"He's just being a boy!"

I really hope this doesn't come across as "mom-shaming" because that's not the intent of it. Basically, I saw this happening and it's been on my mind ever since, and I'm wondering if other parents see the same implications in it that I did.So last week I took my 2yo to the local mall playground to get some energy out because it was raining like crazy and she was bored at home.There were a few other little girls and boys running around, as usual. One particular little boy kept chasing a small group of girls and shoving them/hitting/grabbing and just generally being very aggressive. I'd guess he was probably a big 2 or an average 3. He pushed one of the girls down and her mother saw it, the little girl was unharmed but distressed, and her mother very calmly helped her up and said, "Listen, if he's playing too rough and you don't like it, tell him 'no'." Cue the boy's mother standing up and marching over: "Don't tell her to tell my son that! He's a boy! He's just being a boy!" And she grabbed her son up and told him not to listen and that it was okay. I was a bystander to all of this and my LO wasn't involved in it but I was pretty disappointed in the boy's mother's response. Girls aren't allowed to tell boys no when they're being aggressive? I've never heard of such a thing. And again, the mother of the little girl was totally calm and it's not like she shouted at the kid or even batted an eye. She didn't even intervene to stop it herself; just told her daughter to tell the boy 'no' if she didn't like how he was playing.It's kind of scary as the parent of two girls to think that there may be other parents of boys out there who think the way this parent did. That they might be raising their boys to believe that girls aren't allowed to tell them 'no' because boys are somehow permitted to attack girls with no repercussions. I know this is kind of slippery slope type of thinking but it bothers me all the same. Is this a fairly common belief among other parents out there, or was this woman just extremely unusual in her parenting choices? via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2FGqjqN