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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Should I have given him another egg?

53 replies

stivesholiday · 07/04/2014 15:24

On Sunday it rained and each of my children was allowed a friend to play, so I had 6 children here. Rain = arts and crafts. So I decided to teach the children how to 'blow' eggs and then they could decorate them with glue and sparkles and paints etc.

The 2 girls, who were the youngest, didn't break their eggs at all and the 2 eldest children didn't either. My middle child and his friend (both 8), were another story.

My son used 3 eggs, his friend used 5. His friend was increadibly heavy handed and no matter how many times I said to be gentle, he broke the egg. He broke them within a minute of handling them.

After the last egg I said he couldn't do more but he could draw on a piece of paper. He was upset but I didn't worry very much about it. I felt he had been given a fair crack at it (no pun intended).

This morning I received a call from his mum to say he came home really upset and she felt I was unreasonable to not let him have another egg. I explained he had had 5 and wasn't getting any more gentle so I believed he would just continue to break each egg he had. However, I had not excluded him from the table as he could draw.

She said that it was normal behaviour for an 8 year old boy to be clumsy etc. Okay, that is true but should I really have given him egg after egg after egg?

OP posts:

MrsBethel · 07/04/2014 15:58

Pfft, 5 eggs! I'd have drawn the line at 3.

YANBU

pianodoodle · 07/04/2014 15:58

She called to complain?

She wouldn't have got to finish her sentence over the sound of my laughter followed by dial tone...

LittleprincessinGOLDrocks · 07/04/2014 16:01

I would have been tempted to hard boil the egg after the 2nd attempt, just so he could do the painting part. But YWNBU at all. 5 eggs is a lot to waste, so I agree you were right to draw the line somewhere otherwise it would have ended up costing a fortune and wasting perfectly good eggs.
You must have the patience of a saint.

SaucyJack · 07/04/2014 16:04

I'm going to hope suspect for the sake of my own sanity that you've made this up.

Fucking cheek of the woman. No wonder he doesn't ever bother listening to instructions.

MiaowTheCat · 07/04/2014 16:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sianilaa · 07/04/2014 16:13

YADNBU!!

I'd have just said, "I'm all out of eggs now, here's some paper to draw on instead."

If you had done that for my son, I'd be absolutely thrilled and would be phoning to say thank you. The cheek of the woman! Wouldn't be inviting him back again if it were me...

CoffeeTea103 · 07/04/2014 16:22

She called to complain about eggs, the world really is gone mad!

OnlyLovers · 07/04/2014 17:23

Attic, the others didn't break nearly as many though. There's got to be a line drawn somewhere. And it's not necessarily 'obvious' to everyone to hard-boil them; clearly it wasn't obvious to the OP.

JennyCalendar · 07/04/2014 17:27

She was eggstremely rude to call and complain! Is she a little cracked, OP, or just rotten?

MammaTJ · 07/04/2014 17:36

What eggsactly was her problem?

TruffleOil · 07/04/2014 17:40

Mamma and Jenny you are banished to Netmums for your displays of bad humor.

Lemongrab · 07/04/2014 17:41

I think she was eggstremely rude to call and complain after you'd taken the time to do such an eggsellent activity with the children.

Swansinflight · 07/04/2014 17:41

I have an 8 year old with the general grace and co ordination of a hippo on a tightrope.

I'm sure he would have been upset in that situation and I would have felt sorry for him, but it wouldn't have crossed my mind to ring up and complain! I'd have said ' lovely idea, how nice of xs mum to set it up, shame it didn't work out but tomorrow is another day' etc.

And would also have assumed, and explained to DS, that you had a finite supply of eggs and they cost money! 5 is sainthood I agree!

BlackeyedSusan · 07/04/2014 18:31

next time boil a bloomin egg. saves all the stress.

BlackeyedSusan · 07/04/2014 18:31

(and four eggs)

Linguini · 07/04/2014 18:45

Honest to goodness I would never invite that boy around again him mother is an ungrateful so-and-so.

And what are these people on here saying 'You should have boiled the eggs'???

No, you provided arts and crafts material, they were used up, end of.

What has the world come to? no wonder we have a narcissism epidemic.

LittleprincessinGOLDrocks · 07/04/2014 18:54

Linguini Those who said "I would have boiled them" are probably thinking of a way the boy could have joined in without wasting so many eggs. I for one was not having a go at the OP, I was just saying how I would have opted to boil one after he broke 2 eggs. Thus saving OP 2 further wasted eggs, and still allowing the boy to join in.
She was right to draw the line at 5 wasted eggs and not offer another, but in future hard boiled is one solution. As are cheap cardboard / polystyrene eggs from the poundshop. Might save money, time and waste.
OP has the patience of a saint, SWNBU, and she should not have been complained at.

Funnyfoot · 07/04/2014 18:57

Linguini If the OP had boiled the second egg then there would have been no need for the further replacement eggs thus saving the OP's eggs from further abuse. Meaning the OP would not have needed to miss out on her eggs Benedict this morning

Tessdurbevilliespoon · 07/04/2014 20:23

I don't know really, because my daughter is quite a lot younger than your kids. However, I don't envisage doing such fiddly craft with her when she has friends over in the future. It's not that I think you were unreasonable not to give him another egg (eggs are expensive) it's just I can understand why he might have been really upset when he got home. When I was little, I was really clumsy for a while and when I used go to a particular friend's house, he Mum used to moan at me from the moment I arrived to the moment I left. Think Mrs Buckett with Elizabeth, and it used to make me feel that she didn't like me at all and she was always telling me off. Not saying that that is what you did or intended, I can just imagine the other Mum was reacting to how her son felt.

So I don't think either of you were unreasonable tbh

Tessdurbevilliespoon · 07/04/2014 20:27

Maybe try these next time

poundland

MammaTJ · 07/04/2014 21:29

Mamma and Jenny you are banished to Netmums for your displays of bad humor.

Truffle, that's harsh, I was only joining the OP in eggspressing eggsasperation!

JennyCalendar · 07/04/2014 22:04

Very harsh, Truffle! NM wouldn't appreciate punning genius like that.

Sorry OP! You sound lovely and the other mum sounds rather unrealistic and ungrateful. I've done egg-blowing before and the blowing is the fun part! Even if you'd given him a hard-boiled one, the other mum would have found something to complain about.

EverythingsDozy · 07/04/2014 22:23

What the heck is blowing eggs????

Lucylouby · 07/04/2014 22:25

The activity was egg blowing and then decorating the eggs. Not decorating hard boiled eggs. I can't believe another parent phoned you to complain about your choice of activity. Doing anything with six children is a challenge, had you have left he table to boil the eggs, something else would have got broken, spilt, messed up. Then it would have had to cool down and by that time the activity would be finished and he wouldn't have wanted to sit at the table by himself to do it anyway.

pizzachickenhotforyou · 07/04/2014 22:29

Tell his mum to blow her own eggs

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