A mum has been slammed for her "terrible" behaviour after she asked a little boy to leave a playground - as he was intruding on "girls-only" time.

The woman explained in a letter to The Washington Post's advice columnist, Carolyn Hax, that she and her daughter had started meeting with some other mums and their young daughters at a nearby playground. She said that recently, a mum had brought her little boy to the playground at the same time they were there - and that's when things turned. The anonymous mum continued by explaining that she had "nicely" asked the woman if she would mind leaving with her son, as she wanted it to be a "girls-only" time. She said that the woman seemed angry - and refused to leave She continued [via Detroit Free Press]:

"This has been such a sweet time for mums and daughters, and having a boy there is naturally going to change things. "We live in a world where boys get everything and girls are left with the crumbs, and I would this mum would realise that, but she seems to think her son is entitled to crash this girls-only time." "I know I can't legally keep her from a public park, but can I appeal to her better nature?"

Carolyn sent an incredibly direct reply - calling out the mum for her "terrible" move, and reminding her that "if you’re going to have an exclusive gathering, then host it on private property." She said:

"Can I appeal to your better nature? Goddess help us all. "Shooing off the mom and her boy was terrible. And justifying it as a cosmic correction, for which an innocent child bears the weight? And still trying to do this even after you’ve had time to think about it? Wow. "That kid is a human being – not with privileged little man feelings, either, but with feelings, period. "Perhaps even a disposition that fits better into your idea of girl behavior than some of the girls there. People are not widgets. "And the adult you shooed off is a mom, possessor of the same crumbs you’ve been fed, no? So don’t you think she would have just liked to hang with some fellow moms in the park? "I mean, maybe not now. I’d avoid you thereafter if it were my kids you boy-shamed … for wanting to play with girls, by the way. As if they were fellow people or something. (How are you with irony?)"