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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you are always on here who's looking after your kids?

326 replies

Propermother · 15/08/2012 19:43

Just wondered what peoples kids do while they are on mums net. Some people are on here an awful lot even on sunny days when they should be outdoors.
I really am not judging- just curious.

OP posts:
KellyElly · 15/08/2012 20:16

BBs...IPhones???

FrankWippery · 15/08/2012 20:18

Isn't that what the television is for?

I find the benign neglect route works best for me. Oldest off to university next month, youngest fluent in Disney, though she proudly announced today that she can speak French. She learnt it from Delphine Donkey apparently. Who'd have thunk Peppa was so educational.

greenwichgroove · 15/08/2012 20:18

I must be doing something ok. My kids have got to lower and upper junior age. I am still reasonably sane, they have no stitches, no broken bones and I've never had to ring 999 for them. tempts fate

Not that anyone who's kids have done above aren't doing ok!

Vagaceratops · 15/08/2012 20:18

I MN on my phone while in hell at soft play.

gordyslovesheep · 15/08/2012 20:18

I train them using a large stick and a small electric collar - works wonders they pick things up very quickly

ThisIsNotHoneyDragon · 15/08/2012 20:18

ProperCheerMum
It doesn't matter what you post now, it will be right.

THERhubarb · 15/08/2012 20:19

Actually I know some mothers do neglect their kids whilst they muck about on their iPods, laptops, etc. But then my mother used to neglect me whilst she did the cooking, washing, cleaning, ironing etc. In fact I was told to play outside and not come back in until teatime.

Mumsnet, like anything, can be addictive and I'm sure there are kids who are plonked in front of CBeebies whilst mum spends most of the day chatting on Mumsnet. If it wasn't Mumsnet it would be something else. You can't make mothers more caring and attentive just by stopping something. If a mother is happy for her kids to watch TV all day and eat crap then there's little you can do about it.

I think parents on the whole are more attentive to their kids needs than they used to be. There is much more emphasis now on family time and fathers tend to be more hands-on. 50 years ago some dads would go to the pub straight after work and leave all the child-rearing to the mother. And they were so busy scrubbing, darning etc that they had little time to sit and read with their kids or play games with them. My mother never played with us at all.

Hope that answers the OP's post. I shall now unlock the cupboard under the stairs as all that knocking and crying is driving me nuts!

Adviceinscotland · 15/08/2012 20:19

I go through stages of being on here but name change a lot. I am in the bath just now on the iPad while the kids are in bed and also use the app on my phone while having a coffee etc.

There was a poster a few years ago though who I will admit to being a tiny bit judgy about Blush I know her dc was very young at the time (about 2 when I really noticed it) and she was pretty much on every single thread from morning to night. She was obviously a nice person as she was heavily involved in a lot of charity stuff but I did always wonder what her dc did while she was always on here. Would never have mentioned it though she was at the top of the mumsnet royalty family and it would have been off with my head Wink

ChaoticismyLife · 15/08/2012 20:19

Grin Pets exactly, she's a right troublemaker is Phoenix.

Now Panda is a right softie, a true baby.

FrankWippery · 15/08/2012 20:20

Rhubarb, why bother unlocking it now FFS, it's bedtime anyway.

Kladdkaka · 15/08/2012 20:21

Mine is of an age where she should be looking after me. Now where's my dinner?

MsNobodyAgain · 15/08/2012 20:22

Just so I can pass out and ignore the kids.

lljkk · 15/08/2012 20:23

1HT on here whilst feeding 4yo with one hand (clingy bugger) & snarling at the others to stop squabbling. MN is the only thing that makes it bearable.

OhDoAdmitMrsDeVere · 15/08/2012 20:24

Some of us even have partners. We ask them to babysit whilst we MN.
We are ever so lucky.

squeakytoy · 15/08/2012 20:25

my "kids" are 29, 27 and 24 .... years! Grin

0lympia · 15/08/2012 20:25

mY DD AGE ten is watching supernanny worst kids ever.

Kladdkaka · 15/08/2012 20:26

Anyway, I may be here all bloody day quite a lot, but I've still managed to harvest an entire crop of potatoes, prepare and cook 2 meals, shell 2 buckets full of peas, walk 2 dogs, cut the grass, write a 1200 word assignment, do a bit of shopping and drive out to a colleagues house to feed their cat and water their plants.

Some of us are gifted with the ability to multitask while others aren't and instead have to ask strangers on the internet how they do it.

bluana · 15/08/2012 20:26

Mine has been watching Alvin and the Chipmunks today. Somehow I can't get into it although it did lead into a good debate about cannibals. She does other things whilst watching it - like creating a lego hospital, a moonsand volcano, also written a story and illustrated with some charming stickers. But at her age, she largely does things which need a little bit of help from me or none at all. I could hover right next to her and quizz her about every little thing she's doing but she'd probably hit me.

THERhubarb · 15/08/2012 20:27

AdviceinScotland - me too.

I've just unlocked the door, they were allowed one gulp of fresh air then back they went. They've got to be up early tomorrow to do all the housework for me. I mean, why have kids if they can't be useful eh?

Xayide · 15/08/2012 20:28

In bed, as now, or in front of TV or playing quietly either nearby or all together upstairs or in the garden and very occasionally out with someone else, or sometimes on my lap.

If they need me - I stop and sort them out.

My DH works away and its not impossible for me not to have any adult company all day - I also find coming on here calms me down when I've had a few hours of being wound up by the DC.

Kladdkaka · 15/08/2012 20:28

And I've re-puttied a window.

gordyslovesheep · 15/08/2012 20:29

Sends vat of Gin to MrsNobody! - now send me a child that I can educate in the ways of the Victorian child thief

ProperCheerMum · 15/08/2012 20:29

Thanks HoneyDragon, I like the sound of that.

As a Proper parent, should I be wearing Boden? (runs off to order some)

drtachyon · 15/08/2012 20:32

Sometimes DS is having a nap, or has gone to bed (like now), so I can use the computer upstairs.

Sometimes DS is playing happily with his toys downstairs, where I can use the laptop and keep an eye on him at the same time.

And sometimes, while out and about, I am on my iPhone or iPad and watching DS at the same time.

Sometimes DS is having daddy time with DH, so I go on the internet while DH is playing with DS.

Also, it's not usually sunny everywhere in the UK at the same time.

But I'm sure some parents will ignore their kids and do other stuff, not necessarily mumsnet, instead. My mum was pretty similar to THERhubarb s mum - spent more time cleaning than playing with us.

StaceymReadyForNumber3 · 15/08/2012 20:33

Well as I am definately not a helicopter parent and was too uncomfy to do much with them today, they were downstairs turning my living room into the olympic stadium and making their own events up. When screaming occurred I summoned them upstairs and dealt with it.

and no one died Shock

And I've literally been on here all day today!!