AIBU?
To be apalled at this display of piss poor parenting?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 
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