to think that Waitrose cafe is not the place

[pussycatwillum]

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!

WheresMum, it could have been worse -I- somebody I knew was once going into Tesco and started singing the Bob the Builder tune to their DC but they had already gone to pre-school.

God I know, these discussions about 'minor annoyances' are like being locked in a pub with the self-righteous brothers

We don't even have a fucking Waitrose for me to sing in.

littlemog I am not sure how you deduce from PeriodMath's post that she is insecure.
Katydidlove it.

It's people like you who make me dread leaving the house with my toddler, OP.

It's a supermarket cafe for god's sake, not high tea at a swanky hotel!

When our eldest daughter was a wee baby, my husband was sitting on the train next to a fella he'd never met, on his way to work. The man sneezed. My husband said "ooh! sneezles!". And then quietly died.

Has anyone invoked a DC with special needs yet? No? Ok, I will.

OP, I get splayed toes if I overhear Loud Parenting, but recently, I've become a Loud Parenter myself (and a Public Singer too. My apologies to anyone within earshot). DS2 recently diagnosed with ASD, he's non-verbal and needs a lot of OTT interaction just to get his bloody attention. I Loud Parent my way round supermarkets and frankly, the day he actually responds and miaows to the photo of the cat on the can of Whiskas, I am going to be in 7th heaven and big with the OOT praise, and woe betide anyone who raises a sodding eyebrow to me.

YANBU. Humming the overture to the Marriage of Figaro, or possibly the opening Eb of the Ring Cycle, would be much more suitable for such sacred ground as the Waitrose cafe.

I mean if OP had wanted to hear OMHAF she would have gone to any old ASDA or Morrisons, right?

FairPhyllis
Interesting that no-one has mentioned Sainsbury's. What would be a suitable song for their cafe I wonder?

Sorry, YABU in my opinion. Would you rather a yelling baby or a zombie-generation that have not had any stimulation from their parents?

If you are in a public place you have to share it; you are entertained by talking to your DH or whoever, baby is entertained by singing. It's just the way it goes.

Although, if I sing in public to my children I do do it sotto voce.

This thread makes me so glad I left the UK.

I left the UK 3 years ago, feesh, but returned.

There's no place like home!

I used to know someone who would sing to her dd all the way to school, very loudly.

The only thing was her dd was 7 and highly embarrassed by it. She literally begged to walk on her own from year 4.

littlemog Banged to rights there.

I am such a shit parent

OP Sainsbury's is for everyone who sings psychedelic rock to their baby. You can barely hear yourself think over the strains of mummies singing Strange Brew in there.

Rooners you are funny, and you have officially spent too much time on mumsnet today as have I. Next time I breasfeed DD whilst doing butterfly stroke in the fast lane of the local swimming pool I am definitely going to sing Old MacDonald at the top of my voice

Realised after I posted that would clearly be dangerous, so maybe backstroke.

feesh actually it has given me a lot of much-needed laughs.

littlemog Being the age I am, having grown up when children were not the centre of the universe, (whether they were yours or anyone else's) I am not used to that level of 'showing off'.

To me, the dining table is for eating at and conversation. Not a sing-song.

And it's not as though the children were fidgety or disruptive. It was showy-off parenting at its worst.

I think you're being a little grumpy - it is just a supermarket cafe.

I shop at Waitrose, and last week DD was sitting in the trolley shout-singing (think death metal style vocals at volume 11) the alphabet song.

I wonder how many Tarquins were flinching over the hummus?

katydid I conclude that someone is insecure if they feel the need to call people 'wanky' for being a good parent. Surely only people who are not happy in their own skin would say/think such a thing?

NannyOgg I can't really see that singing a song with children means that they are the centre of the universe. Perhaps they should be seen but not heard in your rather gloomy world.

I get what NannyOgg is saying.

It's like you have to be a holiday rep, constantly entertaining. Children really do not need (nor want usually) constant interaction. Let the poor little buggers be.

"woman sings to baby" shock!

"must be PFB, attention - seeking, performance parent, never allowing her child to rest from constant input" states horrified onlooker.

Fucking hell. Seriously un- fucking - believable that anyone would be so pissed off by someone singing To their baby.

Genuinely funny (although a bit worrying that there are so many uptight ppl in circulation.)