to feel absolutely disgusted by what just happened on the bus?

[BreastmilkDoesAFabLatte]

On the bus with DH, toddler DD (19 months) in pushchair and newborn DS (17 days) in sling. Travelling through bog standard, middle class suburbia.

As we board, bus driver snaps that we'll either have to fold the pushchair or get off now. As we're fumbling to fold the pushchair whilst clinging onto a tired and wailing DD, other passangers are elbowing past and paying no attention to DS whom I'm trying to protect, and the bus driver is shouting at me to hurry up.

Nobody at all offers DH or DD a seat, and the only person to offer me one is a woman of at least 70.

Having an ashamed-to-be-British moment.

Who bought a pram to use on a bus thats unsuitable for use on buses?

but some people do think life revolves around them and it iss ok for everone else to be inconvenienced by their child. I'm sorry but that does sound anti-parent. OP was trying to get the bus to a medical appointment, not starting a creche in the gangway. Parents have equal rights to use the bus. They are not less entitled because of their "inconvenient" children.

I just find that phrase a bit mean and offensive like children should be seen and not heard.

I so love how there are all these bus drivers who are worried about being late. They could do with passing that concern on to some of the ones up here.

OP, people could have been nicer, including the bus driver but not everyone is. Maybe a practice run of folding pushchair (both you and your DH) may help for the future when this will inevitably will happen again.

Jonnyfan- the OP's pram WAS suitable for going on a bus. Most prams and pushchairs are foldable these days.

Pinkiemum said her pram was not suitable for the bus, not the OP.

Maybe you find it offensive, but it is true. Many people do seem to have a sense of entitlement to special treatment- above and beyond courtesy or helpfulness due to anyone in need of help- just because they choose to have a child, or two, or three.

Fair enough Jonny, I just flicked back and saw that post by Pinkie.

Jonny- I think you're wrong. I don't think that expecting the milk of human kindness from time to time equates to a sense of entitlement for having kids.

I thought most people expected others to be polite and nice? (regardless of having kids or not)

Crosssshairs- quite.

Being able to push your buggy onto the bus is obviously very nice, but I wonder if it has led to people expecting that they will always be able to do so, and thus just not being prepared if they can't? Plus so many pushchairs are now huge and unwieldy and even if they do fold they don't fold at all efficiently. I used to use the buses a lot when ds and dd were small, before buggies were allowed on board and I did need to be very prepared, and it was very stressful.

I had a concertina style buggy and no you couldn't travel with shopping too, I would have a backpack with our stuff, dd in the sling and ds in the buggy and it was always tricky judging when to fold the buggy as ds had a tendency to bolt, so I'd want to leave it as late as possible, but also not to risk the driver thinking I didn't want to get on and driving off without me (which happened once or twice). The only help I'd want is for someone to tell the driver I was getting on, and maybe to stick my buggy in the little cage they used to have.

I sympathise with the OP, but I don't think that the scenario is terribly surprising, and if I had been looking to get on the bus I probably might have been annoyed that you were trying to fold your buggy totally in the way of everyone else trying to get on board - surely it would have been better to step off the bus, fold and then get on if there was a queue (I appreciate that that might not have been possible).