I hate to comment on others parenting, BUT...

[BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability]

I've just seen a post on facebook saying that someone is proud that their 6 week old baby has just eaten a whole jar of puree...

Has anyone else seen examples of interesting parenting first hand that they thought were the stuff of MN myth? I honestly didnt think that people this, ahem, naive existed!

Are you for real Rilly?

Why do you parent in this way if you know it's not good enough?

my neighbour put her 2 year old in a bucket seat (one of those for birth-13kg)with a handle forward facing in the car.. ive told the police (when i rang them becuase she left the children (2,4,5 and 8) alone and went out for 2 hours)

Rilly, I can understand about the lollipops, chips and whatever. That's your choice what you give your dc's. I'm the same, I let ds have lollies in hot weather, he's had a few sips of my fizzy drink (albeit lemonade)

But why didn't you get a proper trolley for the children to sit in? Is your dd okay?

My 15 month old can often be seen walking around with a diet coke can BUT it has come straight from the recycling sack and is empty - she likes the shiny silver I think. I do wonder whether I am being judged by people who assume it's full :)

Can't believe you got so far along the parenthood journey without encountering some of this stuff. First ultrasound scan I ever went to there was a toddler there (?18 months) chugging on her own (plastic, obvious) bottle of coca cola. Early postnatal check with DC1 there was a lady there, her 7 month old having a chocolate bar -- when I politely asked she insisted (not defensively, just casually) that the HV had said that it was fine.

There's a rough woman, mother of 7, I pass by her house many times daily, finally got a chance to chat with her the other day (wanted to for ages, consumed by nosiness curiousity). She introduced herself as "Everybody around here knows me as the Bitch"). I can't make myself dislike her, too many disorganised-lives-rough-people in my own background.

I have a friend who, age 5, in about 1971 used to be left alone, in charge for an hour or so of her 2 younger siblings. Little shocks me now, I reckon.

The HV probably did say it was fine because compared to all the other shite she sees a 7 month old with a chocolate bar is no big deal.
I remember seeing a mum on the back a single decker bus smoking, after it was banned but who was going to say anything, asked her 7/8 year old to hold her fag, the kid burnt herself and then got basically punched in the head for dropping it.

I was on the bus the other day, buggies in the sun coming through the window, really hot. Must have been 30C+. Everyone sweating, wearing tshirts. The lady next to me had her I guess 3 month old baby in her black buggy, in the sun. Baby was wearing a long sleeved thick fabric tshirt, a hoody with the hood up, a hat (!!), some kind of undergarment, and a BLANKET over her legs.... I didn't check but I suspect she was probably wearing long johns, trousers and woollen socks too!

I can beat that one, we stopped a woman on the underground on sat who had her raincover up, there was water (probably warm) dripping on to the baby's face like condensation because of the sun and the heat, it must have been like a green house in that pram I seriously worried the baby would die. She took the cover off but not a word of thanks or silly me, nada.

It got to the stage, a couple of years ago, where it would rile me so much to see babies so overdressed for the heat or kids in buggies with the sun glaring right in their eyes that i decided to just say something and suffer the consequences.

Now I just say: 'You need to take a few layers off your baby' or 'the sun is right in your daughter's eyes.' Fuck it nobody has hit me yet

I was trying to think of an answer as to why I don't brush their enough and to be brutally honest is because in that area I am lazy. The dentist checked their teeth and told me to continue what I was doing so go figure.

As for the trolley, there no double seat trolleys available, both children run off in the supermarket and I didn't have time to run after them. However that decision backfired. She is fine.

No excuses. I need to do better. I am not perfect.

Every day on a school morning I see a mum come out of her house to do the school run with her toddler drinking orange squash out of a baby bottle. I've toyed with the idea of anonymously shoving this picture through her door.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=dental+caries+bottle+mouth&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbm=isch&tbnid=edJSjAxprZ6LqM:&imgrefurl=www.kidzdentalclinic.com/nutrition.htm&docid=2JfRp25ZIRdHfM&w=200&h=150&ei=QF86TsGsLM2w8QO8vPn2Ag&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=877&vpy=362&dur=4560&hovh=120&hovw=160&tx=48&ty=52&page=2&tbnh=120&tbnw=160&start=28&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:28&biw=1280&bih=899" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">yuck

There was a women in the bed next to mine when ds3 was born who got shouted at by a mw who caught her asleep with the baby in it's cot bottle proped up in it's mouth, she also refused to use the disposable hospital bottles and never sterilised the bottle she bought from home, the baby was prem and weighed under 4 lb she refused to do the waking and feeding every 3 hours, just wanted to demand feed and wasn't interested in getting the advised amount of feed into the baby either. I do sometimes wonder how the baby got on when discharged from hospital

One of the saddest things I ever saw was at a bus stop. A little girl aged about four or five was trying to get her mother's attention. The mother was chatting to her friend. Finally, the girl managed to say something and the mother yelled at her - 'you stupid little mong....you always want the fucking toilet, I'm fucking sick of it....' and then she dragged her by the arm a few paces away from the bus stop and got the kid to pull down her knickers and wee in the gutter.

