To think that if you find a deflated helium balloon in the street with a RIP message on it..

[Palomb]

You don't pick it up and post all over Facebook that you've found it, including pictures of the balloon and the note because you apparently want the poor bereaved person who sent it skywards to to know it landed.

That's not the point is it?

Op, your Op says there was a note.

''including pictures of the balloon and the note''.

Yeah there was a note but you couldn't read it, is what I meant. It was blurred out with the commentary saying something about the little boy dying and the finder of the balloon wanting to connect with the person who sent the balloon.

I thought people sent these balloons to their loved ones in heaven. Not to find their way to an industrial estate in Watford, or whatever. Isn't the point that they don't want to see them again?

I would have thought the same as you Palomb.

perhaps people who release balloons should include a name and address so that we know where to send the vet bill...

I felt the same about it pluck.
I don't like helium balloons. But I do recognise releasing them comforts people who've lost loved ones, so I don't mind it exactly. It's the ones for birthdays or whatever I don't like.

Yeah let's harass a bereaved parent for having the temerity of making a tiny gesture to acknowledge their dead child.
FFS

perhaps people who release balloons should include a name and address so that we know where to send the vet bill...

Maybe instead of a bill we could just march round there and set fire to their house instead...? Or, and it's a radical idea, maybe we could just accept that it brings a small measure of comfort to a bereaved parent and aids them in their grief and - y'know - let it go.

There are far worse thing released into the atmosphere every day than a few balloons.

Or how about people find a more environmentally friendly way of handling their bereavement? Instead of potentially causing serious injury/death to animals...

find a more environmentally friendly way of handling their bereavement.

Did I really just read that? Blimey.

Urgh. I've just had a message from someone telling me it's breast cancer awareness month in October and to 'make people aware' I should post something to say what colour my bra is. Just one word.
The person who sent me this is being treated for breast cancer.

It does fuck all to raise awareness and certainly doesn't generate any funds. I need to find a nice way to let her know this. She's a lovely person, but very FB naiive.

I was thinking of checking when the next major campaign was and just posting publicly that it could help eradicate cancer sooner if people were able to make a donation towards research.

find a more environmentally friendly way of handling their bereavement.

Why don't you find a more sensitive way of handling your judgement?

You're entitled to your views about the environment and balloons and whatever else, but a thread about bereaved parents is hardly the time or the place.

No one is being smug and no one is 'harassing' bereaved parents.

Posters are simply pointing out that releasing helium balloons can cause the needless deaths of animals. I'm sure the RSPCA wouldn't campaign about this if it wasn't true.

How about making your own wildflower bombs and throwing them in a neglected bit of ground nearby? That way, every time you walk past and see the flowers, you'll think of your daughter.

I made a post on here about guerrilla gardening on here and got absolutly pasted do if you do that then don't talk about it on mumsnet.

I still do it tbh :)

I think it is impossible to do the right thing sometimes. As this thread shows, what is deeply offensive and unacceptable to some, seems absolutely the right thing to do to others.

I am with some pps on this thread who err on the side of caution and think that your fb friend probably thought they were being kind. But why are you "friends" with someone you barely know anyway?

Nah MrsD. I have done this debate a few times and the smug people do as much shit to the environment as anyone else.

You see, their excuse is that they have to drive, they have to wash nappies, cats bring them joy so it's all ok to do. It's easy for them to say not to release balloons because it hurts wildlife, but they do shit they enjoy or stuff that makes life more convenient for them while sitting on their high horses judging others for releasing a balloon.

Lots of cat owners on MN and I hardly ever see them getting moaned at and cats are very destructive to wildlife. I have seen a cat kill an entire nest of birds and many playing with frogs. Yes, people moan at the cats shitting but not what they do to wildlife. The only reply that received when I mentioned it earlier was a face.

We all fuck up wildlife just by living. We can all help where we can but it's always people releasing a balloon which gets picked up on isn't it? The rest of the world can go on fucking up wildlife without much judgement. If you do anything on the list that Mrs D mentioned you have no fucking right to moan about potentially hurting wildlife/ the environment because you are just as bad.

We can't release a balloon for a loved one without someone trying to put the guilt on but it's fine to drive your car when you could walk because it's convenient, or own a cat.. or....

I don't live anywhere near where I grew up and have lived in 4 different cities. I have 500 friends on FB - maybe 20% I know well. That's what facebook is for.

Or how about people find a more environmentally friendly way of handling their bereavement?

I'm not a bereaved parent, but I have bereaved children.

That look on their faces when they thought their dad could read their message in a balloon was awesome. It was a great comfort to them and I don't regret it at all.

Lots of cat owners on MN and I hardly ever see them getting moaned at

I'm not sure we are using the same website!

Bereaved parents are constantly harassed.

People feel they have the divine right to judge what we do, how we act, how we choose to get one little grain of comfort.

Sitting there being able to think about how they would handle a situation that is totally alien to them.

Somehow knowing how they would act, what they would say and what their thought process would be if their child died.

People who are not bereaved parents know fuck all about what they would do.

If your child wanted to let a balloon off for their sibling would you really really say no and lecture them about the environment?

We live with constant pain, constant, even when we are happy we have sadness that our children are not there to share it with us, every day we wake up with the realisation it is another day without our children. So excuse me if something that may give me one tiny little crumb of feeling slightly less shit has a less than perfect environmental impact. I can't be with my children in their garden on their anniversaries this year so fully intend to let a balloon off in their memory.

They get moaned at for having a cat that shits everywhere but I haven't seen people moan about how they harm wildlife.

It isn't just bereaved parents who get judged. I was judged for letting my children let off a balloon for their dad. I should have considered the impact of that balloon when all I cared about right then was giving my children some comfort when they needed it the most. But do they think through everything they do and if it might harm the environment? Do they fuck.

I had no idea people released balloons as a way of remembering those who they have lost. I do understand the thought behind it though and that it can help.

This does remind me why I don't do facebook. One thing to post if the note requested it, really not if it didn't.