to think that ds (8) should NOT stand in front of the car while I park it on a downward sloping icy driveway?

[TheEarthIsFlat]

Sorry for whinging so near Christmas

Came back this morning, in fairly hazardous conditions, from working last night to find dp & the children playing in the front garden. dp went inside & shut the door but told ds he could stand by the front door while I parked. Trouble is, our drive goes up then down so have to rev a bit then glide down, can be a bit hairy at the best of times. All it needed was for practical joker ds to step forward to shock me (which he could easily decide to do - still thinks he's immortal) & horrible things could have happened. In the end I parked on the road instead because ds couldn't understand why I was contradicting his dad.

Anyway, long post for a simple question - was I being over-cautious or was dp being a bit thoughtless? He's much more relaxed than me - when ds was tiny dp would regularly leave stanley knife blades on the floor from diy jobs & get cross with me for 'nagging' so we've definitely got different attitudes. (Not that I'm trying to sway your opinion to agreeing with me , oh no, not at all.)

YADNBU. Never a great idea and especially in these conditions.

There has been more than one person killed in my area because of cars slipping in these conditions, and someone standing either a) in front of the car or b) at the side and getting clipped and pulled under.

YADNBU.

Err... you're the parent - your 8 year old son isn't supposed to be making the decisions!

YANBU

I live on a hill and only this morning I have seen adults standing in front of a car as it threatened to slide down the hill.

Why didn't you stop the car and tell your ds to go inside?

Why didn't you tell him to move?

So are you annoyed at DS for being there, or DP for not giving him sensible advice/instructions? No-one should ever be standing in front of a car which is going forwards, or behind a reversing car. Never, ever, in any circumstances. Or as Jeezy sas, near either side in current conditions.

You need to explain to DS why you need him to keep clear. If you can't get through with "its dangerous" you could also try "because it distracts me and I might make a mistake"

You should have told ds in no uncertain terms to move - and why - and told your dh he had not thought it through.
Now the car is parked outside and your daft dh and 8 year old are no wiser about safe behaviour. 8 yo is plenty old enough to know hat messing about in front of moving cars is idiotic, and practical joker or not, you shouldn' need to worry that this is something he might do.
Don't be a victim.