels “targeted” (those were the kid’s literal words from previous discussions about this woman) by her.

Let’s see how the coach responded.

The coach refused to listen to anything my girlfriend was saying.

She asked him if that lady was a coach, and at first he said yes, but then quickly changed to “she’s my dugout mom,” at which point I said, “then the coach needs coaching because that’s not how you talk to eight year olds just out here trying to have fun.”

My girlfriend’s kid said the woman was cussing in the dugout about what just happened.

Big shocker.

And this changed how the kid felt about his hobby.

He also said he doesn’t want to play anymore (he really wasn’t into it in the first place but at least he was trying), so my girlfriend is pulling him off the team.

A member of the board suggested he could join another team, but I’m not sure he really wants to.

This is a very small town in the middle of the country, so everyone sees each other all the time.

Was I in the wrong for confronting this lady in rash manner?

AITA?

There’s a huge difference between kids playing for fun, and professionals playing in the big leagues.

And the parents who forget this and scream at kids need a big reality check.

Nothing gives that woman the right to shout at the kids in such a manner, ruining their enjoyment and chances to participate.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit had to say about this.

This person agreed that he was right to confront her.

While others spoke from experience about these aggressive parents.

Meanwhile this person supported him, whilst urging a little more consideration.

Regardless of whether this woman was a coach or a parent, the way she was targeting the child was unacceptable.

It’s no wonder that he’s not enjoying taking part if this is the kid of treatment he is being subjected to.

And when you see your kid being targeted, of course you want to defend them – it’s human nature to do so.

As for this ‘dugout mom’ she needs to learn her place.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.