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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that Waitrose cafe is not the place

174 replies

pussycatwillum · 14/08/2013 12:45

to start singing Old MacDonald to your baby?
DH and I went for our free coffee in Waitrose this morning and first of all we were near a woman who was loudly talking to her child about CAKE. 'Mummy likes CAKE. Daddy likes CAKE' etc. So we moved to let her get on with it without an audience.
Then a woman with a small baby in a first size carseat started singing Old MacDonald. I didn't see the baby, only the seat, but surely singing in a cafe is inappropriate.
Or am I just showing what a Grumpy Old Woman I am?
I've still got it in my head as an earworm and it was over an hour ago!

OP posts:
pigletmania · 14/08/2013 14:24

Yabvvu cafe is for everyone not only grumpy people

scarlettsmummy2 · 14/08/2013 14:25

You sound a bit miserable.

YouTheCat · 14/08/2013 14:32

I'm a lot miserable.

Thumbwitch · 14/08/2013 14:33

Carmen would probably be ok, so long as it's not Grin

Original poster
pussycatwillum · 14/08/2013 14:34

I'm not miserable at all scarlettsmummy I've enjoyed this thread in a perverse kind of a way and am not afraid to laugh at myself.

OP posts:
littlemog · 14/08/2013 15:15

Yep - def being a GOW I'm afraid.

fussychica · 14/08/2013 15:21

If only it were just the singing - I hate it when parents let their offspring walk on the bench seats - ok if they aren't of walking age but I don't want to sit on a seat which has been walked on in filthy shoes but so many mums think it's fine.
If that makes me a GOW so be it!

AlpacaPicnic · 14/08/2013 15:25

I once cleared out an entire Starbucks by holding a rhyme time session in it... At Starbucks request of course!

SirChenjin · 14/08/2013 15:27

I'm not grumpy at all - I love a good laugh, and a good old PPOPFB (that's perfomance parenting of precious first borns) always has me laughing, probably because I was a lot a bit like that, until nos 2 and 3 appeared and I headed back to a world where books with titles such as The Magical Child and The Importance of PP ceased to exist and where I could direct all my energies without causing the toes of those round about me to curl Grin

zatyaballerina · 14/08/2013 16:32

yanbu, some people lose all self awareness, self respect and consideration for others when they reproduce. I had a newish (former) acquaintance mortify me by singing 'the wheels on the bus', very loudly to her three year old while we were in a cafe. There was no reason for it, it seemed like a mindless habit with no sense that it was an inappropriate place and she was completely oblivious to the dirty looks and irritation from other diners.

honeytea · 14/08/2013 18:44

I sing the wheels on the bus nearly every time we go on the bus.

I am going to add in an extra verse "the grumpy people on the bus go tut tut tut, tut tut tut, tut tut tut, the grumpy people on the bus go tut tut tut ALLLL DAY LOOOOOOONG!"

Original poster
pussycatwillum · 14/08/2013 18:46

honeytea if I ever used a bus I'd look forward to it.Wink

OP posts:
SirChenjin · 14/08/2013 18:53

If I ever used the bus I would sing back "the numpty on the bus is boring us all, boring us all, boring us all, we all wish the numpty would just shut up, all day looooooooong!"

Fraggle3112 · 14/08/2013 18:55

You would not of approved of me singing horsey giddy up whilst enthusiastically bouncing DS on my knee in the posh garden centre cafe today... Another vote for Grumpy and unreasonable I'm afraid!

Nannyme1 · 14/08/2013 18:59

You sound very grumpy. You are probably one of those ppl who give out grumpy looks to things that's are perfectly ok.

georgedawes · 14/08/2013 19:10

Wouldn't happen in asda

extracrunchy · 14/08/2013 19:11

Bet you'd have been a lot grumpier if the baby had been screaming its head off, which it may well have done if its mum hasn't tried to keep it entertained while she had a quick coffee. YABU.

SirChenjin · 14/08/2013 19:12

She's already said that the baby was perfectly happy before the singing started.

phantomnamechanger · 14/08/2013 19:13

grumpy vote here too

you ought to take up singing OP - tis good for one's mood Wink

extracrunchy · 14/08/2013 19:14

She couldn't see the baby. And anyway in my experience, preemptive action goes a very long way!

Wuxiapian · 14/08/2013 19:24

YABU.

I sing to baby whenever and wherever I want to. It has never occurred to me to be mindful that some may not approve.

TheDetective · 14/08/2013 19:24

YABU.

A couple of months ago I was sat in a cafe in a motorway service station. My baby was being fed. He was fussing with the feed, having only taken a very small amount. This is normal behaviour for him, take 2oz then fuss - not because he didn't want it, but because he was so nosy with everything going on around him.

So I sang to him, low level, as this keeps his attention on me, and means he would take a feed. Someone across in another table heard, or saw me. As I looked up when he finished they gave me a great big grin and a friendly wave and said how lovely it was to see a mum interacting with her baby.

I'm sorry if singing to my baby has ever pissed you off. However, hearing my fractious, fussy, screamer of a baby would be far far worst. Trust me. Grin

Now stop judging, and let people get on with their own lives.

Nanny0gg · 14/08/2013 19:37

YANBU

I was out with wider family for a Sunday lunch in a family-friendly restaurant, when one of the party decided to sing Wheels on the Bus with the children (4 of them aged 5 down to about 6 months).
Never been so embarrassed in my life.

Totally unnecessary. There are other ways of (quietly) keeping your children amused.

Now stop judging, and let people get on with their own lives.

Fine. When it doesn't impinge on mine. And singing to your kids in a restaurant or cafe most definitely does.

monkeymamma · 14/08/2013 19:39

Good grief, anyone who objects to my singing is welcome to the alternative ie DS WAILING HIS HEAD OFF at one thousand billion decibel. A bit of Old MacDonald/Wheels on the Bus will soon seem peachy, believe you me.

monkeymamma · 14/08/2013 19:41

Ps supermarkets tend to attract people with small children as they need to buy industrial size packs of nappies and wipes so you can expect to spot the odd ankle biter in there, ffs. If you had been in a swanky grownup style restaurant then I might have had a smidge more sympathy. Bt not much.