Weirdest things you've seen other parents do as they bring up or care for their DC?

[FortunesFave]

Here are mine.

I was in a public toilet in the cubicle and heard a woman come in with a small boy.

They went into a cubicle together and I heard her ask him repeatedly "Do you want to dirt!?"

She meant poo!

"Do you want to dirt???

Omg.

Second is SIL. When her DS was little...around 2 or so, she'd put chips for him INTO A BOWL OF COLD WATER so they'd cool faster.

Dump the cooked chips into a bowl of water. Leave them there for a bit and then drop the soggy pile onto a plate for the poor child.

WHY? What are yours?

[SlamLikeAGuitar]

We have one in our wider family who won’t use the word “poo” or anything remotely related to it with her DCs.
When they were small she’d say “Have you left us a message?” And there was me chasing after my toddler yelling “Come here and let me check if you’ve pooed!!!” - her face was the picture of horror

[SixTwirlingTutus]

[I am waiting for someone to come onto the thread to say they know someone who for the 12 year old still checks the temperature of cold drinks for him and adds boiling water if too cold. That would be me... he has something called cold urticaria which means he has allergic reactions to the cold. But I don't feel the need to explian that to everyone and am perfectly capable of seeing the looks on people's faces!]

anyway- mine is a friend of ours who has body issues and since their DC was aged 3 years takes them on insanely long walks every weekend.... literally boasting about the 18 milers they did. After they insisted we walk from the train station to a castle rather than take a bus when their child was aged 4 and it took us nearly 3 hours and the poor mite was sobbing with distress I decided that our friendship might be based around coffee dates.

[Nc123]

Soggy chips! Boak

[ohnonotyetplease]

A parent I know who thinks children can and should be toilet trained from a very young age - less than 6 months....used to strap her children to the potty or toilet until they'd 'performed'. Regardless of whether that took 15 minutes or an hour, or more.
An article I read recently by a urologist about this very subject said basically that it overdevelops the muscles of the bladder so they thicken and become very sensitive, ironically causing more problems than you would have had just potty training at a normal age.
The stuff some parents do to get those non-existent parenting medals....

[Bloodylovecheese]

Not quite on the same scale..but a girl at work used to have her mum prepare her lunch box every day. She would have a peeled satsuma wrapped in clingfilm in the lunchbox...she was 21

[GoldChick]

It's hard enough figuring out parenting without worrying about being judged as weird tbh

[Thebookswereherfriends]

Our dd was almost phobic about poo and hated us calling it that, so we had to have a slightly ridiculous alternative word. She only became able to refer to a “poo” normally when she was about 6! Therefore, I wouldn’t instantly judge.

[XelaM]

My daughter's friend's mum booked an overnight hotel spa stay just for herself on her daughter's birthday! So she left her (teenage) daughter on the day of her actual birthday so she could stay at a spa for the night without her and left the daughter with a relative. I thought that was so odd!

[SoItWas]

As a kid, my mum used to say loadies instead of poo. It makes me dry heave thinking about the word now .

[CatonMat]

Big jobs.

[Janek]

At my dd's 4th birthday party - April, so sunny, but in no way hot - a parent asked to borrow some sun cream for his son. Fine. Cue all of the other parents removing their children's long sleeves to apply sun cream to them too. I did not join in.

[Yourstupidityexhaustsme]

A woman at my niece’s primary school stops on like the little courtyard/paved area outside the school reception and has a picnic with her kids every day at pickup so they ‘have enough energy to get home’ they live a ten minute walk around the corner if that and I’m not talking a little snack - there’s sandwiches, frubes, crisps, drinks, biscuits etc.

It’s wild the time it just take her to prepare before collection.

[orangeautumnleaves]

@ohnonotyetplease

A parent I know who thinks children can and should be toilet trained from a very young age - less than 6 months....used to strap her children to the potty or toilet until they'd 'performed'. Regardless of whether that took 15 minutes or an hour, or more.
An article I read recently by a urologist about this very subject said basically that it overdevelops the muscles of the bladder so they thicken and become very sensitive, ironically causing more problems than you would have had just potty training at a normal age.
The stuff some parents do to get those non-existent parenting medals....

