If the mom doesn't want her kid to have candy don't give him candy. All that's gonna do is teach him that "If mom says no all I have to do is cry and strangers will give me what I want"

This is a very YDI/FML situation, hard to pick a side, but I'd like to know people's reasons for one.

She just misunderstood what you were doing, I work in a child minding/play area place and you should see how overprotective parents are and judgey , its ridiculous, you did nothing wrong!

The kid shouldn't be rewarded for his bad behavior.

Over-reaction on her part, no doubt about it. At the same time, I can understand her being frustrated that you did that. You never know why parents are saying no to their kids. there could be allergies, dietary problems, or medical procedures that require limited food intake - or maybe they just don't want to give their kids crap to eat whenever they ask for it. Best bet is to try to discreetly ask if its okay in the future, so the kiddo doesn't go full meltdown if they hear their parent say no. :)

Voted YLS as the mother did overreact, however I get pissed when strangers give my daughter sweets, especially without my consent. But she deffo went too far IMO

Well, I mean you don't know why she didn't want him to have candy or what she's trying to teach him. Nothing wrong with offering it, but you should always ask the parent(s) first so you don't overstep their parenting. You also don't know if they have allergies or anything and you could just give them something they can't have because it could kill them, pretty upsetting as a kid to think you're getting candy and then have it taken from you. So I get where the mom was coming from, I think taking it to management was probably unnecessary but I don't blame her for being bothered by it.

Well it's not grooming. That's calculated and it happens gradually over a period of time. Still shouldn't give random kids sweets though, especially if there patent had just told them no. Maybe she was well aware that you weren't grooming the child but wanted to punish you for undermining her?

Should have asked her first. However, she overreacted with the pedophile part.

Op was trying to keep a child from having a meltdown in line, likely for the benefit of all the customers and other employees around. While op should have talked to the parent first, the parent/guardian insinuated that op was potentially interested in the child in an inappropriate way ("grooming" said child to take things from strangers). If it was something like a food allergy, a responsible parent/guardian would have stepped in and immediately removed the lollipop. Op was trying to keep everything calm, and there was no reason to claim that he was "grooming" a child, though op likely should have asked the parent first. Hope there was no issue with your manager, op!