to still feel bad about shaming this mum a month later?

[DevonCiderPunk]

Perspective, please...

About a month ago I was at a beachside pub with some friends and our DCs. Lots of kids were splashing about at the water's edge mucking about together, me and friends were enjoying a (single!) glass of wine and chatting, occasionally looking over to all the kids playing about 5 metres away in the shallows.

Suddenly I heard a collective gasp go up around the whole beach. I looked behind me (towards the pub) and saw lots of shocked faces. Then I heard a child wailing, so looked back to the water and a boy aged about seven was standing waist-high in the water and sobbing, holding on to his arm. He continued to wail and everyone just sat there. He was holding his arm so painfully that I started to wonder whether it was broken, and he was still quite deep in the water. I looked about to see if anyone was claiming him, but no-one was. It was odd. So I said to my friends "well I'm checking it out" and walked down to the edge.

Once I got closer I could see he was okay and perhaps hamming it up a bit, I asked him if he was with any grown-ups and he just said "my mum..." and got out of the water, crying a bit less, presumably off to tell her about his arm. Nothing to worry about so I walked backp the beach to my spot. Hang on.
u

really
she threw him in the sea

HaroldLloyd, am struggling to think how else you 'throw a child into the sea without a pier. Or a helicopter.

It's all v mysterious.

Don't be daft Harold he'd have hurt his head, not his arm. Catapult maybe?

Yes I suppose it is a stupid thing to still be thinking about. I don't think I was being a hero at all. In fact, if I'd actually seen her doing it, I'm pretty sure I would have left the situation well alone like everyone else was doing. I think I feel a combination of upset about bystander apathy, and weirdness about charging in there in complete ignorance about what had actually happened, in front of lots of people who had seen it.

What the hell is going on??

True, true. You have some experience in this area Fid?

Why would you have been more inclined to ignore a fru

Was it horse play that had gone wrong?

Bugger, sorry - ignore an injured child if you'd seen him being hurt??

I absolutely get what you're asking OP. On one memorable occasion, I was shouted at by the aunt of a child that I pulled out of the water when she was drowning. No parent or carer wants to be shown up in public ( even though they may deserve to be).

His mother was wrong to throw him in... the collective gasp probably did for her before you even got to him. She took that out on you, knowing that she had been awful... then felt more awful.

Hopefully she learnt something that day.

I am so confused.

Only with pets, not DC Harold. I'm not irresponsible, you know

X post. Don't worry about it, she probably isn't. It was a weird thing for her to do, you went instinctively to see if he was ok. You can't do anything about it now, so put it down to experience. Albeit a strange one!

I hope she didn't throw him in like a javelin from the pub!

harold I imagine more like a discus but using the arm and perhaps a leg?

Can you tell us where it is so we can all avoid it?
She sounds like she had one too many. poor kid
Or it could just be rhyll

For reference, the young boy's Mum.

What the hell? Loads of people saw a woman throw her child into the sea and did nothing? And hurt his arm - so must have yanked his arm while throwing him? That's shocking and bizarre.

Why are you questioning yourself for going to check if he was OK? Of course someone should have checked if he was OK, and asked his mother what on earth she thought she was doing.

Poor kid. I wouldn't feel sorry for her crying, what she did was unbelievable. And in public too - what on earth does she do to the poor lad in private?

There is a pub on Whitstable beach

Why on earth do you feel bad about this? You saw a child crying and hurt. No one was attending to them. You went to see if they were ok. This mum sounds vile. What kind of revolting parent throws their child into the sea and then watches them while they cry on their own. Stop worrying about it.

I think she was at the water's edge when she threw him in. Possibly I even passed her on her way back to her seat as I walked down the beach.

I live in a holiday spot and think it was probably a game that went wrong, plus a mum at the end of her tether from assuming all usual household/childcare duties in closer proximity to the seaside.

Shockers, that's horrid but I can see how someone in shock might not react sensibly or normally. Ruddy well done you though.

Judy-made my night!!

was it the annual child throwing competition?

Ah yes the famous Annual Whitstable child hurling contest. Mystery solved

So she thought it was ok for her to throw a young child in the sea, she should be ashamed, good on you!