To think you don't plop your toddler down in the middle of a croquet lawn

[trufflehunterthebadger]

Where people are actually playing croquet ?

We were at a garden party today and were playing croquet. As were some other people. Some woman and her 1ish year old child were wandering about all over the lawn with said child dragging a mallet with her. They then plopped down right in front of where we were playing, blocking our path to the next hoop. I said rather pointedly to DD "wait for your go as i don't want your ball to hit that little girl". The woman eventually moved but just left the mallet behind where her child had dropped it, in our path

aibu to think that this was really quite rude ?

Some people combine cluelessness with arrogance - especially when they are parading round their offspring for all to admire.

Ds and his friend were playing on the tennis court on the recreation ground. A woman came along, opened the gate and came in with her toddler and a ball and proceded to play catch on the same court. Ds and his friend were open-mouthed and being awkward teenagers, packed up and hurried off.

AUTOCUMBER

Autocucumber

The auto cucumber dives into the Pimms by itself.

Where they common? They obviously didn't understand garden party etiquette. Plebs.

DD got hit round the head by a croquet mallet at a wedding. I asked nursery to keep an eye on her the following week and had to fill out an accident at home form. Felt like a right idiot writing what had happened, I'm sure the staff are still laughing at me!

Why is it ok to snigger at people playing croquet? If a toddler was on a cricket pitch or in the middle of a rounders game I suppose that would be ok? Croquet is a bit like a grown up version of crazy golf and not at all sniggerworthy.
Fwiw I used to think lacrosse was all boarding schools and gymslips until I saw my daughter's 6 foot Mancunian boyfriend and his team play.

It's affectionate sniggering, not sneery sniggering.

I'm not very assertive but I think even I could have mustered up enough courage to say 'Excuse me, there's a game going on here and your toddler might get hit'. Go me!

Was it this little girl?

It is amazing how some actually have no awareness of what is going on around them. The only thing I can think of is that the toddler was being a massive pain and she alighted on a way to get out of a bad situation.
We need more details OP

We had similar in years ago in France, a pleasant afternoon playing boules with the locals, was interrupted by a British woman plonking her boys down into the lovingly tended sand with buckets and spades.

We, the British were aghast and tight lipped. Elderly French gentleman not so much. She then demanded to know how children were meant to learn how to share, before flouncing in the general direction of away. There was much Boffing that day.

sounds plain rude

are these people looking for attention or something? I don't get it. Was there something in particular about her DD that you were supposed to admire?!

What is Boffing ?

It is a well-trod pattern of behaviour. Babies and small toddlers:
Lovingly held to slide down the bottom 2' of the 'big' slide on the 'big' part of the playground that the 7 and 8 year olds want to slide down.
Helped to try and climb up the same slide (while the older kids get glared at if they so much as come anywhere near precious toddler)
Toddlers allowed and encouraged to butt in and randomly press all the buttons in the middle of an experiment that a 9 year old is doing in Launchpad, in an area geared towards science interested 9 year olds
Toddlers allowed and encouraged to monopolise the slopes in the middle of a skate park - aimed at older skateboarding children and teens - and the ONLY provision that there is for teens, but obviously the teens cannot therefore skate without risking hurting the toddler.

Some parents of small toddlers find it hard to imagine that not everyone feels that everyone and everything should revolve around them, or that their sweet baby could be any kind of interruption or threat to anyone else's enjoyment.

They will realise once they have older children.

For now, smile and nod.

Onomatopoeic noises etc unique to a language. In the case of the French language it's referred to as Bof, like the Gallic shrug for example.

Museumum to give a rough idea - we were 1 side of a hoop, about a foot away from it clearly playing and heading towards the hoop. Woman's child plopped down with her hand on the hoop sitting with her back against it. However clueless you were about the rules of croquet there was no way that you could not tell you were in someone's way.

She then demanded to know how children were meant to learn how to share, before flouncing in the general direction of away. There was much Boffing that day.
I can imagine the scene. That woman's idea of sharing is everybody get out the way so my precious darlings can do what they want. Also what an example of cultural ignorance. Did the old boys just bof or did they tell her to get lost?

Ah yes BrendaF I 'enjoyed' watching my DS(6) (along with several other children) being barked at for bouncing too vigorously on a bouncy castle on Saturday, because the (not much more than) newborn baby who was being laid on it, right in the middle, with both parents sat either side was being "jostled too much".

I enjoyed it so much I marched over and pointed at the sign which stated the rules, which included 'No over 12s', so either their baby could stay on alone or they could all bugger off.

(But I'm a MASSIVE arsey cow, currently hitting the hormone- fuelled change).

Yes, they weren't rude at.

The problem was they were explaining in French why it was a dangerous and rude thing to do.

She was cross and expected me to translate that we were upsetting her boys holiday.

I was in my early twenties and quite shy and lacked the language or social skills to mediate.

We laugh about it today though, more certainly since becoming parents ourselves.

Brenda "For now, smile and nod."

why? I can see tubes, trains, buses, coffee shops, museums, shops, playgrounds all grinding to a halt if people just smile and nod and let that type of parent get on with the "gather round my baby and WORSHIP" type behaviour.

It would be funnier to all engage in it. Then every playground visit would involve 2 hours of worship prior to actually getting on a swing!

I often wonder though if I did my boys a disservice by doing the opposite to those types. I was very careful to make sure they didn't annoy others. They're generally shy. Maybe I should have brought them up to be more entitled. I'm being serious here.

Glad the "Boffing" was explained, I thought it meant shagging. I have a dirty mind though.

When I was little 'boffing' was one of our words for farting! I confess to a double-take when I read the 'much boffing' response.

Brenda it's not just parents off toddlers though is it?

At my local park there is only one toddler swing, countless times have parents let their older children play on it despite toddlers waiting.

Likewise there have been threads of people complaining when parents let their older child play in the under 5 section at soft play. My toddler last week got pushed off a boisteous 7/8 year who should not have been there in the first place.

Inconsiderate parents exist for children of any age, they don't just change when the child passes the toddler stage.