To be apalled at this display of piss poor parenting?

[MaisyMooCow]

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.

So what, she was there, he wasn't likely to suffocate was he?

I've had toddlers in prams and I'd give them anything to keep them quiet rather than have them kick of holy blue stink and be judged for that too!

But then, I can guess you would of started a thread saying 'aibu to think she should of controlled her child better and shut him up'!

btw parenting aside any chance you could refrain from Mancunian bashing - really not needed and says more about you than you might realise

I think I would have said something. In fact I did say something to someone the other day as their baby was playing with a nappy sack. That's before that coroner came out with a warning about how dangerous they are the other week as a baby died after pulling one out from under their buggy seat.

I genuinely wasn't sure if the mother realised the baby had it in her hands and round her face, so I just asked if she knew.

Gah, I am sorry Puffin. You'd think that my current status of revising for my english lit degree exams would have me fine tuned to alliteration wouldn't you. Balls.

If you give a baby a plastic bag to play with while you are watching you MUST expect they will think it is something they can play with when you aren't watching. Stupid parenting IMO.

Slightly off thread but what's wrong with saying something to a Mancunian?

That's what I am trying to establish CheshireDing. Its cos we're all rough as fuck innit.

I was wondering that too cheshire ding and suwoo and I'm not even from Manchester! (t'other side o't Pennines)

Maybe it's cos all Northerners are rough and nasty when confronted eh?

yanbu
playing with a plastic bag is dangerous, yes she was there but if you let them do it when you are watching, they will think it is ok when you arn't

Why don't we talk to Mancunians? Did I miss something?

Clearly all this unpleasantness could have been avoided had she only been using a Waitrose cashmere reusable tote.

Well it would have been kinder to the skin

Well, obviously the OP just wanted to come and have a bitching back-patting session as she didn't say anything, so what was the point, really?

LyingWitch ?

Oh we all do it sometimes, MaisyMooCow, but next time you see something like that - get near the door and say your bit... and then scarper, you'll feel better for it!

Good advice actually lying. If I was more articulate and able to put my point across reasonably to people I might speak up more in situations. I just know it will come out completely wrong and I'll end up seriously offending them rather than trying to be helpful.

It is difficult sometimes, you don't know how people will react... will they thump you or just dissolve into tears and you'll be the bad guy?

I was thinking how I'd deal with the same issue and the best I could come up with (and it wasn't good) was to grab the bag and say to the Mum, "You dropped this". But then she might have given it back to him anyway.

It's the same with pets, my dogs are always rooting around in bags and I grab them away, it is dangerous. Thankfully, the carrier bags have small holes in the bottom but I wouldn't like to risk it.

Next time you see it, grab the nearest safe thing from the shelves and give it to the baby, whipping the bag out of harm's way... Mum can then pay for whatever it is as a penance for giving her baby a bag to play with.

Giving a child that young a snickers bar is poor - why why why do some parents do this to young children when there are so many other snacks they could give?! But instead they load them up with a taste for sugar. So stupid.

yabu about the bag, but yanbu about the snickers.
They frigging love plastic bags. Oxodegradeable supermarket Carrier bags are not the types associated with suffocation.

ragged good to know re the Oxodegradeable bags however I don't think a kid is going to stop and consider the bag type before it pops it over it's head. I just think keeping all bags out of reach is the best bet.

Had a bad hair day today, could have done with putting one over my head! :)

I think there are better things to get your knickers in a twist about.

It's not THAT bad is it? Because the mum was right there, she hadn't left him unattended with the bag. Obviously, not great but the child wouldn't have died right in front of her.

Bag-playing-child's mum could have lit up a lit up a fag as she left the PO, texting madly whilst telling her little darling to "Shut the F* up or You'll get a slap". Now that'd be "piss poor parenting". I could barely bother to raise my eyebrows at what OP described.