to ask what's the worst/silliest advice you've seen on here?

[Francoitalialan]

MN is such a tremendous source of info but sometimes it goes wonky. What's the worst/silliest advice you've seen?

"my child was exposed to chicken pox yesterday. what should I do?" "the incubation period is two/three weeks. Personally I wouldn't risk it, you need to keep him off school this and every time he is exposed until he actually catches it, which may in fact never happen."

"I cooked a chicken and was hoping to make it last for two meals but the dc ate all of it." "your dc are greedy and on the verge of an obesity crisis, as for you, two meals is far too little. I feed my family of eight for a week on one chicken."

OP:My next door neighbour has told me that she is claiming benefits as a single parent but that her millionaire boyfriend has moved in with her. She's had seven luxury holidays this year, drives a top of the range Mercedes and her DC attend Eton. Should I report her?

MN: No. You're obviously jealous. Keep your nose out of it. You should be ashamed.

Cream egg. Has anyone mentioned cream egg yet? Cream egg was classic!

I have come to the conclusion that here are some feckin big chickens on sale lately. My poor mother only bought pigeon and they were made of clay but they did last a couple of days if my Grandad took his teeth out!

OP: I think my cleaner might have stolen the £5.00 I left out in the kitchen.

MN: You need to sack her and get the keys back. Check your jewellery box and other valuables.

£5.00 going missing = bad. Obvious benefit fraud = unless I have a signed confession in blood I am a jealous twat.

Zogthebiggestdragon, without completely derailing the thread, my mum (30 odd years ago), was scoffed at and told in no uncertain terms by a doctor, that teething caused no pain or any other symptoms in babies, and all reports of such were either neurotic mothers or cranky unhappy babies. She changed doctors!

OP:- "my in laws have offered to take us all to Disney. I don't like Disney, how can I make this bearable?"

MNetter:- "How about approaching a local charity and offer the money so that disadvantaged children can go away instead?"

My in laws would be , "er no, we want to take our OWN grandkids away on holiday, WTF are you on about?!"

Is there really anyone that would actually do this?

Poster asks for ideas for party food as one child is veggie and has a severe nut or dairy allergy:
"What about pasta with pesto?"
Or a bad reaction to wheat
"Couscous is popular".

I have to say that I have never seen a thread where ASD or ADHD was suggested and later in the thread the OP hasn't confirmed that concerns have also been raised elsewhere. I'm not saying they don't exist, I have just never seen one.

There was one I posted on where it was clear to me that much of what OP was describing indicated that her dd had an ASD. This poor woman was pretty much an outcast at her child's school, other parents were verbally attacking her etc. I suggested it and was pounced on and ridiculed by other posters. I kept in touch with the OP by PM giving her advice on seeking a diagnosis in her area. Sure enough a few months later her dd was diagnosed and started getting support that she desperately needed. I will always suggest it if I see red flags and I am not bothered if it makes people groan and roll their eyes.

Oh and "I've found out my wife has been texting someone else"

MN:- she must leave the home immediately, that is what a man would have to do, yes she must leave her/your three month old exclusively breast fed baby and her/your toddler and go at once. And if she can't leave them as she is their main carer and you need to work, then they can go with her, to the hotel and you can stay alone in the house.

snicks - yes. And then the same poster kept on and on despite being told she was upsetting the OP with her ill-thought out advice.

Then there are the OPs who have problems with other people, but are clearly only offering their side of the story and it's full of subjective information or things they could have over-exaggerated in their own minds - yelling could have been just talking a little louder than usual, a glare could be due to someone having bad eyesight or who knows what else, and someone always being rude and ignoring them could actually be someone who is distracted or busy and doesn't notice the people around them as a result.

Then, the OP being told by people that whoever they are posting about is rude/awful/emotionally abusive or whatever, and then in doing so possibly not actually helping the situation at all as the OP goes away feeling affirmed when what they really need is to realise that they have to take some responsibility for a relationship that has broken down and their role in that.

Maybe I'm just sensitive about this though as my sister often misconstrues things and mis-rembers things, and once I found a thread by accident she'd written about me which was complete bollocks. It was quite awful reading strangers calling me names and saying that I was selfish, attention seeking etc, when they had no idea 1) my sister had never once actually taken the time to tell me she had a problem of any description, and 2) the information provided was totally subjective. I hadn't "looked down on her" (because I don't) or "thrown things in her face" (I politely declined an offer of help as it was something I really wanted to do for myself) as accused , but once she had that idea in her head being told by people online about how hard done by she is by me really didn't help our relationship.

