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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is this a bit harsh on a 3 year old?

161 replies

Cordswain · 13/03/2025 09:31

I’m trying to make sense of some aspect of my childhood.

When I was around 3 I can remember being very distressed and screaming n the house. My mother was actually out in the garden and she came back in saying in a very cold voice:

”Stop this. It’s ridiculous screaming for your mum”

Just for context my mum was a career woman who went back to work full time after I was born - I was an only child so felt isolated

AIBU for thinking it’s harsh on a 3 year old?

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Lovehascomeandgone · 15/03/2025 15:42

It sounds like you have a lot of unresolved stuff around your mum and how you were treated which will play into your relationships with everyone today. I would recommend therapy to unpack some of it, you don’t want to carry it around.

Santina · 15/03/2025 14:32

Depending on your age, I think it was the parenting style in it's day. I remember my parents saying the same thing to me.

Childminder60 · 14/03/2025 22:30

If that's the worst memory you have you were blessed.

Middleagedspreadisreal · 14/03/2025 21:41

Don't rely on Mumsnet replies, see a qualified therapist x

1SillySossij · 14/03/2025 21:38

BlueBatsAndOranges · 13/03/2025 11:14

This^
It’s a very extreme reaction for a 3 year old to scream and be so terrified that they’d lost their mum in the house. I can understand it if you were out. Was there a reason you didn’t feel secure in your home? Surely most 3 year olds know their mum’s around somewhere.

Didn't you k ow you had a garden?

ColdWaterDipper · 14/03/2025 18:43

I think it could just be one of those things that’s said in the heat of the moment, but for you it shocked you and so you remember it and have focussed on it. My mother told me once that she hated me (shouted it in my face), but the context was that I was a high spirited 4 or 5 year old and saying I hated her (can’t remember why!), and she snapped and shouted it back. I remember being horribly shocked and upset and her seeming not to care at all. We’ve never spoken of it since and I bet she has completely forgotten the whole thing, but it’s stayed with me my whole life. I don’t let it affect me now, but I am very careful to tell my own children frequently how much I love them (something I have never heard from my own parents although I’m sure they do love me), and I try not to snap at them although I’m not perfect! I think you will just have to make your peace with what happened and move on, either to a happier relationship with your parents or none at all.

grlwhowrites · 14/03/2025 11:47

Trendyname · 14/03/2025 03:36

It has hit a nerve with you for writing this essay to dismiss op's feelings about neglect from her mother.

No nerve hit. At all. I'm a rambler and a writer - did you miss my name on here?

I've tried to give a fair and balanced opinion as a total outsider, offering perspectives from both sides while pointing out she's likely not going to get the validation she wants with this one incident (which, judging from other replies, seems to be the case). This one incident doesn't seem, at all, like "neglect" to me.

I tried to be as clear as possible in my post to avoid back and forth with people keen to disagree and/or argue. You've made your mind up on my opinion, though. We simply don't agree with one another. That's the nature of opinions. You've got yours and I've got mine.

Cordswain · 14/03/2025 05:54

Hi just to say ok my mum bring a career woman doesn’t add to the situation so with hindsight I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I f don’t think there’s anything wrong with women going straight back out to work after their babies are born or men for that matter

The only child bit to be honest isn’t relevant either really. I was just trying to provide context.

Thanks to all who have contributed ❤️

OP posts:
doodahdayy · 14/03/2025 05:51

InWalksBarberalla · 13/03/2025 10:45

Well why is it only context that your mum went back to work, and you didn't mention your dad also going back to work.

Feels like you are holding it against your mum for doing what pretty much everyone dad has done.

Edited

because it’s always the woman’s fault of course. Men can go back to work without being judged

HelmholtzWatson · 14/03/2025 05:44

Dwappy · 13/03/2025 21:18

People are replying to the initial post. The initial post alone does not describe abuse.

Reading the OPs further posts she says there was other patterns of abuse. That’s totally different.

But as a stand alone incident from the memory of a three old it is correct that the memories may not be reliable or accurate.

Thank you.

farmlife2 · 14/03/2025 04:19

It's something my mother would have said, and she was a SAHM btw. My mother wasn't generally very sympathetic about feelings though.

Trendyname · 14/03/2025 03:41

A lot of defensive and dismissive comments by mothers. Apparently, op does not remember well, she does not know why she was screaming despite her explaining in first post she was distressed not finding mother in the house, posters still have to do motherspaining depends on context if you were having a lot of tantrums and mother was at the end of her tethers.

Trendyname · 14/03/2025 03:38

Brefugee · 13/03/2025 12:42

all those who are "all astonishment" at the answers might want to re-read the working mum bashing in the initial post.

No context and working mum (no mention of dad unless specifically asked) bashing? For sure in AIBU you're going to get pushback.

Dont exagerrate. There was no bashing for working mothers in the first post.

Trendyname · 14/03/2025 03:36

grlwhowrites · 13/03/2025 12:39

Firstly, if this is a one off incident, it kind of sounds like you want to have found a “gotcha!” moment from your childhood to prove your mother was a bad parent, and this is your only memory of an unpleasant moment to do that?

If this is part of a wider picture, and you don’t wish to share that wider picture (as is your right, your childhood memories and experiences are yours and you’re not obligated to dish them out to any of us), then you must know this incident, on its own with no other examples of your mum’s behaviour, is never going to be judged by strangers the way it is judged by you. The validation you want will be hard to come by when discussing it on a forum like this.

