to think people shouldn't be judgey about things they haven't experienced

[whoneedssleepanyway]

was having a conversation last night with some colleagues about long car journeys and little ones and portable DVD players came up, we have one and it has been a life saver on occasions on long journeys.

my colleauge who has yet to have children piped up "oh there will be none of that with us, it will be I spy all the way".

I resisted saying "good luck with playing I spy for 3 hours with a fractious 3 year old" and kept quiet but it irritated the hell out of me.

it isn't the first time said childless colleague has had an opinion on my child rearing techniques. Grrrr.

I think the worst ones are people with one well behaved child which of course they take all the credit for and atre very judgey about other children.
Until child no 2 turns out to be a right little terrorist !!

Before I had DD I thought I was going to walk down to our allotment every morning with DD who would lie angelically in her pram while Mummy tended the plants, a 21st century Gertrude Jekyll.

The reality ? The allotment is lucky if it gets watered once a week

How do you play I spy in the car? surely whatever you have spyed has long gone by the time you even say the letter

katiestar, yes I know just what you mean. I have a friend with only 1 DD who she feeds nothing but organic home cooked meals and who is not a fussy easter. She was horrified when I told her i fed DS fish fingers and chips and peas a couple of times a week as that is the only thing he is guaranteed to eat. Before I had DS I had DD who I also fed fresh home cooked meals every day and she is also not a fussy eater. Unfortunately I didn't have the energy to tell my friend how things might be completely different if and when she has another DC and she just had no idea given her one unfussy child. I just don't see that friend anymore. Life's too short to waste time with people like that.

I had a huge list of things I was never going to do..... the only one I stuck with was not letting them sit in the supermarket trolley lol

I HATE that, I mean I really really HATE the thought that some random toddler with dog shit on it's shoes has been standing in the trolley where I put my fruit and veg and bits makes me want to boak and soak everything in Miltons

Don't all have a go at me pls, i'm on your side.

Have no children of my own, but, have nannied for over 20yrs and even I quietly laugh sometimes as each new family sets down their own unrealistic rules and regulations about how their babies should be brought up. I get on with it their way through the week and guaranteed come the weekend everything goes to pot when they realise children haven't read the rule book.

As it's my job though I respect their wishes while giving discreet tips along the way.

Have you ever noticed that it is always the people with the completely feral children who want to offer unsolicited parenting advice?

Yeah, cause I want my kids to turn out like yours did...

I think you're being too touchy. It was an opinion, you have every right to disagree.

What I like less is the idea that people without children shouldn't comment on having children, or people with boys can't comment on having girls. Of course they can. And you can choose to disagree and discuss or not.

It is EASY to play I Spy in teh car, you jessups.

yeah, but the six year old always spies something that we have passed by the time he tells us what letter it is. And there's only so many times I can sit through 'WL' for white line or T for tarmac or LP for lamp post...

My 3yr old charge made up his own version saying "I spy with my little eye something begining with yellow/red/green", insert whatever colour you like.

I agree edam there is only so many things you see doing 70+ down the motorway.

Trying to spot the names on Eddie Stobart lorries seems to keep him quite happy, though. Only realised they had names from a thread on here.

You lot obv suffer from povery of mental creativity . You can pick thingks inside the car too you know.

ANyway. Portable dvd players a re great

yeah, we have spotted the Wing Mirrors and the Rear View Mirror and the Steering Wheel and the Dashboard and the Gear Lever and every other thing inside the darn car... it is STILL a very tedious game.

Much funnier in the days before ds learnt how to spell, of course.

Good one to play if you aren't on a motorway is pub leg points - first to spot a pub sign wins however many legs there are on the sign. So the White Horse = 4, Royal Oak = 2 (as I argue King Charles is hiding in it), The Crown is zero, the Queen's Head also zero, while the Fox and Hounds scores as many multiples of four as you think you can get away with. Dh once tried to claim 1m for The Manchester but I argued since he couldn't cite the exact population of Manchester that didn't count.

Sounds like a humorous tongue-in-cheek remark to me

"oh there will be none of that with us, it will be I spy all the way"

portable dvd invaluable diversion.ispy,lol my arse

"we have spotted the Wing Mirrors "

Bloody hell, what is this, Practical Classics for Parents? "How I did a rolling restoration of a P6 Rover to match my 2-stroke Saab whilst feeding my children hand-knitted yoghurt?" When was the last car with wing mirrors made? How many people with children of I-Spy age have even driven a car with wing mirrors? Even the very phrase itself screams "Three Day Week".

So, what do you call the mirrors mounted either side of the car that you use to see if anyone's coming up on your left or right?

When they're mounted on the doors, as they have been for the past thirty years, they're door mirrors. When they're mounted on the wings, as on your dad's old Rover, they're wing mirrors. They were called wing mirrors because they were mounted on the wings. They aren't any more, because they aren't any more.

I was going to say Mark II Escort but the picture implies not. Nice Mark I here with wing mirrors: black, ooh, racy.

When we were kids, my mum used to hate having to drive to Hertfordshire from Leeds because she knew we would be horrors from the start so eventually she gave us a pen and piece of paper and told us to write down the names of every Eddie Stobart lorry we came across.

Our record was 22 and the only thing she got annoyed at was that we used to tell her to drive faster to catch up to the Eddie Stobart lorry up ahead to get the name. Even now it's still a reflex for me every time I see one of those lorries to try and catch the name.

Soon I've got a road trip with my mum and my kids to go and see relatives, can you guess which game they'll be playing?

I think I call them wing mirrors too. Or side mirrors or something else toatlly incorrect and made-up.

Those are door mirrors Edam

Wing mirrors used to be on Ford Capris or other long bonneted cars and were mounted on, well the clue's in the name really, the wing.