SinisterBumFacedCat

Cream egg. Has anyone mentioned cream egg yet? Cream egg was classic!

I think you may have been mentioned earlier in the thread as people who don't RTFT.

It would be a shorter list to rattle off practical and useful advice I've seen on here.

The only thing that makes me is when a mob rule decides OP is unreasonable or should do a certain thing and then demands she listen to their ridiculous advice.

I remember a thread about a parent who didn't want to take her brat's muddy shoes off and let him run around on OP's fresh carpet, and there was a burst of hysteria about how the child probably had special needs.

Oh. That bugs me too. Anyone (man, woman, or child) that is rude/antisocial/a twat must have special needs... or a mental illness. Therefore it is on you to put up with shitty behavior.

I should clarify, I'm not talking about posters that are having genuine problems with their children.

I'm talking about OP's who are in shitty relationships or are irritated by rude people while they're out and about.

'I suspect this child is being abused due to xyz'

'It's none of your business'

Safeguarding is everybody's responsibility.

I once posted under another name about my DPs excessive drinking. I had not long found out I was pregnant. I was advised by several posters to abort the pregnancy. It was really upsetting and I had to leave the thread that had mostly offered me a lot of support. Even when I said that it wasn't an option, they were still insisting it would be the best thing.

I once saw someone post looking for ways to cut down her spending. She was a musician and needed to factor in the cost of having her piano tuned. A couple of posters insisted that she should learn to do it herself. Because a three year course of full time study, costing thousands of pounds, will really be worth it to save maybe £100 a year.

You learn something new on here all the time - I have to admit I did not know that you needed 3 years of training to become a piano tuner! But apparently you can get grants towards the cost of the degree if you are partially sighted (presumably registered as such) or blind. Our piano tuner when I was a child was almost blind - better hearing for the job.

OP:- "my in laws have offered to take us all to Disney. I don't like Disney, how can I make this bearable?"

MNetter:- "How about approaching a local charity and offer the money so that disadvantaged children can go away instead?"

I've seen that recently. A poster was saving for a house deposit, and was living rent-free with parents. Cue some idiot suggesting that as this was so unfair she go and donate the market rate for her rent to charity,

'I suspect this child is being abused due to xyz'

'It's none of your business'*

To be honest, I have never seen this. The general consensus is usually if something looks a bit off, report. Then if it's nothing, that's fine, but if the family needs support, it will be provided.

The worst advice I have ever seen is on a thread that's going at the moment.

OP: We have a tiny baby, and my husband barely interacts with her, he does barely any housework, and complains we aren't having any sex.

Some posters: Give your husband a list of jobs to do (because apparently he's too stupid to work it out for himself) and make time for sex. Men neeeeed it, doncha know?

I was struggling with depression and posted for support. I mentioned my DH had also had depression and anxiety problems in the past. I was worried and asking what I should do to get help.

The first and only reply for ages was someone basically saying she felt sorry for my 1 year old DD and her life was going to be severely negatively affected growing up with two parents who had mental health issues and I should make sure she had support.

Yeah that helps, thanks a lot

seen that recently. A poster was saving for a house deposit, and was living rent-free with parents. Cue some idiot suggesting that as this was so unfair she go and donate the market rate for her rent to charity,

Wtf?

I did see on a bedroom tax thread a few people insist that if an elderly couple owned a 5 bedroom property and didn't need all the rooms they should be made to sell the property and downsize so a large family that was stuck in a small HA house could buy it. When it was suggested that the large family in a HA property probably couldn't afford to buy the 5 bed and if they could afford to buy a larger house they prob wouldn't be in a small HA property, they were told that was unrealistic.

apparantly there are loads of large families who would rather spend years on waiting lists for a large HA house to become available, even though they can afford to buy a large house.

you must write at the top of your OP that you are dyslexic,

so that I miss ruler of fucking narrowmindness can understand your posts

fucking bellend!

Someone posts about a relationship which is clearly abusive and people chime in with "insist he goes to couples counselling with you"
I counsel couples and couples counselling where there is abuse is completely unsuitable.