As we don’t have any more examples of bad moments, I’m only going to judge this one incident. It probably was a little bit harsh to snap at a three-year-old but in all honesty, I likely would’ve done the same. Screaming just goes through me, it makes me panic, my head hurts, I tense up, my ears ring; I just need it to stop. If you were just screaming because you couldn’t see her and she ran in and saw that, she was probably just at the end of her tether and wanted you to stop, too. Or maybe she thought you were in serious danger and had that “oh for goodness’s sake!” knee jerk reaction when she realised that wasn’t the case. Also, you tend to have to raise your voice anyway to be heard over screaming.

Yes, children do need reassurance, and to feel like they can express themselves, but parents are human and are allowed boundaries too and sometimes, they don’t respond the best way when their boundaries are (unintentionally) trampled on by their child. It’s part and parcel of the parent/child relationship; it’s never going to be 100% perfect and parents will definitely make mistakes.

You mention your mum being a career woman but felt no need to say your dad was a career man until asked later. Why didn’t your dad’s career choices require “context”? It does seem unfair, to this causal outsider, that your mum’s work choices are being judged while your dad’s aren’t. Again, just judging off this alone with no further insight or examples, it sounds like you have issues with your mother and your relationship, and perhaps you’re unpacking that and trying to seek out more examples of unpleasantness. Whether that’s because you’re weighing up going NC because she’s a terrible parent and this was the beginning of you feeling belittled/upset by her, or you’re in therapy and remembering long buried things, or you’ve had a fall out and want to remind her of her failings, I don’t know.

Memory is a very tricky beast. It’s not always our friend.

It has hit a nerve with you for writing this essay to dismiss op's feelings about neglect from her mother.

LionME · 13/03/2025 22:05

Dwappy · 13/03/2025 21:18

People are replying to the initial post. The initial post alone does not describe abuse.

Reading the OPs further posts she says there was other patterns of abuse. That’s totally different.

But as a stand alone incident from the memory of a three old it is correct that the memories may not be reliable or accurate.

That’s why it’s always a good idea to RTFT.

Cancel the cheque etc….

Cordswain · 13/03/2025 21:51

LSTMS30555 · 13/03/2025 21:43

@LionME get told to stop screaming is not abuse ffs get a grip!

And I very much doubt the Op was only 3 more like 4/5 for such clear memories.

Yes I could’ve been 4

OP posts:
LSTMS30555 · 13/03/2025 21:43

@LionME get told to stop screaming is not abuse ffs get a grip!

And I very much doubt the Op was only 3 more like 4/5 for such clear memories.

Dwappy · 13/03/2025 21:18

LionME · 13/03/2025 21:15

Wow.
How to tell the victim of childhood abuse that it’s all in theyr head agd didn’t happen 😳😳😳🤬🤬

People are replying to the initial post. The initial post alone does not describe abuse.

Reading the OPs further posts she says there was other patterns of abuse. That’s totally different.

But as a stand alone incident from the memory of a three old it is correct that the memories may not be reliable or accurate.

LionME · 13/03/2025 21:15

HelmholtzWatson · 13/03/2025 13:28

Memories are extremely unreliable, especially at 3 years old. The actual event probably bore very little resemblance to the one you are imagining.

Wow.
How to tell the victim of childhood abuse that it’s all in theyr head agd didn’t happen 😳😳😳🤬🤬

LionME · 13/03/2025 21:13

LSTMS30555 · 13/03/2025 21:07

How do you know you're remember it right though?
Maybe because you were 3 you only remember the "harsh" telling off but maybe before that your mum had been dealing with tantrums & screaming most the day & decided on going in the garden for a breather and couldn't take much more screaming so told you not to 🤷🏻‍♀️ she won't be the first or last mother to need 5 mins to themselves or tell a screaming child to shush.

I’m sure that if the OP can remember being shouted at, she can also remember the fear of thinking her mum had disappeared.

Yes maybe her mum had told her before whatever. It doesn’t change the fear she’d have experienced. And the fa t it clearly rattled her if she can remember it so clearly so many years later.

ItsUpToYou · 13/03/2025 21:12

I don’t think this is harsh, no. I mean it’s a bit short and not the best way to help your kid when they’re upset, even if what they’re upset about does seem ridiculous, but I’m sure we’ve all been a bit short with our kids when we’re exhausted. Especially as “career mums”.

How old are you OP? Surely it isn’t that unusual for a mum to be a “career mum”?

LSTMS30555 · 13/03/2025 21:07

How do you know you're remember it right though?
Maybe because you were 3 you only remember the "harsh" telling off but maybe before that your mum had been dealing with tantrums & screaming most the day & decided on going in the garden for a breather and couldn't take much more screaming so told you not to 🤷🏻‍♀️ she won't be the first or last mother to need 5 mins to themselves or tell a screaming child to shush.

Leavesandacorns · 13/03/2025 18:14

The difficulty with isolated incidents like this is, while not great, they don't tell you much overall.

I remember a similar incident with my mum except we were at a party. However, this was out of character and she was a fantastic mum most of the time. If I'd read your OP without the additional comments, I'd have probably said to cut her some slack.

If you don't put the context of her being awful in general, you're going to get comments that aren't very validating. Be clearer from the start and you'll get more understanding about your childhood. I hope you're ok 💐

BuildbyNumbere · 13/03/2025 18:07

Seriously … how can you even remember this when you were 3 and is the memory even true? Not sure what you are hoping to get from this post?

LawrenceSMarlowforPresident · 13/03/2025 16:50

It also makes a difference about her being a working mum, was it by choice and she could easily afford to stay home or she needed to support you put a roof over your head and food in your belly,?

I completely disagree. It doesn't matter at all whether women work "by choice" or if they "could easily afford to stay home." Women's careers are as important as men's, they shouldn't be shamed into believing that their proper place is at home or that the only acceptable reason for working is financial need.