My boss has a daughter who works with me, and she has a young daughter of about 2 or 3. For some months now, my coworker has been bringing the child to work for some reason, and she usually leaves the child in the reception for my boss to watch over while she works. The time period when she works usually isn’t very busy so my boss has a lot of time to look after the child while doing her paperwork.

I notice that the child has always been really active. But at first she was really quiet. She just ran around saying nothing to strangers, peeping through doors and running away as soon as someone approached. But recently I’ve noticed a shift in her attitude. She seems to become angrier and lashes out more frequently when she doesn’t get her way. She seems to want to be with her mom all the time and get upset when she has to stay away from mom. My coworker had to bring her into class at one point. Last night she was screaming and literally throwing a tantrum in the middle of the room, in front of everyone, while my boss was having a discussion with a client. Some time later my coworker had to leave her class for some time to comfort the child and I had to watch over the class for her.

I have always been neutral about the child, but last night as I witnessed her throwing her tantrum, the first thought came to my mind was “wow! What a brat!”

Am I too harsh in my judgement? I’m not a parent so I don’t know the details of raising a child, so is this kind of behavior too much? Or is it just something to expect because she is too young to recognize right and wrong?