AIBU to wait on steps with my injured child outside flats?

well said.
She should have moved here. She should have moved to a better place around the corner which she didn't know about. She should have immediately moved because... angry man. She should have let strange man carry her DD around the corner ( as if an upset DD would allow that)

Sometimes on a busy street a doorway is the safest out of the way place to stand. And that's true in any city. Not just London. I don't find Londoners any ruder than other folk.
She especially didn't want to be by the kerb because of the other tots being too close to traffic.
She knew it wasn't an ideal place to wait, but she had to wait for her friend's assistance.

You don’t even know where she was, and there are lots of reasons people can be rude. He was incredibly rude but he wasn’t entitled to want to step out of his own front door. And besides there’s no reason why that would make OP feel better

In that situation I would have accepted the help. I don't know what more you could have done on your own. At some point it's reasonable to think someone offering to help is doing it for the right reasons and wants to help.

I wouldn't expect people trying to get in and out of their home to be delighted I had chosen their front steps to sit with an injured child. There must have been somewhere else you could go where you weren't blocking a walkway on someone else's property. The guy swearing in French or standing on her hand was horrible. But ultimately you needed to move somewhere safer.

The guy was rude but he might have been feeling really defensive after stepping on your daughter’s hand. It sounds like your child was in the way and I think that was inconsiderate of you. If she was so much in the way that you were apologising to people then I don’t think you should have let her sit there. It sounds like it was a narrow entrance. If someone had vision problems or mobility problems it might have been awkward annd the fact the guy actually ended up stepping on your daughters hand shows how much of an obstruction it was.
It seemed a bit of a daft decision especially when you had a pram and buggy board.

However, I wouldn’t really have registered this if I was coming out the flats as it would be clear that you weren’t planning on staying there forever.

I can see both sides.

We have an apartment in a tourist area and the steps outside do tend to get treated like a chill out zone. Proper irritating it is at times having to wade through the hordes of chip munching visitors to get to the front door.

But…..I say nowt because one day I might be the chip munching visitor on someone else’s steps. Live and let live.

The only acceptable response to an injured child or indeed anyone on your doorstep is “can I help”, “do you need any first aid stuff”, “is it a minor injuries job, do you have a way to get there?”.

Oh OK then....

"Excuse me, I need to use the rail, can you move the child for a mo?".

It's the same point - ask them to move rather than risk falling.

Do you remember which accent Mr Rude had in Messrs. Men? That answers your question.

The reason why those people behave in such an entitled way is because they are financially insecure and they see this as shameful. They bought or inherited what are now very expensive flats from a time where they were affordable, but they cannot maintain them. This makes them incredibly grumpy and often spiteful.

I used to clean these flats. Even when the clinets weren't vile, their neighbours were.

No one says something like that. It's just not how people talk.

This. And the fact his friends were apologising for him indicates he was not being reasonable.

OP, this is one of those threads where people just want to say you were wrong. To make some sort of point...I dunno.

A mother with 4 children, one a newborn and one bleeding and in pain - and people think you were being entitled, selfish etc for sitting her down on the outdoor steps of an apartments block. If she was causing such an obstruction then they are not very wide and suggest a fire risk to me.

I would have stopped and given you support rather than grief.

MN is a different planet sometimes! Your poor DD, I don't know anyone who would complain about an injured child sitting on the step like that.

Not "normal" in the sense that the rest of us understand it. It's not a family area, it's characterised by extreme income inequality and children are often viewed as something of an annoyance, especially if not obviously affluent.

Sitting on stairs is almost always hazardous and inconvenient. Unless the medical emergency is serious enough to need an ambulance I think it is unreasonable. I’d be quite upset if I accidentally trod on a child’s hand and I’d be angry at a parent causing that problem by sitting their child on my doorstep. I wouldn’t have sworn, I’d have covered up my annoyance and offered help - but then you didn’t accept the help offered so you were doubly unreasonable.

Your post just doesn’t make much sense, particularly in the context of this thread.

Wouldn't you just say something like "I can see your DD is hurt and needs somewhere to it, but I am unstable and do need to use the rail. Please can you allow me past?"

You must come across situations like this all the time if you are unsteady on steps.

In that scenario I'd have asked if they wouldn't mind pushing the pram, I'd have instructed 7 yr old to hold handle of pram, popped 5 yr old on my hip and taken 3 yr olds hand.

However if not offered help is have either had 7 yr old hold 3 yr olds hand or have 7 yr old push pram if it's only a short distance.

Mins you is have possibly even lifted 5yr old, had her hold tight, lift 3 yr old onto other hip, sort of hold them against me with elbows while using both hands to push the pram while 7 yr old held pram handle.

I only have 2 kids and my backs gubbed from these sorts of maneuvers so don't do it all the time but for a quick wander to a bench I definitely could

They mostly own the places I am speaking about. Not rent.

Yanbu. You were sat with an injured child not being deliberately thoughtless and anti social. The adults were incredibly rude and unpleasant.

I'm sorry people are so mean OP, I can't believe the amount of people that are bothered and angry by a little girl sitting on some steps when she'd injured her leg. Kindness really has gone out of the window and it makes me sad. If I was there I would have offered help 💐 YANBU

Are people so defunct of empathy these days that they can't manage to walk round a small girl on the steps of their building when she is clearly hurt?
Those moaning about you 'obstructing' need to catch themselves on.
Sorry he was such a knob OP. I would have offered to pop back in to get your little a plaster and a cold compress. Hope she is ok now.

The man wo stepped on her could have been injured as well as your daughter. I fractured my wrist in a fall caused by standing on a childs leg on the stairs in department store. Children were sat on the stairs - admittedly to one side, so everyone had to single file past them. One boy stuck his leg out suddenly, (not deliberately), I stood on it, twisted my ankle and fell. Complete accident, but yep I swore in shock and pain. And the 'oh watch out we're here' remark would have irritated me.