I've got myself upset just remembering it :(

Guys, about aspartame and coke:

www.snopes.com/cokelore/tooth.asp

www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

Everyone should make up their own mind of course.

Usualsuspect is bang on the money about teenagers' diets. My three all have their own money (from their paper rounds) as well as the dinner money we give them, and we know damn well that they eat crap for lunch every day. During the holidays they buy crap from the shop when they go to pick up their papers, and bring it home - I'm talking Rustlers or supernoodles.

Ds3 buys himself ready meals from the coop or morrisons - last week he had a microwaveable spaghetti carbonara for his lunch, and the real thing (home made) for dinner.

And they all know about good food, and enjoy proper, home made, nutritious meals. They all eat a wide range of vegetables, and I cook proper meals almost every day. I honestly don't understand how they can stomach the crap that they buy. I buy decent bread, and nice things to put in sandwiches, and they prefer processed crap - but take them to a restaurant, and they will choose something adventurous and tasty. I do not understand it.

I was in town a few weeks ago and saw a lady absolutely off her face on something, she had little girl around 1 sitting in a buggy, the women bought some pasties gave one to the girl, it was obviously to hot for her, the women stuffed hers in her mouth chucked the rubbish on the floor and staggered off nearly tipping the buggy over ad she couldn't walk straight. They didn't look very clean either, thankfully I saw some sercutity guards and a police women follow her and stopped to talk to her.

Security guards

where I live its routine for mums of very small kids (as young as one) to buy them McDonalds fries and leave them to get on with it.

I've seen the coke thing too. I was at work a couple of years ago (on customer service desk) and right infront of me a woman with 2 cans of coke emptied them into this little girls bottle and gave it to her. I have seen them a few times since and the state of the girls teeth is just awful she also gives her chewing gum as sweets. I think she is probably about 2 years old.

Baby changing room. Mum comes in with older baby, changes nappy and fills up the baby bottle with water from the tap over the sink. (Is it just me being precious or is would you also have been taken aback?)

Decade ago when I was working in a children's ward. 11 month old left with Coca-Cola in its bottle. Poor boy was grey. He looked a lot healthier after a few days with us, but the parents kept coming back and leaving a baby bottle of coke in his cot.

To the person who was disbelieved about the apple juice and 3 month old, my friend saw a similar thing. Infant in pram, still small enough to be in her infant carseat, with a fruit shoot propped next to her mouth.

6 months+ tap water is fine, so no that wouldn't shock me. Perhaps the baby doesn't drink from cups.

To the poster who said that a nursery child told them he hadn't had breakfast because mummy was sleeping and lunch was crisps, one day when I picked DS up from the childminder he told me that for lunch he'd had "chips and sauce". I know that CM prides herself on giving healthy meals so there's no way he would have had this - sometimes children just make stuff up.

(It is believable though which is the sad thing)

I saw a woman dunk her baby's dummy in coke and give it back to him, that's the worst I've seen coke-related. XP used to give DS neat ribena and fruit shoots at about 15 months as well I asked him not to and he agreed but then ignored me completely.

The whole coke dissolving a tooth overnight is an urban myth. Apparently if you put a tooth in a glass of coke it will dissolve eventually in something like a month. However if you put a tooth in any liquid it will dissolve- so as long as you brush your teeth regularly it will be fine toothwise.

I frigging LOVE these threads. I am the judgiest judger in all of judgeville, and I don't care. Judge away, ladies

sevendwarves - between 18mo and 3yrs DS would often choose when he wanted to go to bed - if he didn't have to be up at any specific time, and had teeth brushed and jamas on, we were fine with it because we got to spend more time with him (and he had/has no issues with sleep, etc) - so had we had a dog I daresay there would have been occasions when he went to sleep in the dogs bed.

Doesn't happen any more, because if kept up/allowed to stay late, DD looks like she has 2 black eyes and is generally a nightmare the next day