To think this is rather petty.

[Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost]

I took my D.D and nephew out the other day and we had a game of crazy golf. My nephew is 21 months old. Anyway we were behind this family. Now keep in mind my D.N is 21 months old a baby doesn't know any different or about patience ect which no-one would expect him to.
Anyway to get straight to the point D.N hit the golf ball and this grown man turned around and went (to a baby keep in mind). It's my turn first. I looked at him like he had 10 heads and said. "He's a baby". He just gave me a look and carried on playing.

OP, i think you are totally missing the point of what everyone (pretty much) is saying to you: this is NOT about your nephews behaviour, or the man's comment.

The problem is YOURS. YOU, as the responsible adult, were the only one in the wrong here.

I think the trouble with a lot of people these days is this sense of entitlement just because you have a baby/toddler/child. I've witnessed so many times children allowed to run havoc in restaurants, pubs, soft play etc while the parents ignore the behaviour of their child but go all defensive with statements such as "he's only a baby" when they've been reproached by someone they might have disturbed upset. Having a child is no excuse for bad manners and just because the parent thinks their child is cute and should be able to "freely express" themselves other people don't think the same. If you don't teach a child from an early age what is and isn't acceptable behaviour then this is the kind of thing that is going to happen.

Behind every ill-mannered, badly behaved toddler is an adult who sets an appalling example.

I agree with the criticism of the OP but I have to say I see a lot more 'entitlement' from people who don't have, or who have forgotten what it is like to have young children who think they should never be remotely disturbed by a single sound from a child, ever.

And I don't see a lot of badly behaved children, FWIW. Not as often as I see badly behaved adults anyway.

I obviously move in different circles to you, Bom; I see more entitled behaviour from parents than from anyone else.

Crazy golf if a fun game not to be taken too seriously. BUT it does involve swinging metal sticks (at about toddler height normally) and hitting hard balls. You do have to be careful and you were letting your DN behave in potentially dangerous way. Saying "It's my turn first" is a polite way of telling a toddler a simple message without directly criticising the behaviour of the person supervising him. You should have said "Don't hit the ball towards that man. Say sorry to the man." or something. He probably wouldn't have said anything himself then.

Reading through this thread again, I'm wondering if I'm the only person who is a bit disturbed by the comment from the OP about the parents "going ballistic"?

Really? Why would they be so filled with rage by such a mundane encounter? I find the idea that there are folks out there who would kick off over something as minor as this quite scary.

mrsfrumble yes I did a massive eye roll at that too.

A small child shouldn't have been on the crazy golf course when people were trying to play.

You should meet my sister Mrsfrumble, she went to that school of parenting. She went ballistic at me for upsetting her son (3 yrs) by taking my handbag off him which he had helped himself to and was riffling through. Apparantly 'we don't say no to X in this house as it upsets him' . I found myself chucked out and travelling the 200 miles home on Christmas Eve for that.

ASBOs keep popping in my head for some reason.

"If I told my Dsis and my DBIL. They'd go nuclear."

Why is that OP?

I hope Jeremy Kyle is reading this, there's a whole programme here.

"So if some snapped at your child or D.N. You would not be peeved"

Yes I'd be peeved...at myself for not supervising the child better to the point I, through the child, got told off. as others have said, yes he's a baby, which is why he will behave in a certain way. Which is why, as a carer, YOU need to make sure you watch him like a hawk and apologise if he behaves in a way that irritates someone. No point getting defensive if you get pulled up on your parenting failures. I think you're deflecting your embarrassment at being pulled up on your mistake (not keeping an eye on your DN better) onto the man being unreasonable.
YABU

Poor LiverpoolLou' s Christmas, for a start.

Oh lordy, this still going on? I want to go play some mini golf now

Honestly, I do find it annoying when people don't try and control their children / mindees and allow them to get away with whatever they want. Just because a child is young doesn't mean they should be taught that they can have everything their way - if you take a young child to an activity that requires queue ing and waiting, be prepared to enforce it. If the child is too young to wait and queue and respect other people's games etc, then they are too young to be there IMO. Why should another person have their game ruined because you decided to take a baby to play?

Why do you think it's ok for a child in your care to interrupt someone elses game? His age is totally irrelevant. You were in charge. The fact that you seem completely unable to understand this does not bode well for the future behaviour of any children in your care

Is it just me or has there been an influx of incredibly dim stubborn new posters recently?

People posting with absoloutely no ability to see past the end of their own nose so will never 'get' what the very rational people are saying in response. It's like they took a wrong turn in the way to the other place.

Reading through this thread again, I'm wondering if I'm the only person who is a bit disturbed by the comment from the OP about the parents "going ballistic"?

Really? Why would they be so filled with rage by such a mundane encounter? I find the idea that there are folks out there who would kick off over something as minor as this quite scary.

Probably because their parents set the example that OP was setting by implying the precious child should be excused simply for being a baby. The "he's a baby" line evolves into "he's a child" "he's only 14" "he's excited" "he's tired" there are people who will always feel their should be exceptions made for their precious one and so precious one grows up expecting that special treatment including for their dc. This precious one's parents are probably that type who are permanently on the defensive and cant ever accept that they might be in the wrong. Much like toddlers.

Sigh. I think you are missing the point that it wouldn't have happened if you had been watching DN as you should have been, unless you're saying you just stood their and let him hit the ball into the other family's way 'because he's just a baby'. It's your fault, not DNs, because I'm assuming you weren't paying attention. Maybe the man overreacted, but that's no excuse for the fact that the toddler was not being adequately watched. Instead you want to make it 'all about the children' and that DN's hitting the ball was perfectly OK because he is 'too young to understand'.

What the man should have said was "Excuse me, we aren't finished here". What you should have said was "Oh, sorry! I wasn't watching DN closely!".

For your DN, OP.

diaduit I almost started a thread saying so earlier only it would've been a TAT (thread about threads). So many recently. Odd.

Glad its not just me!

sounds like this is the child that you meet on a long train journey, who stands on the seat behind you, pulls your hair, tips biscuit crumbs over, because he is, after all, only a baby, and mum is too busy on Facebook (or Mumsnet) whinging about the old bat in front of them who has asked their precious child to sit down.