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Original poster

Shops are not playgrounds

80 replies

Graveltone · 26/05/2024 19:25

Wish some parents would understand that shops are not playgrounds! Kids play with the toys, swing on the barriers, run around etc.

This is obviously more an issue when the schools are on holiday.

OP posts:
greenpolarbear · 27/05/2024 14:33

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LordSnot · 27/05/2024 12:32

Ariela · 26/05/2024 22:41

Nothing's changed in 30 years: was admiring my scar today that I got in Sainsburys near Guildford. A small child (about 5-6ish) had one of those trolleys for the stacks of baskets like you find at the end of the tills and was running riot with it round the store totally unattended, I'd avoided her a couple of times but got it rammed into my leg, ruining my tights and sticking a hole in my leg which bled profusely. I wasn't the first person who had been rammed but definitely the worst injury. Anyhow, I politely told said child off: I said it wasn't a good idea to run round the store with the trolley, it belonged by the tills, and that it wasn't kind to ram the trolley into people's legs, it hurt, and that she could see it had made a big hole in my tights and made my leg bleed. And I suggested that really she should be with her mum and helping her mum shop, not running round and ramming the trolley into people. I got a few 'well said' from other shoppers who hadn't been brave enough to intervene. Turned the next corner and furious mother stormed up with lots of F words and told me I shouldn't be telling her kid off, and that I should never have kids for speaking to hers like that, as she was frightened and wouldn't now leave her side . A crowd gathered (she as loud) so I said the child was HER responsibility and should not be running about the store unattended with the trolley ramming it into peoples legs. I said I had told her off gently and clearly her child needed firm boundaries because she was now quietly well behaved and beside her mother where she should be, rather than causing chaos in the store, and that despite having such a foul mouthed parent I was sure that her child could behave appropriately for a shopping trip with the appropriate supervision and boundaries in place, just as she was now. And walked off.
I got a round of applause from the other customers.

It's great when other posters don't even need to add "and then they all clapped" at the end. 10/10 thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 27/05/2024 12:06

ChronicallyOversharing · 27/05/2024 12:01

I blame lack of parenting tbh.
The parents are entitled arseholes who feel they, and their spawn, should be allowed to do whatever they like, and so are breeding even more entitled arseholes.

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When I take DNephew to the supermarket it’s always toys etc left behind and if he asks for a lot, he doesn’t get it.

No way on gods sweet earth is he allowed to play there and his parents wouldn’t let him do it either.

ChronicallyOversharing · 27/05/2024 12:01

Alwaysalwayscold · 27/05/2024 11:38

Blame gentle parenting.

I blame lack of parenting tbh.
The parents are entitled arseholes who feel they, and their spawn, should be allowed to do whatever they like, and so are breeding even more entitled arseholes.

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 27/05/2024 11:54

Joanfoy · 26/05/2024 19:49

The other day a kid was on a scooter in the supermarket, ran into a pregnant woman who was nearly toppled but managed to use a shelf to stay upright and scooted off laughing, the mum of the scooter kid just looked at the woman and walked off.

Oh I can. All types of parents too from upper class to not so upper class let kids scoot around on their scooters. It’s not a playground ffs in our local supermarket park is 5 mins away can’t they wait?!

LakeTiticaca · 27/05/2024 11:53

@Allfur some brat smashing someone in the shins with a scooter or bike could cause serious injury, particularly to an elderly person just trying to shop in peace.

Idontjetwashthefucker · 27/05/2024 11:46

Allfur · 26/05/2024 23:14

They're not killing people in shops now are they?

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Yet

Alwaysalwayscold · 27/05/2024 11:38

Blame gentle parenting.

maddiemookins16mum · 27/05/2024 11:37

We had to dodge the early teen girls in Matalan’s recently on their skates zooming up and down the aisles.

LemonySnickets · 27/05/2024 11:32

I used to work in a department store and the number of times I heard a parent tell the kids to go play with the toys (so they could shop in peace) was unbelievable. We'd often find toys ripped out of boxes and dumped on the floor.

Trying to stop kids playing with a display scooter was a nightmare, and the shit a colleague had once when she tried to stop a kid from falling down the escalator.... 🙄

Even now, in a food shop, the amount of parents who think it's ok for their kids to bring in wheelie shoes, scooters and even a bike!!!!

KimberleyClark · 27/05/2024 11:22

Speakeasy22 · 27/05/2024 09:08

Ikea is the worst. Kids all over the sofas and beds. Parents ignore. They might as well bring a picnic and use the dining room set ups for a nice environment.

