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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

This is not a reason to feel sorry for my children.

30 replies

D0oinMeCleanin · 30/12/2013 14:17

DH is back at work today, as am I. I work for just less than 3 hours on a lunch time.

My children normally come with me during school holidays.

If you have any judgements to make, it's best to wait until you are out of their earshot to speak them because if they get the tiniest inkling you might purchase them some sweets, they will act accordingly.

And as for feeling sorry for them, really? I mean really? The two children who had a laptop and a tablet and some colouring pens and books and cross stitch between them? You feel sorry for them? The children who have access to the park just a few doors down, those children? The ones who could have called for any number of friends who live locally but chose not to.

Yes, they could have been "sat watching telly at home or playing with their new toys" like you explained to your daughter when she asked why you felt sorry for them, but they could also have done that from my workplace, they have internet access and Sky Go, Netflix and LoveFilm. The older child is allowed the key to go home and fetch toys. We live about 30 seconds away. Had you bothered speaking to them before declaring how sorry for them you were, they might have mentioned this to you.

They do thank you for the sweets though, they have added them to the box of sweets nice customers have been buying them all week, normally they have to assist with bags/doors, sing carols or read stories to toddlers to earn sweets, they were pleasantly surprised when they got some simply for playing sleeping lions.

OP posts:
HECTheHeraldAngelsSing · 30/12/2013 14:22

Can i join them? Sounds like a good gig.

Heartbrokenmum73 · 30/12/2013 14:25

Oh, sounds absolutely awful! Your poor children - I'm calling social services Grin

Gileswithachainsaw · 30/12/2013 14:27

God those children sound terribly neglected Hmm

HarrietSchulenberg · 30/12/2013 14:27

Ha! They'll be scarred for life, mark my words. You should take time off and stay at home with them, like a real mother Grin.

I used to wish I could take mine in - they'd have loved it for the odd day and it would have made life soooo much easier. But my department had a strict no children rule (despite it being a place of education, despite other departments allowing staff to bring quiet children in for a few hours, and despite other staff begging that mine be allowed in to liven the place up when it was quiet). So mine had to languish in front of the TV at my mum's house until I got home.

Joules68 · 30/12/2013 14:29

haha...op,some of my happiest childhood memories were accompanying my mum to work

she cleaned at the local pub.....loved helping shine those old horse brasses

and in the summer I sat at the top of the field with the other kids as the mums worked their way upwards picking asparagus

take no notice,this might be a happy memory for them too one day!

Frusso · 30/12/2013 14:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WorraLiberty · 30/12/2013 14:30

I'm hoping you said all this to the actual person?

Cos the likelihood of them reading this is pretty much zero.

Original poster
D0oinMeCleanin · 30/12/2013 14:32

They've loved coming to work over x-mas, they've conned twice as many mix-ups out of kindly customers who believe they are polite because they are lovely children not because they learned years ago that there might be 20p in it for them Hmm

As soon as sleeping lion 1 heard the words "sorry for them" and "must be bored" she started sighing heavily Grin

They were most put out when DH was off on x-mas eve.

OP posts:
RandyRudolf · 30/12/2013 14:34

I used to love going to work with my mum! Grin

SPsWantsCliffInHerStocking · 30/12/2013 14:38

Can I come to work with you?! They have more at your work than I have at home Grin

I could knee cap those that feel sorry for your kids so they forget about that feeling.

I loved going to work with my dad. Super dangerous and wouldn't be allowed now. He worked on a building site and I would go with them. I'd sit in the back of the van on the wheel arch.

RandyRudolf · 30/12/2013 14:40

I'd sit in the back of the van on the wheel arch

Me too! My friend's dad was a builder and we were always out and about in the van. Bloody elf & safety has taken the fun away for our kids now Grin

SPsWantsCliffInHerStocking · 30/12/2013 14:42

Randy I loved it! Sometimes he would brake a bit hard so we flew to the other side of the van. We loved it!

Or we would sit on the tool box that would slide around the back of the van.

SPsWantsCliffInHerStocking · 30/12/2013 14:43

And I when my mum worked as a cleaner in the vets they used to let us come too. We got to see the animals and do little jobs. It was great

Original poster
D0oinMeCleanin · 30/12/2013 14:44

Hahaha, I used to go to work with my builder dad over summers. I loved it when he was laying drives/foundations because he'd let me push the mini steam roller, how I still have toes left is beyond me Grin

OP posts:
SPsWantsCliffInHerStocking · 30/12/2013 14:46

DO I was allowed to use all sorts of tools. Ay grandparents in Ireland I was allowed to drive the lawnmower and tractors. Not a chance we would get away with it now Grin

RandyRudolf · 30/12/2013 14:46

I had to draw the line when the dogs puked up in the back of the van after a hot sunny day at the beach. Damp dog and sick, not a great combination.

We used to sit in a trailer too, attached to the back of a car and have a ride round the block.

HappTeeNewYear · 30/12/2013 14:48

Your poor neglected children. Do you think I could join them next time?

SPsWantsCliffInHerStocking · 30/12/2013 14:49

And driving the cars into the drive

ThreeBeeOneGee · 30/12/2013 14:54

DS2 came into the office with me today for 3.5 hours. He was impeccably behaved, so I decided to reward him when we got home by allowing him to eat a mini pack of sweets that he had previously bought with his own money. I'm all heart, me. Grin

SquinkiesRule · 30/12/2013 14:58

I used to go to work with my Mum too, only I had work to do and still had fun.

WeAreSix · 30/12/2013 15:00

I used to go to work with my mum too I lived being allowed to press the buttons on the till :)

WeAreSix · 30/12/2013 15:01

Lived?! Stupid autocorrect. Loved. I loved the buttons on the till.

ephemeralfairy · 30/12/2013 15:59

My mum was a teacher at my primary school, my friend's dad was the head. It was really awful when we had to hang around after school til meetings were finished and raid the library and dressing-up box, or go in on in-service days and get ALL the PE equipment out and build assault courses.
It was even worse when it snowed and we had the run of the entire playground for a massive snowball fight.

FrostedButts · 30/12/2013 16:29

When i was a kid my dad used to pick me up from infants... and bring me back to the upper school next door while he supervised after school detentions :) I loved it and so did the detainees, one of them was called April and gave me a pencil which I still have!

bnotts · 30/12/2013 16:32

Used to go to work with my Mum every other Saturday from the age of 10. She was a GP and I did all the filing, printed the repeat prescriptions restocked paper towels. Loved it.