to think you can want to go to the loo more than once!

[AuntieMaggie]

We were in a sports shop today getting trainers for DP and there was a woman with her dd who was about 7. The poor thing was in tears because she needed the loo but the woman just kept shouting at her. I felt so sorry for her she was practically doubled over she was so desparate and if i'd had more balls i'd have offered to take her into the shop next door to go but I'm afraid she scared me!

She kept saying things like 'you can't be that desperate you only went an hour ago' 'I'm going to get really angry with you in a minute if you don't shut up'

Even DP who usually doesn't notice these things said that if you're more concerned with buying fancy trainers than whether you child wants to go to the toilet you shouldn't have children!

hmmmm

part of me agrees, but i also have one dd who has a fascination with toilets and is a great actress.

Do you know any 7 year olds? or any children older than 2?

I ask because ds2 could HOWL with hunger like he'd been starved for three days, but in fact he simply wanted to leave the shop and go elsewhere. There were real tears and everything.

Well she probably knows her own child.

My DN used to constantly use the excuse she wanted the loo whenever she was bored in a shop.

Oddly enough, she never needed the loo when we were in a toy shop

I'm glad you didn't offer to take the child away to a toilet in another shop. I mean what mother in her right mind would hand her child over to a stranger??

6 toilet demands in 3 hours can be wearing [sighs]

I don't know if YABU.

The child may have an overactive bladder which the mother is trying to help correct.

It is also possible that the child was just looking for attention - some are very very good at pretending.

If the child genuinely needed to go, then you would not BU. However, as we don't know the full story, I can only say that I don't know.

My DD has to go to the toilet.

Over.

And over.

And over.

And over.

It gets a bit wearing when you're trying to get stuff done.

I can remember shouting at my ds in Italy because he wanted a pooh in an inappropriate place. Roman ruins, as I recall. He was just going through a phase when, whenever his parents were animated by something, he would want to divert attention away from the object of our fascination by declaring his need to crap.

Needless to say, when I plonked him on the bog, nothing was forthcoming.

Some German woman tapped on the door and told me that some children have a psychological desire to crap in inappropriate places. I seem to remember telling her where to put her German psychological theories.

Look, we all have bad days when it comes to our kids.

The girl also showed no interest in the new trainers her mother was buying her - she wasn't really nagging her mum more silently crying which I think is what bothered me and the shouting at her included some swear words.

Yes I know plenty of children over 2 and the mums of those that I shared this story with this eve were disgusted!

IM always amazed that parents think they should be respected when they speak to their children like shit, my sister used to talk to her kids like shit, so as they got older the reciprocated by the time they were 15 they were calling her a slag, slut, whore out of the bedroom window whilst she was half way up the street.

In order to get respect from children you have to give it too, it's a two way street.

It is no wonder that some teenagers are all over the place when their parents talk to them so disgustingly.

I'd have tutted if I was there.