They could have shot the mother a sympathetic glance, or diffused the situation by cracking a joke about the unique misery of being a toddler who doesn’t have to work or study and has endless unconditional love heaped on them. They could have done the adult thing and risen above it. But perhaps that wouldn’t have been very British.

Here in the UK, we still have a curiously Victorian approach to children – they should be seen but not heard, unlike our opinions on them and their parents, which must be expounded at every available opportunity. It’s popular to think that we are now a child-centred society, but visit Italy or Portugal, where bambinos are welcomed as warmly as any adult (and without anyone moaning about it), and you will realise that is poppycock.