Apparently it is not unknown for small children to use the bathroom displays to relieve themselves!

GingerPirate · 27/05/2024 11:16

Fully understand.
Cannot stand Bank Holidays.

Fudgetheparrot · 27/05/2024 09:13

tonyhawks23 · 26/05/2024 19:55

carpet shops are lovely playgrounds.

Carpet shops were my absolute favourite as a kid, I was lucky my parents renovated a lot of houses! Always wondered if it was just me

Speakeasy22 · 27/05/2024 09:08

Ikea is the worst. Kids all over the sofas and beds. Parents ignore. They might as well bring a picnic and use the dining room set ups for a nice environment.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 27/05/2024 09:02

CatamaranViper · 26/05/2024 19:50

I can't believe that.

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I’ve often seen kids on scooters in supermarkets. IMO they shouldn’t be allowed - young children are so often apparently incapable of looking where they’re going.

waitingfortheholiday · 27/05/2024 08:58

@Allfur no one should be riding a scooter in a shop, including children

sweetnessandlighter · 27/05/2024 08:56

YANBU. Last year a kid was being encouraged by his indulgent mummy to push the trolly which was far too big and heavy for him to control. He slammed it into me. I have a hidden disability involving a lot of pain and it was excruciating. I swore at him (pure reflex - I didn't know until I turned around that it was a child). Mummy wasn't impressed.

Sharontheodopolodous · 27/05/2024 08:54

SquashPenguin · 26/05/2024 22:51

I used to work in the Disney store years ago, and I shit you not, people would drop their kids in there and ask us to watch them whilst they went off shopping like we were some sort of crèche.

Edited

I work in a maccys

Had exactly the same thing-i don't mind if say,mum needs to nip to the loo (I have children and a piss in peace is a luxury) or dad needs to take his ds to the toliet but feels he can't take his dd into the gents

I'll cheerfully sit with the child(ren)

It's the 'keep an eye on them,I'll only be an hour or so,they are well behaved' I refuse to do

Happens more than anyone thinks

thenewaveragebear1983 · 27/05/2024 08:51

DdraigGoch · 26/05/2024 20:30

I've never seen anyone having a snog in a supermarket.

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I saw a couple having a full on smooch in the military prison block exhibition at Edinburgh castle yesterday. I think they will pretty much do it anywhere 🤷‍♀️

LakeTiticaca · 27/05/2024 08:47

Allfur · 26/05/2024 23:10

To be fair I think kids have as much right to ride a scooter as the next person, they're not prolific killers

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Not in a supermarket though,,
The M6 might be a better bet 🤣

KimberleyClark · 27/05/2024 08:36

Allfur · 26/05/2024 23:10

To be fair I think kids have as much right to ride a scooter as the next person, they're not prolific killers

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Not in a shop though?

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 27/05/2024 08:27

DdraigGoch · 26/05/2024 20:30

I've never seen anyone having a snog in a supermarket.

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No, they should just BUY their Frozen Yoghurt at the supermarket and then take it home to have it. (the yoghurt)

https://www.ifancyasnog.com/stores

Stores — Snog Frozen Yogurt

https://www.ifancyasnog.com/stores

Original poster
Graveltone · 27/05/2024 05:52

porridgecake · 26/05/2024 23:37

My elderly neighbour was knocked to the ground by a kid rollerskating. He didnt even stop. She broke her hip and didn't recover. She died of pneumonia.

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Her injury and subsequent death should have made it into the media. People who die from resulting from being run over by mobility scooters do like this https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-65383596

Person riding mobility scooter in public

Taunton woman died after mobility scooter knocked her over

A coroner warned that the use of mobility scooters should be regulated to prevent future deaths.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-65383596

OP posts:
porridgecake · 26/05/2024 23:37

Abouttimeforanamechange · 26/05/2024 20:21

They also aren't date spots, social clubs or libraries, but that doesn't stop adults smooching, chatting away in front of the cheese fridge or reading every magazine on the rack.

None of which are likely to cause injury to other people, unlike children racing sround, or charging around on scooters. I was once knocked to the ground in the street by a boy who ran into me from behind. A frail elderly person could have been seriously injured. (Now waiting for someone to say that old people should stay at home so that children can run around wherever they please.)

My elderly neighbour was knocked to the ground by a kid rollerskating. He didnt even stop. She broke her hip and didn't recover. She died of pneumonia.

Allfur · 26/05/2024 23:14

Lavenderblossoms · 26/05/2024 23:12

Hopefully, not in shops though?

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They're not killing people in shops now are they?