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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think my Dad was being totally reckless when he took DS upstairs in our local department store via the....

308 replies

DollyDaisy · 20/12/2011 22:46

escalator? DS is 8 months old and was in his pram at the time!

I was furious as thought Dad was following me to the store's lift. But apparently it was quicker to take the direct route and he just wedged the bugaboo onto the escalator and up they went.

Mum was horrified too.....but the DH couldn't see the problem either. Or are all men in my family just totally clueless?

OP posts:
Thumbinnapuddingwitch · 21/12/2011 09:41

Show, I think you choose your own acceptable risks. I used the escalator/travelators with DS, had top stairgates but not bottom ones, no socket covers (because they're DANGEROUS) and still haven't let him near a sharp knife (he's now 4). So - half and half here too.

Francagoestohollywood · 21/12/2011 09:45

Well, I never did it, but even so... nothing happened... I wouldn't loose my time on this.

mollymole · 21/12/2011 09:47

Did you have aterrible experience whilst out with your father when you were 8 months old, probably not and he managed OK when taking you out.

hackmum · 21/12/2011 09:52

LOL at Fanjo's "competitive nonchalance".

I would avoid taking a pushchair (and certainly a pram) on an escalator if a lift was available. I have done it occasionally out of desperation but didn't like doing it. I once took a pushchair on a London Underground escalator when DD was about four months and didn't much like it. I appreciate it's much harder if you live in London - escalators are hard to avoid if you want to go out and about. But still best avoided if you can. There is a reason why there are signs telling you not to do it.

4madboys · 21/12/2011 09:54

oh and for those of you that assume lifts are the safer option, when ds1 was about 2 or 3 i went to go into a lift with him and the lift doors shut and trapped the pushchair, buckling the frame of the maclaren that he was in. luckily a passenger in the lift pressed the emergeancy button and so members of staff then came and helped free the trapped pushchair. i have noticed lift doors often close and some you can stop with your hand, but others are heavy, they are 'meant' to stop shutting if they hit something but this doesnt always happen and even so when it first hits a small child before stopping its enough to hurt them, trap fingers etc. so there are risks in pretty much everything you do.

i dont have socket covers and i let my kids peel and chop veg etc, i also have them in the kitchen when i cook, which was outrageous according to a poster on another thread Hmm

i am happy doing what i do with my kids and ALSO happy to let others get on and parent how they see fit, if you dont want to go on an escalotor, or let them chop veg whatever, do what you want with YOUR children and i shall carry on doing what i wish with my children *disclaimer obviously if you are being abusive or neglectful to your children ie physical abuse then i will judge and if necessary report you. but how you negotiate getting between different floors in a shopping centre etc, i care not!

MamaMaiasaura · 21/12/2011 09:55

YABU but that's because I do this too, mainly because so many lazy bastards use lift and can't get in with pram.

Whatmeworry · 21/12/2011 09:56

Re Kids in Cars...
yes, because cars have warnings on them with a big cross through them showing not to put children in.

Re Prams on Escalators:
There is a reason why there are signs telling you not to do it.

Do you really think that's because Escalators are much more dangerous than cars?

NeuromanticisedVisionsofXmas · 21/12/2011 09:56

There are signs on coffee telling you its hot too, do you need them to tell you not to drink it?
And do you always pick up children to go through the turnstiles at the station? Because there are signs on that too telling you to do so.

There are instructions everywhere, some you abide by, some you don't. I don't care whether anyone else chooses the same as me or not, I do object to the shreiking frothers giving out stink about how reckless it is to do it. Its not if you have a brain in your head.

CarefullyAirbrushedPotato · 21/12/2011 09:57

I agree that lift is preferable where available, but if I didn't haul the pram up escalators I would have been prevented from using London Underground altogether and I'm not intending to stay walking distance from home for the next five years.
Is it one of those things that's probably statistically safer than going for a drive? Or making a cup of tea?

