Parents that let their children "run wild" indoors in a public confined space are uncouth

[feellikeahugefailure]

So watching swimming lessons (again...) on a mezzanine floor with other parents. Some have brought their other children along and let them run around the place, up and down on a wooden floor that reverberates throughout the whole pool room making a lot of noise. Some even run into me, no apology from either the child or the parent and the parent says nothing to them.

They are uncouth right?

I rarely hear parents warning their kids not to scooter at people, watch put for the little kids/dogs in their path, not to run into other pedestrians...

I'm not sure where all this will get us - probably a society of entitled 'because I'm worth it' knobs.

Oh my local Waitrose is scooter hell, Miaow. It's awful.

YANBU. I'm all for children running about and being active but there's a time and a place (several times and several places) - not when people are trying to eat/learn etc.

Yanbu Op

And as for those trainers with hidden wheel contraptions they need burning

Scooters are for parks and gardens not shops.

I was on a plane once and there was a child tearing up and down the central aisle while the air stewards were serving tea/coffee. They asked the mother (who was reading a magazine!) to seat him for his safety whilst they were serving but she just shrugged and went back to her reading.

I was once on a long haul and there was 2 families of kids running around the plane for 11 hours.

^This is exactly why I will never do a long haul flight!

Thank god I can't afford long haul.

I don't bother to jump out of the way if a feral child runs right at me. I'm bigger. If they dont fall over and hurt themselves they will expect everyone to dart out of their way.

Just lately I have been seeing increasing numbers of children totally running amok in supermarkets, literally racing up and down the aisles with loaded trolleys, spinning them around for fun. hmm

Children and trolleys drive me insane! One of the big hardware stores here thought it would be a good idea to get those little kid sized trolleys. Kids running around with little trolleys while people are pushing big carts loaded with timber and power tools and outdoor furniture. Genius.

We don't go to supermarkets often (don't drive so get it all delivered) so when we do, the DCs (8 and 6) are very excited about the trolleys. I do generally let them have a go at pushing (unless it's very busy - I always take over in crowded aisles) but I am VERY strict - they have to walk and be very careful, they know that any messing about at all means they stop.

I agree about Heelys. Proper skates or blades are much better anyway (and a lot cheaper)

I hate seeing people skating/on scooters etc indoors. I saw two grown women on rollerskates in the mall the other day . You'd be amazed at the amount of people who think nothing of letting their children ride their bikes/scooters etc in the local library too. It's carpeted throughout - all that mud tracked in :( FFS.

I have one of those 3 year old boys. I think he is wild and I can't get him to settle and be quiet at times, but others tell me he is 'a typical boy' and he's an angel compared to some of the kids in his nursery.... The big problem I have with his older sibling's swim lesson is that the pool doesn't open the view area, so you have to stay in the changing room or very small reception area. Its crowded, hot and uncomfy. Naturally the kids are fed up. The ground is wet there's nowhere to sit, the cubicles are always busy, sometimes you have to just change not in a cubicle. I try to keep him 'under control' I use the ipad and phone, we take toy cars, but its not great to drop an ipad on a wet swimming pool changing room floor.... but I try. Its the mothers who allow their (mainly sons I have to say) to not only run up and down the "aisles" but to get in and out of the lockers that I have total incredulity to. Then when my son tries to copy and join in with the groups of boys playing, as kids do, they have an enviable ability to just join a crowd of other kids at times, but then he ends up in trouble and the other parents glare at me because obviously if I am not allowing my son to do what there's are then I'm making some kind of public show of disagreeing with what they permit... its a minefield! I've discovered that if we just stay in a cubicle with the door closed for the duration of the lesson, and ipads on hand that seems to work, but I dread someone knocking the door and calling me out on it....

I once had a child from a neighbouring table try to scrounge cakes from our afternoon tea.

I was uncouth enough to tell him to fuck off. His mother was really upset, but got the message that she was letting her child be a brat.

Noooo! You didn't!

mercedes love that story!

