This mum just blocked my toddler from approaching hers

Only a classless person is mean and aggressively hostile to a little child. Aggressively and immediately blocking a toddler with her arm so that he doesn’t get close to her child, sounds like a racist behavior. If she touched him while blocking him and pinning him between her arm and the column that could be considered assault. How a person reacts in the spur of the moment shows the character, or lack of one.

I hate other toddlers coming up to us when we are out. Park, soft play - fine, play is expected there. M&S, car park, library - no. I actually admire the woman for removing your child from her environment, I wish I’d had done that with the toddler following us around at the library. She was taking stuff out of the buggy, trying to take my daughter’s books, trying to take her water cup, wanting to use the machine all while mum sat on the side thinking it’s cute as she read the older one a story. Other people’s kids are annoying and she didn’t need any further reason than that.

Er she was walking through M&S, not a bloody soft play! You have no idea what was going on in her day, quite possibly she was in a hurry and didn't need her child getting distracted by toys. Take your kid to the park to make friends next time

Same. I can barely tolerate my own kids, why on earth would I want to interact with a random stranger's in the street?

He might have had chicken pox?

It was 2 toddlers. So maybe you try and explain these rules to them...

if the owner is happy to share the toy, it's not too horrendous, but nothing worst than a child who takes his own toy, drops it everywhere, but start having a tantrum when another child grabs it.

Could be that she was just a bitch but when my DD was 2 she would go from cordial to deciding she was angry another kid was in her space so grabbing and biting them in two seconds flat

I might have guided her away from another kid at that age. Though I’d have told another parent she can be a bit of a demon

I find it weird as fuck to stop and start interacting with complete strangers in the street. I leave you alone, you leave me alone and everybody is happy.
There are toddlers group if you feel like being sociable.

The natural thing to do, if she didn't want her child to interact with yours for any reason, would be to move her child away, or hurry him along, not to block your child. In any case I wouldn't worry about it, she was rude and thoughtless, but no harm done.

True, posters love to bash parents on here for fuck all - weirdos!

You didn't do anything wrong OP but I'd be inclined to think she was probably stressed and trying to avoid a meltdown for your little boys new toys. Shopping with toddlers is not fun, as I'm sure you're aware

@Mariposista

she probably did have somewhere to be yeah.

Ah okay!

no they are not. Toys are communal, it's bad form not to respect that.

Honestly...I find it weird as fuck.

If another toddler stopped to talk to my toddler id be chuffed to bits, and really how rushed can you be in that situation because let me tell you with a toddler your getting nowhere fast.

Feel sorry for the other womans child tbh.

She was bit rude. Wouldn't have killed to say something normal like 'sorry, in a rush' etc.

I am honestly trying to picture the scene, I am walking minding my own business with my kid.

Some random stops and looks expectantly waiting for me to tell her what I am doing, where am I going and why am I rushing and step away from a random toddler? I'd grab my kid and run away from that weirdo 😂

Why a tit? Are kids not allowed to bring toys to playgroup?

YABU. Not everyone thinks other peoples' kids are cute, even if they have their own. That's me. My children and grandchildren were the cutest toddlers ever, but I really don't want to deal with anybody else's child.

I think toddlers are hilarious so I find interactions like that a bright spot in my day that said, I don’t have kids yet so perhaps I have a lot more capacity to be patient with them, whereas perhaps this mother had enough of toddler-talk, since she has her own 😅

Everyone’s different though and perhaps she just isn’t keen on interactions with random children. There’s no right or wrong here. It’s not as if she shouted at him or pushed him etc.

Tbh I think she was irritated you weren’t stopped your toddler so she deliberately done the blocking with her arms thing to drive it home to you that you should have.

You have WAY too much time on your hands.

You also need to start teaching your children that they are not the centre of the world, and they need to respect other people's personal space.

Some tit let their child bring a dinosaur to playgroup last week, my kid LOVES dinosaurs and tried to steal it, all hell broke loose and we ended up having to leave early because she was so upset (age 2.3) maybe the woman was trying to avoid this kind of scenario?

She doesn't need to say or explain anything. She was just getting on with her day with her toddler!

Honestly, it surprises me that some people manage to get through the day if they're getting offended over such non-events.

Obviously if she touched your child and physically removed them out of her way (as you are now saying) then are you sure your child wasn't scaring hers? Or about to run into danger or something?