DEAR ABBY: I went to the zoo with my daughter's class as a chaperone. While we were there, I saw several children begin climbing the walls of some of the exhibits. They were not part of the group from our school. I promptly asked the children "nicely" not to climb on the exhibits for fear they would hurt themselves or fall in.
A parent who heard me ask her son to get down began yelling and cursing at me in front of my daughter and the other children. I said, "I'm sorry," and walked on.
I don't feel I did anything wrong. I was trying to warn the boy that what he was doing was dangerous. Did I do the wrong thing? Or should I have talked to a member of the zoo staff about what happened? Please advise what you would do if someone's child did what I witnessed. -- VIGILANT PARENT IN OKLAHOMA CITY
DEAR VIGILANT PARENT: Candidly, I probably would have reflexively done exactly what you did -- get the child out of harm's way. However, the prudent way to handle a situation like the one you encountered would have been to alert the zoo staff or security personnel so they could handle it.