I'm on the fence here. This thread has gone sadly very black and white, no grey areas. But in reality there are a lot of variables, including the type of space (area where hot drinks are being served: not okay; open/waiting room type area - sometimes ok) and crucially, age of child. My (just)4 yo now knows in cafes he has to stay seated, not shout, and eat/drink/talk nicely. My 1 yo has just learned to walk and is in love with the freedom this brings. If we eat out at all (and we have to sometimes, otherwise there's just too much cooking and cleaning and washing up to do!!) one of us has to get up and wander round with him, holding hands or following behind. I'm sure there are people thinking 'that child should be at the table' but if they spent an afternoon with him they'd realise how impossible that is right now!
And some people are just shitheads anyway. A couple of weeks ago dh and I were out with both boys in an upmarket but child friendly restaurant. They were eating spaghetti. It wasn't pretty. But ds2 bless him was actually sitting in his high chair for once and behaving beautifully (just getting sauce all over his face which is also impossible to avoid with spaghetti). Two very glam ladies sat at the next table and there was a distinctly weird atmosphere (even dh picked up on this and he's usually oblivious) with lots of glaring and sneering at the baby. Clearly they'd gone out for a civilised ladies lunch together and we didn't meet with their approval as fellow diners. It made me very sad as even on best behaviour the kids are clearly an irritant to some people. But we've all been kids once!
Oh yes and I was probably the most docile and well behaved little girl but at the same age as my ds2 I apparently pulled an entire bottle of vintage wine onto the slate floor of a restaurant in France much to my parents horror (and they were NOT the type to let their kids run wild - these things just happen sometimes).

The difference though is that you get up and walk with the 1 or 2 year-old who needs to move, that's fine. What's not fine is children, especially those who are school-age (and old enough to be able to sit) running riot while the parents pretend they can't see or hear them. Child-friendly shouldn't mean 'anything goes, suck it up'.

I saw a child chasing around in M&S recently after a trainee guide dog, trying to pat it etc. The trainer was getting increasingly annoyed and the mother couldn't see why her child couldn't pat the doggie. FFS

'The dog is working' worked for DS when he saw a guide dog.

I work in a library, I am extremely tolerant. We don't make children be quiet, we don't stop them moving around. But some parents/carers think its ok to let them run around screeching. (They also leave piles of books scattered around and the crayons all over the floor.)

Some people just have no consideration for others.

Yanbu.
As a teacher, the urge to tell off the spoilt brats I see in public is sometimes overwhelming!

This thread has gone sadly very black and white, no grey areas.

As do most threads on children's behaviour on MN I find.

DS used to have swimming lessons in a private club which had a poolside viewing area and a fairly small children's play area. Massively advertises itself as family friendly, the play area has great toys and DS always wanted to play there after swimming.

The poolside area was small and cramped and it was basically impossible to sit there once DC2 became mobile owing to attempts to jump in the pool fully clothed. Swimming teacher happily suggested those who wanted to could move to the play area, some children swim better without their DM watching anyway. All fine.

The play area however though a designated play area had several toy cars that were very very attractive to toddlers, and was completely open to the reception area, with lots of easily tipped over, but fortunately fake, plants, and was also open (though thankfully up some steps) to the cafe area.

Obviously when playing there I did keep an eye on DC2 but it's a bit mean to put ride on toys in a minuscule play area and wonder why they get driven out into the common areas. When DS got a few minutes to play he understood the rule that cars stay in X area but DC2 was big enough to ride on the toys blooming fast but too small to understand this rule.

It is also possible to have a child who is perfectly able to sit on a mat at school/preschool for a 15 minute story but struggles with e.g. 30 minutes in an airport check in with no way to leave and walk them around because you cannot leave the queue been there done that. So it's ridiculous to say that all children who can't behave in challenging public situations are going to fail at basic school based attention situations. They are not really comparable.

The world would be perfectly quiet if we all just plonked our kids down with a phone in front of them. Rows and rows of quiet dull and dulled children.

I'm happier watching small boys swing on bars and play chase than watching them sit hunched over a small screen.

This is the 2nd thread I've read in succession that starts 'So'!

Oh for god's sake, no-one is saying that people want kids to be silent or to sit on screens in order to keep them anaesthetised.

Anyone who is saying that it's ok to let kids run around endlessly, talk/shout/scream at the top of their voices for prolonged periods bump into people...

we are VERY clear what kind of parents you are!