And in this particular Brazilian family, a 5-year-old nephew could apparently report his 5-year-old uncle to a police officer.
What Makes the Officer's Response Interesting
It would have been easy for an adult to laugh and immediately send both children back to play.
Instead, the officer allowed the children to continue explaining themselves.
That transformed an amusing misunderstanding into a small learning opportunity.
This approach has some parallels with guidance from child-development experts, although the Brazilian incident itself should not be treated as a formal psychological intervention.
At around age 5, children are developing increasingly sophisticated social skills.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists following rules and taking turns while playing with other children among common social and emotional milestones seen by age 5.
Children at this age are also developing stronger conversational abilities. According to the CDC's developmental milestone guidance, many 5-year-olds can maintain a conversation involving several back-and-forth exchanges.
That means disagreements on a playground or during a game can become important moments for learning.
A child is no longer simply reacting to the world.
He or she is increasingly learning how to explain:
"This happened."
"I didn't like it."
"This is why I'm angry."
"This is what I want."
Those abilities become the foundation for more complicated social problem-solving later in childhood.
Gabriel's decision to find an authority figure can therefore be viewed as an amusing example of a young child trying to apply his understanding of rules and fairness to a situation that upset him.
From Gabriel's perspective, the logic may have been beautifully simple.
Someone pushed me.
Pushing is wrong.
There is a police officer here.
I should tell the police officer.
The fact that the accused happened to be his 5-year-old uncle only made the situation more memorable.
Children Are Still Learning What to Do With Anger
Rafael's side of the story is equally recognizable to anyone who spends time around preschool-age children.
His reported reasoning was essentially that Gabriel was moving too slowly, so he pushed him.
For an adult, the obvious alternative would be to ask someone to move faster, wait, go around the person or simply accept the delay.
A 5-year-old is still learning those alternatives.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, through its HealthyChildren.org resource, explains that preschool-age children are still learning appropriate behavior and will continue testing limits.
The organization recommends teaching children that feeling angry is acceptable while hurting another person is not.
Children can instead learn to put frustration into words.
In another guide on helping young children develop independence and friendships, the AAP recommends teaching children to remain calm, avoid hitting or shoving, and use language to explain their emotions.
Adults can stay nearby while children attempt to solve smaller social problems themselves.
That guidance makes the ending of Gabriel and Rafael's disagreement particularly fitting.
The push was not simply ignored.
But neither was a normal childhood conflict treated as something catastrophic.