MamaMaiasaura · 21/12/2011 09:59

Ooo 4madboys - I let my almost 4 year old peel carrots, so I'll join you in your corner. And my 11 year old can cook, chop vegetables and make cup of tea without supervision. He also owns Swiss army knife, leatherman (and sheath knife tho it's kept at his dads). Tho I have socket covers cos when I was small I stuck emery board in and turned it on... Everything went bang Blush

CarefullyAirbrushedPotato · 21/12/2011 09:59

and I'm not an idiot thanksaquafunf

eurochick · 21/12/2011 10:01

I see it daily in London on the Underground. I've never seen anyone have a problem as a result. It seems like a pretty low risk activity to me.

NinkyNonker · 21/12/2011 10:02

Well, we have a stairgate at the bottom of our very steep, curving old cottage stairs, and I wouldn't take a pushchair on an escalator unless an emergency...I must be a right namby pamby!

MamaMaiasaura · 21/12/2011 10:03

Vixastis - ouch, hadn't considered affect of someone switching it off.. May rethink my POV on this.

AKissIsNotAContract · 21/12/2011 10:03

Do they put a warning on pushchairs? Apparently Crocs now come with a warning as there have been so many escalator injuries.

samstown · 21/12/2011 10:09

Grin at 'totally reckless' and the name dropping of the Bugaboo!

Seriously though, I am still a bit scared of escalators as I still have a vague recollection of an advert on TV where a welly or something got caught in it and still have visions of myself being dragged down the side feet first, eeek!

FanjoForTheReindeerJumper · 21/12/2011 10:20

what's with all the sneering at others choices about how to protect their kids...very arrogant attitude IMO

FanjoForTheReindeerJumper · 21/12/2011 10:27

that was mainly aimed at WhatMeWorry, of course

OhdearNigel · 21/12/2011 10:28

I wouldn't take a buggy on an escalator if there was a lift available because I would worry about losing control. That said, I don't think I would describe it as "totally reckless" of your father.

Given that there was a lift available I can see why you would be irritated but I think you are overreacting a bit.

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 21/12/2011 10:28

Up: fine
Down: I never did due to back problems.

4madboys · 21/12/2011 10:30

awen my 12yr old cooks a mean spag bog, makes cheesecake, all my kids help in the kitchen. my 6yr old can make himself toast etc. i just let them help. but then this morning 12mth old dd was playing with totally age innappropriate bits of lego and technic lego whilst i had a shower, i could see her and if she went to put it in her mouth i said 'not in your mouth' but i am not going to stop her playing with it jsut because the box says she cant, ditto the stickers on escalators.

there are warnings on everything, my bugaboo Grin has as warning on the strap about careful use, i noticed that hte bath seat says not to leave a child unnattended in the seat in the bath and the bumbo says that its NOT to be used as a carseat!! well duhhh!!

Pakdooik · 21/12/2011 10:33

I wouldn't take a small child anywhere that involved an increase in elevation in case the change in air pressure caused then harm.

OhdearNigel · 21/12/2011 10:35

One of my close friends is a lift/escalator accident investigator (works all over the world and is the recognised international expert in the field).

I have asked his opinion on buggies + escalators and will report back

PickleLittle · 21/12/2011 10:38

I don't see how wheels get stuck either, when the gaps between the treads on modern escalators are less than 1cm wide
They don't get stuck in the gap - the rubber on the wheel can get caught on the non moving skirting on the side of an escalator, so while that is caught even just for a second the rest of it carries on going and that's why it flips - you have nowhere to go but over the top or down the side as you and everyone behind you is still moving.

My DH said they have seen nearly whole croc shoes that have been sucked into a 3 mm gap!

As I said before it is rare but real - it doesn't matter how sturdy the buggy or how big the wheels - its whether the wheels are made from rubber that counts.

I couldn't give a flying fig who thinks I am a wimp :)

NeuromanticisedVisionsofXmas · 21/12/2011 10:41

thats why you go backwards so you get off first and pull the buggy on the back wheels. Its not possible for anything to get stuck if you do it this way.

The warnings are aimed at the lowest common denominator. You are told not to drink alcohol or eat pate at all in pregnancy because they are afraid that if you are told its ok to have a little some fools will see that as a bottle of vodka and a pound of foie gras daily. You just need a little common sense.

Or don't use them, noone actually cares. Just don't assume the rest of us can't do it safely.

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