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Original poster

WWYD if the child behind you kept kicking your seat?

54 replies

Babyleafy · 25/02/2023 18:54

I've been to the football, sat in the same seat I've sat in for 29 years 😆 It's a small lower league club usually poorly attended but a mixture of a change of fortunes and some special offers on tickets means the last couple of games have been near sellouts.

This should be a good thing and it largely is, except that some people don't know how to behave! E.g we had "get your tits out for the lads" today which I don't think I've heard in more than a decade. TBF it was short lived and self policed, they were soon shushed by other supporters.

Anyway behind me were two men and 4 boys c. 7/8 yo and one kept kicking my chair, hard.

What I did was say quietly and calmly "be a good lad and stop kicking my chair please".

I had no idea this would be wrong. When my DC were that age I'd have been embarrassed and apologetic that anyone had needed to ask. I'm not saying it would never have happened, kids do stuff, but I'd have apologised and made it stop. This is not what the dads did....

OP posts:
honestlyno · 25/02/2023 21:57

*goes without saying, the parents should have seen and put a stop to it.

Ariela · 25/02/2023 22:22

I had the same issue with bored kids post op in hospital, nowhere to sit while visiting next bed so kept ramming my bed. Was so painful I kindly explained to them that I'd had an op and every time they leant back and rammed the side of my bed it really hurt me, so could they please stop and they were of course welcome to use my chair which they did and stopped - only for me to be given a mouthful by the parent. So I got the nurse to shut my curtain.

Poisonrunningthroughmyveins · 25/02/2023 22:30

Pringleface · 25/02/2023 21:15

Is ‘you can’t speak to the children’ a new thing? I don’t see a problem with addressing a strange child in a polite but firm tone to stop doing something. If you say it to the parent, they invariably immediately go on the defensive and claim their little darling hasn’t done anything wrong.

Show quote history

Not new.
I have a young adult and when the DC were about 7/8 one of my friends went on a rant about ‘not having people tell my DC off’. Seemingly just asking someone’s kid to not do something is a telling off!

When we were that age every one from the neighbours to the shop keeper would tell you off if needs be. It often had more effect than your parents telling you off anyway. It takes a village and all that.

Wishihadanalgorithm · 25/02/2023 22:36

The dad was a twat and I think by the time the kid is about 14 they will be an entitled so and so.

OP, you did nothing wrong.

SeasonFinale · 25/02/2023 22:40

Wishihadanalgorithm · 25/02/2023 22:36

The dad was a twat and I think by the time the kid is about 14 they will be an entitled so and so.

OP, you did nothing wrong.

After hearing the kid's comment about the physio I think he already is

Morechocmorechoc · 25/02/2023 22:54

And this is everything that wrong with the world. Kids can do whatever they like and noone can say anything.

Of course you can tell the child to stop doing something he shouldn't be doing. Good grief. So pathetic.

JaniceBattersby · 25/02/2023 23:00

I enjoy it when other people tell my kids off. They often listen to them much more than they ever listen to me. Obvs if someone was going potty at them I’d probably step in but otherwise they are welcome to crack the fuck on.

pilates · 26/02/2023 06:48

God that is sad you’re not allowed to politely speak to other peoples children. You get a mental picture how the children will turn out. Nasty and aggressive. You did nothing wrong btw.

ItchyBillco · 26/02/2023 07:33

They all sound like scum, OP. Can’t afford a man physio? Ugh.

cptartapp · 26/02/2023 07:38

These are the DC that will be running amok in McDonalds in a few years time as per another thread.
I bet he wouldn't have spoken like that to you if you were male.

Skinnermarink · 26/02/2023 07:59

I have no idea what you’re on about with the man physio comment, really don’t get it.

But for the rest, YANBU. I’m a nanny and speak to the children first! Always have done. There was a boy being really rough at soft play the other day around much smaller children, so I reminded him that he needed to be careful because there were babies around (he was in the baby bit, chucking cushions etc around) He was fine with it. It is not the first or last time I have to tell someone’s kid off.

His mum just rolled her eyes and went back to her phone.

pilates · 26/02/2023 08:04

Skinner, I’m presuming it was a female physio and they were making derogatory remarks

Skinnermarink · 26/02/2023 08:05

pilates · 26/02/2023 08:04

Skinner, I’m presuming it was a female physio and they were making derogatory remarks

Ah ok! thanks for that.

dancinfeet · 26/02/2023 08:08

it’s fine to tell the adult / or the child to stop as far as I was concerned. My daughter had it at the theatre, west end show tickets, not cheap and a boy was kicking her chair all through the show. We had a word with his parent at the interval, and she was full of excuses, it continued into the second half and when he put his feet up on the back of her chair and ended up kicking my daughter in the back of the neck hard enough to bring tears to her eyes I turned around and gave him a sharp telling off. He then managed to behave (sulk) for the last part of the show. If parents aren’t actively controlling their children and it is having a direct impact on our experience of something we have paid quite a bit of money for and saved for (we don’t routinely go to the theatre due to finances) then yes I will tell them off myself.

Stickytreacle · 26/02/2023 08:09

Ah, the type of mysoginistic parenting that thinks society should never reprimand their misbehaving kids, but probably also expects society to provide everything when they want it.
f course an adult should be able to speak to a child that is being a nuisance. You did the right thing OP.

Stickytreacle · 26/02/2023 08:11

Oops misogynistic I mean

cansu · 26/02/2023 08:15

This is typical tbh. No one wants their kids to be told off. I experience this frequently as a teacher. It is always someone else's fault.

whatthebejesus · 26/02/2023 08:20

They're ridiculous. I would have spoken to the kids too (and have done!)

My kids are 6. If they were kicking the back of someone's chair then I'd be fine with someone telling them to stop.

WarningToTheCurious · 26/02/2023 08:27

I’ve politely asked a 4 yr old to stop kicking the back of my airplane seat after I’d put up with it for 30 minutes and the mother had a right cow about it, telling me off for speaking to her child whilst doing nothing herself to stop the kicking. The child did stop though - I got the impression she wasn’t used to being asked to behave.

Santasoorplooms · 26/02/2023 08:28

You did nothing wrong. Those kids will grow up to be exactly like their dads.

DilemmaDelilah · 26/02/2023 08:29

I was at the theatre last night and had an adult jiggling the back of my seat with his knees the whole of the second half. It was so annoying! I tried to make it obvious that I was finding it annoying but I think he was completely oblivious. If he had been doing it during the first half I might have said something in the interval - but I may have been too much of a wuss. I had several inches of space between my knees and the seat in front so it's not as if he wouldn't have had enough room for his legs!

twilightcafe · 26/02/2023 08:42

20 years ago, I had to tell a child to stop holding up a tram by running in and out of the doors as it was trying to leave.
Got a mouthful from Dad ... 'Don't you tell off my child...'
Me: 'well, someone had to If you won't!'

Overthebloodymoon · 26/02/2023 09:05

Some people are just feral.

VegetablesFightingToReclaimTheAubergieneEmoji · 26/02/2023 09:28

Nope I’m with you op. Why shouldn’t you talk to the child? They are a fellow human after all and social interactions are normal.

hed have picked a fight with you whatever happened and however you dealt with it. He was just a twat

Gruffling · 26/02/2023 09:39

"the old bat's having a go at the kids"

So your actual crime was to be an older woman at a football match.

I suspect if a man had addressed the children the dad would have responded 'sorry mate' and told the boys to stop.

You did nothing wrong OP. As a parent, I've noticed that some parents are raising their young boys to be rude, entitled little f***s.

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