to let my toddler play near stinging nettles?

[ikeaismylocal]

I encountered my first snotty comment about my patenting today.

We were at a petting farm, 16 month old ds was looking at the sheep, along the bottom of the fence were some very small ( not higher than his wellies) stinging nettles. Ds was walking up and down the fence chatting to the sheep.

I had told ds that the nettles would make an "ouch" ds pointed his finger at them and said "ouch ouch" so I knew he understood.

We live in Sweden but I'm English, I was sitting watching ds chat to the sheep. A lady came over and spoke to me very loudly and slowly ( I assume she had heard us speaking English and assumed I couldn't understand Swedish very well) the conversation went like this

Lady ( very slowly) "THOSE ARE VERY DANGEROUS!!! HE SHOULDN'T BE NEAR THEM!"

Me ( in Swedish) "I think he'll be fine, I've explained they might hurt him if he touches them and he's busy chatting to the sheep at the moment anyway"

Lady "THEY BURN!! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU DON'T HAVE THEM IN YOUR COUNTRY"

Me "oh we do, I think he is unlikely to touch them but even if he does he'll be ok"

Lady "YOU TOUCH THEM!"

Me "no thanks"

The lady then stormed off.

I grew up in the country and stinging nettles were just part of everyday life.

Aibu to think that ds wasn't in a dangerous situation or have I lost track of what is an acceptable risk?

Haha, they burn! I hope that was a mistranslation on her part otherwise I'd be very concerned about the kinds of stinging nettles they have in Sweden.

I used to be able to pull the leaves off with my bare hands without getting stung. Well hard I am.

Yanbu, you were keeping your ds away from them as best as you could given the circumstances. How else is he going to enjoy the petting zoo if you wrap him in cotton wool because of a few nettles.

Were they definitely the same as English stinging nettles? If so, YANBU .

Check there are dock leaves nearby to get rid of any stinging.

They're not really dangerous are they, only painful. I don't know if he's old enough to get stung once and not do it again or if he wouldn't learn and just be afraid though. If he's old enough to avoid them then it's absolutely fine.

YANBU - lady was bonkers meddling nuisance.

I'm sorry, I laughed. I couldn't help it.

But really dont worry about it too much. Kids will be kids, can't wrap them in cotton wool forever xx

Apparently dock leaves don't work (the internet said so). I remember trying them as a child but can't remember how effective they were.

Pourquoi - Dock leaves are kind-of useful in the sense that they allow you to brush off any remaining hairs without touching them with unaffected skin or pressing them further in. Vinegar is good IME, as is cold water.

this is going to sound crazy, but stinging nettles have differnet potency in diff places, for example in aussie land they are really really bad.
so maybe she wasn't crazy...

My giddy aunt!! My DB pushed me in head high nettles when I was in my swim costume!! My mum had to put me in a bath with 2 bottles of calamine lotion...I survived!! Silly women. He will be fine even if he did get stung which I hope he doesn't.

dock leaves do work.. i've used them a ton of times.. rub them so the juices can come out.. rub them on the sting and strap the leaves to the sting for 10 minutes or so or hold them on.

Natures natural remedy to nettle stings... they always grow hand in hand.

I remember in senior school and I was chased by somebody with a branch of nettle and I closed my leg running on it. i was stung from thigh to ankle and It knacked like a bastard all afternoon until i got home.. 10 minutes after dock leaf treatment the pain had gone, I'll never forget it.

They looked exactly the same as UK ones, I'll ask my dp is stinging nettles are seen as dangerous by everyone or just the meddling lady.

Ds is pretty resistant to pain, he doesn't cry when he gets injections or if he falls over, if he cries I know it's a serious fall. I possibly would be more careful if he was more sensitive to pain.

My reasoning was that I had told him not to touch them, he understood, if he did touch them and they hurt him he would realise that when mummy says don't touch there is a good reason for it, I wouldn't use that logic with something actually dangerous.

Aww, I'm all disappointed now. I thought the Swedes were hardy, and at one with nature.

They should embrace the burn

Are you sure she wasn't talking about the sheep? Maybe they were fire breathing!

You've made it 16 months without a snotty comment about your parenting? The Swedish truly are more tolerant. In the UK the snotty comments start before the birth.

Ha ha - that's so true

OH, and YANBU about the nettles. You warned him and it's not like you left him playing on a lava field.

yabu. if he got stung he would have cried the place down and ruined the day for everyone else.

I once rolled down a hill and sat on a clump of nettles - that did burn! I wonder what the Swedish lady would have said to my mum for letting me do that!

She is mad. I don't see that your son was in a dangerous situation.

You told him not to touch them. He didn't, but even if he had he would just have received a few uncomfortable, but definitely not life threatening, stings and may well have realised that mum knows a bit about what she is talking about sometimes.

I can't see why Swedish stinging nettles should be any different from UK ones.

As long as you weren't letting him do then YANBU

yanbu.
I eat stinging nettles. (stir fried or in pasta sauces.) I feel I'm getting my own back on them

Maybe she's got a point? I grew up in the countryside too and was never bothered by nettles. Would happily walk through a patch to get to the blackberries hiding behind it. But we have a load growing at the end of our garden here in Sweden and they are the work of Satan himself. I thought I was just becoming a wuss but mybe Swedish ones are more evil.

We used to make nettle soup, maybe I should have suggested that to her.

Dp says that nettles are not dangerous and they don't really hurt just itch, dp is the same as ds with pain though he rarely reacts to pain.

Dp did laugh at me when I told him about dock leaves, apparently their not recognised as a sting cure here.

I also ment to add I should have written this was my first snotty comment from s stranger, there have been plenty of snotty comments from familiy and friends! Strangers don't usually talk to each other, I guess I should be pleased she at least spoke to me!