Strapping a child, ot restraining a child. Wow! That is very cruel. Poor kids.

[beigebrownblue]

@Yourstupidityexhaustsme

A woman at my niece’s primary school stops on like the little courtyard/paved area outside the school reception and has a picnic with her kids every day at pickup so they ‘have enough energy to get home’ they live a ten minute walk around the corner if that and I’m not talking a little snack - there’s sandwiches, frubes, crisps, drinks, biscuits etc.

It’s wild the time it just take her to prepare before collection.

When mine was in primary school I also used to make here a substantial snack for pick up.

It was a half hour walk home. DD used to get incredibly hungry, dehydrated and ultimately very grumpy at school - as her blood sugar levels were down, so what this parent is doing sounds sensible to me.

[Muttly]

Big jobs for pops is an ulster/Scottish thing. My father used it all the time not envy. My MIL used to say to my kids have you done a parcel from America random

[KitchenKrisis]

Oh no not yet please


I'd probably report that actually. What kind of twisted evil thinking says its OK to tie a child to a pottty for fuck sake.

Imagine how hard that is on them, sitting on hard plastic. That's what you know about.. What the hell else is going on.

[CatonMat]

[CrackersDontMatter]

@SixTwirlingTutus

[I am waiting for someone to come onto the thread to say they know someone who for the 12 year old still checks the temperature of cold drinks for him and adds boiling water if too cold. That would be me... he has something called cold urticaria which means he has allergic reactions to the cold. But I don't feel the need to explian that to everyone and am perfectlky capable of seeing the looks on people's faces!]

anyway- mine is a friend of ours who has body issues and since their DC was aged 3 years takes them on insanely long walks every weekend.... literally boasting about the 18 milers they did. After they insisted we walk from the train station to a castle rather than take a bus when their child was aged 4 and it took us nearly 3 hours and the poor mite was sobbing with distress I decided that our friendship might be based around coffee dates.

Your poor boy. My eldest had cold urticaria, she outgrew it thankfully but it was so difficult. It must really impact him as an older child.

[MrsWorriedMother]

Not weird as such but felt sorry for the child.

Was in M&S yesterday and there was a mum with a buggy and a five(ish) year old daughter. The daughter was asking if she can go on the moving stairs to the next floor but mum said no as she had the buggy they had to use the lift. That was fair enough.

Our paths crossed a few times in the store and each time the mum was way over the top saying she must hold her hand as the floor is slippy and she will fall. It wasn't wet and slippy. She was saying this in a very jittery anxious manner.

Then she was saying don't go too close to the clothes rails cos they will collapse on her. Again in a very panicky jittery way.

She was generally way over the top and highly anxious and this was being projected onto the little girl.

[HintofVintagePink]

I was like this with DS1 and I had undiagnosed PND which caused huge anxiety for me. I hope that poor lady gets the supper she needs

[SixTwirlingTutus]

Thanks @CrackersDontMatter :) Oh I hope he grows out of it also. Do you have any tips? Do you find people scoff at it? It was even hard to get his allergist (he has multiple allergies) to listen to me when I said he was having severe hive reactions to the cold. Problem is he also has some cognitive issues so he is unable to identify or monitor himself and what he eats and drinks. I am still attending children parties with him for example as I cant just hand over epipens to other parents saying 'he's allergic to these 5 things including cold water' and I am sure the other parents think I am an overprotective wierdo.

[SixTwirlingTutus]

(although to be honest I am an overprotective wierdo generally, but not about this )

[OwlinaTree]

I think you are perfectly reasonable to stay with your child if they need an EpiPen.

[Cactu]

I’m not sure about the early potty training being damaging. For most of history it’s been impossible to have effective nappies and clearly kids can’t just piss everywhere until they’re 2 so I think this must have always happened. Even basic Terry washables rely on a plastic outer cover to work.

[scully29]

well this thread is mumsnet judgeyness at its best. lovely.