What are the worst social faux pas that new parents make?

[ThinkingUpsideDown]

I've seen some pretty heated threads over the last week, from bringing children to 'adult only' events to parents letting their children run wild in cafes. As a rookie mum of a 6-month-old, I am keen NOT to lose friends and piss off strangers.

What would you consider the worst social faux pas that (new) parents make? Is there an unwritten code of etiquette? Have you been in any situations recently that made you think 'how obnoxious!', 'Are they serious?' or '"What were they thinking?'

Genuinely curious to hear the responses!

Agree with all the pet peeves above.

As someone with no kids, I'd add just say your baby is a year old instead of 47.5 weeks or 7980 hours or whatever, I really can't be arsed to do the maths and developmental stages mean nothing to me.

Understand that your child is not a deity, we all wish them health and happiness but we don't need nor want a hourly/daily or even monthly update. And no your child is not invited everywhere.

Losing your identity the "mumma bear" stage 🤢 🥱

The one thing that gets me (and I probably did it myself when my lot were small!) is the 'precocious' thing. The baby is six weeks old and is dribbling, as they do, and mum smiles indulgently and says 'oh, he's teething.' She then says this every time you meet, despite the child being resolutely toothless until he's a year old. Also baby babbling meaninglessly and mum smiles indulgently and says 'he's trying to say 'doggie' (or 'mummy' or 'daddy' or 'inverse law of proportional returns' as it may be). No, he's not, he's just babbling. It's what babies do. They aren't a genius, they're just being a baby.

And that's fine.

Calm down on the photos and videos unless asked.

Thankfully landlines aren't much of a thing now, but my friend went through a feckin annoying phase of letting her toddler answer the home phone whenever it rang.

I'd have to get through 5 or 6 minutes of incoherent babbling, before making the decision whether to hang up or wait 🤬

All very understandable peeves. I am definitely guilty of over sharing photos on my FB story but I think that's the only one. I suppose it gets more tricky as they get older. As an introvert, Im not looking forward to navigating the whole school mums, play dates, birthday party etiquette.

This drives me mad! My baby is 400 months old, is he developing normally? My child is in year 12 ...

I don't know school years as they didn't do them like that when I was at school so I have to look them up!

Lordy this
I've seen FB posts like 'he can't get enough broccoli' 🙄🙄🙄

DD ate prawns at 11 months. Didn't touch them again for 23 years. Similar with mushrooms- that was only 16 years though.

It's meaningless.

When my baby arrived we had lots of visitors and one thing I noticed was a lot of kids were let roam around our house upstairs in our bed room and everything ! One kept opening and closing the front door and knocking while baby was sleeping and not one parent corrected them .... I was shocked I will never let my child roam freely around a house I'm visiting . And I definitely wouldn't let them do what ever they wanted and not correct them .

Definitely use common sense changing nappies. I always left the room for dirty ones, and empty the pooh in the loo. Don't put a dirty nappy in their kitchen bin. Take it home!
I used cloth nappies and it grossed me out when people put dirty nappies in my bin under my island bench.
(Was never brave enough to say anything)
Congratulations!

Would you say it's acceptable to put nappies in a outside bin when you're out and about? Or should they always be taken home?

If you're using public transport and a wheelchair user needs to get on, get out of the wheelchair space without complaint. If you haven't got a pram that folds up, be prepared to get off the bus.

When they get to the weaning stage, try to clean up a bit in cafes/restaurants. You don't have to whip out a mini vacuum cleaner, but don't let them grind a muffin into the soft furnishings and then leave it to the staff to deal with.

Phones/tablets can sometimes be a lifesaver, but get some kids headphones so they're the only one who can hear whatever they're watching.

Some places are better than others for letting your toddler practice their wobbly walk; power-walking commuters will not be looking for them and will trip over them.

Teach them how to behave around dogs.

Yes, this, definitely. Don't wait to be asked, do be looking out to see if a wheelchair user is about to get on. It's easier to do if you keep the bottom basket of your buggy free of stuff. In the past I've asked a friendly looking fellow passenger to hold my baby while I folded the buggy and it's always been fine.

Saying how cute/special/clever your child is

Millions of photos - no-one cares

Making excuses for poor behavior - once again, no-one cares

Exceptionlsim - you are not special and not the first person to have a child

Yes, it's tough and tiring and rewarding - we all know

As an introvert, Im not looking forward to navigating the whole school mums, play dates, birthday party etiquette.

^
Prepare yourself for people to constantly bring other kids along to events - siblings etc..

And overstay their welcome if you host

Omg this. I had a handful of friends who allowed their children to suffer awful teething pain and fevers all while they themselves were taking an ibuprofen for headache brought on by baby screaming bad crying. Why?? Why?? Why let your baby suffer seriously terrible behaviour.

Very good.

I worked with a woman over 25 years ago who spoke extensively about her 2 year old’s hard “poo nobbles”. To this day if she is mentioned in conversation people say “oh, nobbles?”

@fernty 💩🤢🤐

@poppyzbrite4

"I don't know school years as they didn't do them like that when I was at school so I have to look them up!"

Thank god I'm not alone. School for me was infants followed by junior and then senior which consisted of 1st year through to the 6th form.

Yes!! So it's not just me. It's very confusing.

As someone who works in a food and drink place… please don’t change nappies on the tables (happens more often than you think!)
Dont let your children run loose in cafes etc… it’s an eating establishment, not a playground, people are patting to sit and enjoy their food, not to listen to your child! Well-behave little ones who sit down and behave are always welcome!
If your child is sick, wets or poos themselves please tell us! So many people buffet off and don’t tell us so we can’t clean it up.. not nice for us, but vile for our other customers!

Avoid changing nappies anywhere even remotely public. Nobody wants to see (or smell) that. Close relatives probably won't particularly want to suffer it either.

Definitely not just you and I also have to google what the new "years" mean to make sense of a post. They could be talking about a 7 year old or a 16 year old!