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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be apalled at this display of piss poor parenting?

119 replies

MaisyMooCow · 19/04/2011 17:11

Today I was queuing in the Post Office. Close by was a woman with her DS of around 12-14 months in his pram. The baby was playing with a Tesco plastic carrier bag!!! His mother had given it to him to play with. He was pulling it to his face and then pushing it up in the air. For a few seconds at a time it lay across his face. The mother just stood there sorting through some papers and dipping in and out of her handbag. I watched with jaw touching the floor, I couldn't believe how stupid she was. Then, she takes it from him, puts stuff into it and puts it back in the rack under the pram.

And if that wasn't bad enough, as they passed me she put a Snickers bar into his hand !!!!

I was so tempted to go and say something but feared the response I may have got from her. I think had she continued to let him play with the carrier bag for any longer I would have definitely of gone up to her.

I feel so sorry for that poor child.

OP posts:
LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 19/04/2011 17:15

... and no Fruitshoot?

Yes the plastic bag is not a toy, the mother probably didn't think, gave it to him to play with to distract him, and didn't think anything of it as she was there with him.

You weren't that appalled though, OP, because if you had been, you would have said something.

sofaqueenie · 19/04/2011 17:15

Carrier bag fair enough......

but Holy shit - not a snickers bar as well?!

PeachyAndTheArghoNauts · 19/04/2011 17:15

YANBU but is it news that there are some crap parents about?

Original poster
MaisyMooCow · 19/04/2011 17:16

I was that apalled however living in Manchester I have learned it is best not to approach anyone unless absolutely necessary.

OP posts:
porcamiseria · 19/04/2011 17:18

are you taking the piss?

thefinerthingsinlife · 19/04/2011 17:18

yawn

Original poster
MaisyMooCow · 19/04/2011 17:19

porcamiseria I'm not taking the piss!

OP posts:
ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 19/04/2011 17:19

Wassup with snickers ?

Carrier bag was stupid tho, I agree

EvenLessNarkyPuffin · 19/04/2011 17:20

Do you mean the choking risk of peanuts?

ForeverNamechanging · 19/04/2011 17:21

OH MY GOD you should have grabbed the child and ran! Poor thing is doomed snickers are shite. Double deckers are the way forward

Original poster
MaisyMooCow · 19/04/2011 17:22

Evenlessnarkypuffin well yes, it has crossed my mind. The child was lying down in the pram, it wasn't propped up at all.

OP posts:
Ormirian · 19/04/2011 17:22

Not piss-poor parenting re bag, just a momentary lapse of concentration and she was there so there wasn't much chance he was going to die of it was there?

snickers is odd - at that age mine would have been sick if I'd let them have a snickers bar.

porcamiseria · 19/04/2011 17:22

words fail me then........

albania · 19/04/2011 17:26

Did she give him the snickers bar to entertain him without the plastic bag?
Confused
She was right there, he wouldn't have choked/strangled/whatever else
I don't think it was piss poor parenting, either.

IslandMooCow · 19/04/2011 17:26

Don't be so quick to judge people. I have in the past given a bag to a child in a similar circumstances as they love crinkly paper. He was in a pram, she was right next to him, trying to get some paperwork sorted asap, then remove bag, job done. The baby was in no danger at all, and probably had no access to bags at other times. I have done this twice I think when desperate (vaguely remember), having brought up two children. The bag was the only thing I could find that would stop the screaming. They just scrunched the bag happily in their hands - didn't put it over their heads!

You saw a tiny moment of their lives, and know nothing of anything else.

EvenLessNarkyPuffin · 19/04/2011 17:27

It's not a food I'd choose to give a baby, but it wouldn't apall me. As the child was lying down eating though, no YANBU. Children that age often don't chew properly and that + nuts + lying down is a risk.

porcamiseria · 19/04/2011 17:31

it scares me to think that are there are people that judgy out there, seriously! are you perfect 24/7?

and in the grand scheme of things this is NOT a biggie

PeachyAndTheArghoNauts · 19/04/2011 17:32

Peanuts in snickers are a choke hazard though aren;t they?

OTOH has any one of us not amde some error? I have. Rarely though, I hope. And whilst I do think judging is pretty noprmal tbh there's a differencce between that and assuming a whole life story from a single action.

I woudln;t have blamed you for pointing out the bag to the Mum though; it is a danger.

ChippingInLovesEasterEggs · 19/04/2011 17:33

Can't see what the problem is here - she was there with him, so he's not going to come to any harm with the bag and I bet the snickers bar was just to amuse him, not even opened.... find something more important to get in a state about.

Original poster
MaisyMooCow · 19/04/2011 17:33

Well porcamiseria probably not a 'biggie' in the scheme of things however I certainly wouldn't encourage a child to play with a plastic bag. Maybe they should make the warning on them a little bit bigger so that the baby can read it!

Sorry to bore you with my meaningless observation. There's a worm thread just started, you should pop in and entertain yourself Grin

OP posts:
SkinittingFluffyBunnyBonnets · 19/04/2011 17:33

I see it lots...people giving plastic bags to kids....its stupid! It's better to not let them think they're ok to play with....I always tell mine they're off limits. Apart from anything the baby coud bite a chunk off and choke!

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 19/04/2011 17:34

I always let DD play with carrier bags, pretty much since she could sit [crap mother obviously]

GabbyLoggon · 19/04/2011 17:35

Its a poetic headline, Maisy. But Barbara Cartland would not have used it

Original poster
MaisyMooCow · 19/04/2011 17:35

Chipping not getting in a state about it merely sharing an observation I which surprised me. Pardon me for joining in on MN.

OP posts:
KatieMiddleton · 19/04/2011 17:37

OMG! That dreadful woman giving her child a diy suicide kit. If the carrier bag doesn't smother him the obesity he'll catch off that Snicker's will probably finish him off.

Quick op, have a Biscuit