To think protesters shouting"stop killing children"should have thought twice about doing it outside the only two kids shoe shops in town?

[PolkadotCircus]

Trying to get my head round this so advice please.

I have a lot of sympathy re the Palestine situation however today I just had to get ds 9 new shoes.Soooo I dragged the 3 dc(9,9and7) to the only two kids shoe shops in town outside of which was a protest re the current situation in Palestine.The above slogan was pretty much the only thing being shouted.

One of my dc is very sensitive.Whilst we try and explain world events there are things we have to shield him from as he worries,gets scared and can think too much.The other 2 are fine.

Soooo this protest was literally below the window of said shoe shop.Ds froze and bombarded me with questions which I tried to answer.He has since been asking a lot this afternoon re "where do they kill children,why" etc.You couldn't really escape it in town as it was up and down the same street(to be fair the only place to protest).

Now I know my dc are lucky enough to live in a safe country and I know kids shouldn't be sheltered forever from nasty world events(I've explained the crux of the 2nd WW,Afganistan etc)however surely it's up to a parent as to how much you expose kids to and kids differ.

Maybe the phrasing should have been changed?

I'm very pro the right to protest though so can't quite get my head round whether I was right to be annoyed.

Maybe I wasn't,thoughts please.

Thing is Bis there were kids of all ages.

Done I simply don't see the need re that particular phrase,nobody hung around.

He did ask repeatedly about it as I mentioned below.

I tried to make light of it to calm him down whilst referring to what we'd discussed previously.Many I know wouldn't have even bothered.

Yes words and images have deep impact. I still cannot forget the images of israel's previous assault where 3 tiny bodies of dead babies were wrapped in white sheets being carried in their relatives' arms to be buried.

Which creative and intelligent phrases would have been more suited to the audience?

Polka I was referring to your query about your sensitive child. It would be harder if he is 4 but by 9 he is perfectly old enough to understand your explanation. What did you say by way of explaining the protest phrase?

If my 8 yr old asked repeatedly for me to explain something I would take that as a sign that my explanation was inadequate and I would do my best to answer his questions.

And it was lucky I wasn't there as it would have escalated as I would have not held back.

OldMumsy really? Didn't look like that to me in the news reports I saw. Helpful for those in the West to think that though as it makes all that is going on much more platable.

"They are not like us"

Vile remark oldmumsy.

Mumsy Is it better to kill "them" all off as they are not like "us". The savages.

It didn't take long for some good old fashioned racism to rear it's ugly head.(not you OP)

Clearly Oldmumsy knows lots of Palestinians living in Gaza to make such a specific statement. I don't know any personally but I know plenty of Arabs in a number of different countries and the unsurprising thing is (at least to me) they are exactly like us.

Defuse I don't know I'm not a ME expert but I'm sure plenty of others are.

Bisjo I did.When we got home some time later and he asked why they said it I said the people were angry and trying to cause a reaction thus their choice of words.I said that Israel and Palestine were fighting again and some children got killed,that they didn't mean all children.When he asked if children here got killed again later,I said not by bombs generally no. Repeated as necessary(he verbalises a lot when worried).

Sorry if that isn't good enough but it's what suits him.Still not getting the benefit of us(ds and I) having this convo over and again.

What's going on with MN and racism today?

FFS. "Not like us".

But children here in the UK have been killed by bombs, that is very recent history. You know your ds but I think you are being incredibly overly sensitive when there are far bigger issues at stake here.

I think you are missing the point. It was a protest. Not a public information stand at the village fete. People were protesting about children being killed.

As I said unthread, I do sympathise and my DS would have been very upset (ASD). But my safe, comfortable, privileged DS feelings don't take precedence, challenging as they may be to deal with.

It's not a general happening which the statement suggested.

Take the sensitivity on board however I just think if the whole thing was handled better it would have done far more for the cause.

Off to bed now,not flouncing.Thanks for the posts,I will take many on board(a few I won't).I guess it was pretty unanimous that I wasn't right to be annoyed.Having a few who think like me make it harder to get my head round but I guess overall the general consensus of opinion was the need to suck it up so I will.

Thanks all.

FFS have Stormfront mounted an invasion of Mumsnet?

I thought about reporting the "not like us" post, but actually it's better to let it stand, because attitudes like that are exactly why children are dying.

As for children in the UK/ the West not being exposed to death/violence, I come from a loving, stable family, lived in nice areas, but from the age of 8 learned how to check our car for bombs, as that was part of our reality.

OP YABU.

OP, YABU. And precious. What else could they say that would impact people more?

oldmumsy the comments you've made are simply vile. Shame on you. The 11 month old baby who died was the son of a journalist reporting for the BBC. What fault did he have? I also thought of reporting your post, but thought it's better for people to see the hate-filled racist you very obviously seem to be.

OP, I'm sorry your son was upset, but this is an upsetting issue. It would be a little more appropriate if you directed your anger at the fact that things like this happen at all for our children to hear about and be distressed about, not at the fact that some people chose to protest about it in a place that interfered with your shoe shopping.

Children aren't just hustled straight into a child-related shop and out of the town centre again - there would be children anywhere in the town centre. It is for you to decide if you want to change your plans to avoid your son being exposed to something you feel to be inappropriate for him - it's not for the protesters to move, or change their tactics. "Stop killing children" might be emotive, but it goes straight to the heart of the issue.

If you had asked if you were unreasonable to be upset that your son is finding it hard to deal with distressing world events, you would no doubt have got a good deal of support. But to be annoyed that the location of this protest prevented you taking your sensitive son shoe shopping - well, unfortunately, and with considerable sympathy, my response has to be that you need to get over it.

What a weird AIBU.
Yes, you YABU
You really can't protect your children from everything. Instead of ignoring issues, maybe you could try explaining things so he has a better understanding.

Goth I too grew up knowing about checking for car bombs(forces family inn the 80s),certainly nothing positive from growing up with that and at that age(my son has just turned 9)I didn't process it properly but just worried.Certainly wouldn't have seen the point of worrying all non forces kids needlessly.

As adults/teenagers then fine but kids sorry absolutely no point.Worry at such a young age stays with you forever and has a lasting impact on how you view the world.

Incanserre ds has a good understanding re world events(I have certainly never ignored anything as I think my posts show) but he is only just 9 so it is a child in the West's view.

I take on board the right to protest and our daily chores not being the upmost importance so yes I wbu to be annoyed.I don't however see as an aside to the protests the point of immersing kids thankfully not living with death and violence just because.

Yes they need educating about the wider world but there should be boundaries ie I haven't given my dc the full blown details of the JS case(they asked why he was on every newspaper)as they are far too young to deal with the details just because other kids live with such things.Ditto I have sheltered them from the full blown details of kids living in the ME.