to have reminded this person that it's polite

[FeelAwkward]

to put things back when you / your dd has borrowed them?

ds's scooter went missing in the playground this morning, I spotted a little girl using it, & her mum said "oh is this yours?" I said yes and fine to use it but please put it back where you got it from, ie this spot here.

but of course she doesn't, I have to hunt round for it, had already seen the girl dragging it through sandpit and over grassy area, then abandoning it on far side of playground.

so as I was leaving, I went up to the mum, and said (quite nicely!) "look it was fine to borrow it, but it would have been polite to put it back where you found it as I asked"

In return I got a bit of bluster about where it had been left, dark looks, shaken head, and stomping off to her mates to mouth off about me. Now think I should have just said nothing. But really annoyed by how people are just inconsiderate and ill-mannered. WIBU and petty??

i think you were very restrained and polite and she is an ill mannered chav. You are the better person, know it, own it, rise up and smile superiorly!!

She was out of order, and the blustering was embarrassment, because she knew it.

People do take liberties.

well I am probably this mum, I always feel I can't do right for doing wrong, everyone else knows the way things work but me. Any chance there could ahve been a mix up as to where she got it from? maybe the daughter had gto it and the mum didn't know where from? or you could be right and she is just rude!

Ah, but she was still in the playground and you were leaving? So actually, perhaps she thought her kid hadn't finished playing with it. Perhaps she was intending to return it to the favoured spot but you were ready to leave first so she hadn't had a BLOODY CHANCE. All right? You wanna make something of it?

(Yeah. She was rude - and I am sure massively embarrassed.)

Stealth, do you really let your child take other children's scooters and play with them all over the place? And without asking? I NEVER used to let DS do this.

no, not that bit i suppose
just feel like a fish out of water at the parenting thing sometimes
and "put it back where you got it" could be tricky if you don't know where that was! (my ds is 3 btw)

I had clocked that her dd had left it elsewhere before we were leaving. She was running around near her mum without the scooter. I had clearly asked the mum to leave it where they found it, and pointed to the place in question.

Perhaps she was embarrassed, though I was polite. I did think I should have just left it and that I'm turning into my Mum who is never shy of speaking her thoughts. But tbh I thought she was a bit cheeky just letting her dd take it in the first place (I am with Blu on this) and as I had asked her to put it back, thought she could have been taking more care over someone else's things.

the taking thing was definitely cheeky, and from what you say there wasn't any confusion over where to leave it, so no ywnbu

Well done for speaking up! Especially as you had already politely asked her to put it back when finished. YANBU at all!

god i get irritated enough at the borrowing-without-asking thing... would never let my kids do it but happens to us all the time in the park...

Yanbu, I would never let DD use a scooter in the playground that belonged to someone else in the first place, so I think she was rude to do so!

Well done for speaking up! I would have probably gone to get the scooter without saying anything and then huffed and puffed and whinged to everyone else about it!

YANBU, good for you for speaking up. Too many people these days don't have manners. I wouldn't have let my child take someone elses property in the first place, unless it was a friend who said that they could borrow it.

I never let my smalls do this but it does happen all the time. We go to a park with a large sandpit and I always make sure I have the buckets and spades with us. I seem to be the only one, however, as children gather like vultures as soon as they spot them. If I am nearby, I say to the other children "sorry my love but my children are playing with them right now - why dont you go and ask your mummy where your B&S is?" which generally gives a bit of respite. However the other day, they went completely awol and I had to search the whole playground until I found some boy walking around with them in his hand (miles away from the sand) with his mum and gm. As soon as he put them down, I pounced on them saying something like "oh good, here they are. Better scoop them up now as we are going soon. One of the women then tried to return a spade to me that wasnt one of ours!! Irritating to say the least and no, YANBU.

I'm not sure whether you were BU or not, but LMAO @ 'You should have punched the thieving skank.'

YADNBU. At all.