To think this is incredibly PFB?

[kdilkington]

A mum has just come on to my local forum ripping into a company for the following:
Maplin have remote control cars (I think) the kind kids can sit in

She said (edited out the swear words) "its so ridiculous that companies have these cars outside the shops. I am sick of having to make a detour to stop my son from taking a tantrum when he realises he can't have the car, they are so expensive it's not fair to do that to kids"

Does that mean I can come to Kurt Geiger for having shoes I can't afford on display

But if no one ever teaches the child that tantrums don't work to get what they want then who is to say a grown woman wouldn't try it when faced with a pair of Kurt Geigers she can't have!

And there is temptation everywhere ...

Are shops allowed to use the pavement to display their goods now?

When mine were still tantrum prone toddlers I didn't let on you can actually buy stuff, I just treated it like a museum display or a fire engine on the street. By the time they realised I could buy anything I agreed to in the shops they were mostly out of the worst tantrum age.

Those cars are awesome. I've been saving up to get DD one for Christmas. They have MP3 players

It is a bit PFB but that shop's touting for kids trade would pee me off a bit too tbh and I'd definitely avoid if I wasn't in the mood for a tantrum.

regularly re-routes to avoid a bloody coin-op postman pat van outside the supermarket

That gives me the rage. OTOH we live very near a Maplins (it's actually literally our corner shop!) and DS stops every time to enjoy the cars and wonder if he might one day get one he won't At least now I can feel smug and self-satisfied each time, knowing that I do actually know how to say no...

I confess I also had murderous feelings for a mum in church on Sunday (yes I get the irony - although it's a double irony as I'm not actually a believer but the DCs sing in the church choir - long story). Mum asked if the seats next to me were empty which they were so I stood up to let her and her toddler baby (about 18mo) pass. Toddler promptly sat on my chair and I waited and waited for her to move the child so I could sit down again. Clearly, she wasn't planning to as toddler had chosen the seat she wanted even if that seat actually belonged to someone else - ie me. Eventually, after I had gazed into the middle distance for a while waiting for the mum to move into the seats that were available, the mum asked me if I would move to another pew so that she wouldn't have to move her baby off the chair she, the baby, had chosen. It gave me the rage - not giving up my seat as I didn't care about that much (although it meant I couldn't see the children in the choir so well). But her inability to parent. To say brightly "Come on then, upsy daisy, let's sit here in these lovely seats" then when toddler starts wailing "oooh look, a man on a cross, ooh, lovely".

Ffs, really don't get the mentality behind tantrum dodging and the ability to say no. They need to learn they can't always have what they want. Far kinder to come from a parent than wait to nursery/ school and them find out courtesy of other dc they can't just have what they want. Even if mummy thinks the other dc should pander to their pfb too it doesn't work that way.

She's not, if I've read correctly, saying she doesn't ever say no or doesn't know how to be firm, she's just saying it makes her day harder than it needs to be. Why all the bitchiness? Most of us know how difficult it can be to parent a toddler and how sometimes that one last tantrum will just push you over the bloody edge.

Of course it's ridiculous to complain, of course the shop won't do anything, but claiming that she's an ineffective parent or that her child doesn't understand the word no is a bit harsh.

I think the fact that I've never seen any child driving one of these anywhere other than up and down the aisles in Maplin speaks volumes for the ability of parents everywhere to say no to their children.

But when your day has involved a tantrum about getting dressed, carefully negotiated by offering choice, taking your pyjamas off, carefully negotiated by letting Mr Snuggles watch over them until it's time to put them on again, having your toast served in triangles not squares because that's how they were requested yesterday so how the bloody hell was I supposed to know that equilateral is now indigestible, brushing your teeth, putting your shoes on, getting in the car seat... When your day includes at least two of these and when they are coming down with a cold all of them - for the love of GOD let me buy a multipack of USB sticks and an HDMI cable without negotiating with a terrorist.

Sometimes it's nice not to have to say no.

Still wouldn't complain to the shop about it though. That's just daft.

Kids tantrum. They just do. They learn at some point not to.

She needs to get a grip. We went through a stage where ds would have a tantrum if we drove past Mcdonalds. He doesn't even like the food that much. He likes the toys.

I would demand all Mcdonald take down all signs.

she's just saying it makes her day harder than it needs to be

She isn't just saying that at all though. She is blaming the store with the unspoken message being that they shouldn't display items that might be coveted by children.

You live near me then as I saw the post aswell and thought it was ridiculous. Change your parenting style rather than expect the world to change for you!!!!

My sister's FIL bought one of those cars for her two children. Apart form the issue of one thing shared between two DC it's a bloody huge waste of money and space. It weighs a tonne because it has an electric motor, and the charge runs out very quickly. They can't be driven on grass so all the children can do is trundle up and down the tiny patio, and they invariably drive it into a wall then get stuck and have to get an adult to turn it round, however because of the weight and low battery life you can't take it out anywhere either. A plastic peddle car is a much better toy, but probably not as aspirational to a toddler.

Can someone link the cars for me please? I want to get one for my PFB

Only one?

Meanie.

You need seven: Monday, Tuesday . . .

Or you will get the tantrum you deserve!

Someone at our DCs school had one. They let them ride/drive it to school. All kids looked on in envy but parents in horror - not because of jealousy but because of the NOISE. It sounded like a Jumbo Jet coming in to land. You could tell that every parent who witnessed it made the silent vow "Never never never even if we win the lottery is my DC having one of those bloody things."

I can see her point, the rides that cost £1 a go are in every supermarket and sometimes I just don't have the appetite to argue the point with ds. Its annoying being made to spend extra money on something which is actually shit.
Worst example of this is in soft play centres you've paid to get in already, bought overpriced snacks and then kids spend all their time sitting in a postman pat van waiting for someone to crack and put money in. Of course I say no plenty but sometimes I just want a quiet life!

Its annoying being made to spend extra money on something which is actually shit.

The only people making you spend extra money are you and your son.

I think it's a bit ridiculous. I tell mine no all the bloody time sometimes DD, who's just 3, will have a tantrum but generally they're quite good. To me tantrums are something you have to learn to deal with when you're a parent.

If you say no and mean it they soon learn that tantrums are pointless.

I don't see the problem..

Yes it's annoying if they throw a trap trumers but that's life. Going out your way to compalin about something so to make sure your darling doesn't have a tantrum is ridiculas and there is no teaching.

Just say no. And move on.

New phone is changing my words....

I'm ashamed to say that I lie to my child.
If the lights are flashing on the car then I'm afraid it means it is broken and the man needs to come with his spanner to fix it.

It's like the music on the ice cream van means they have run out.

ASHAMED...

Whenever I've seen those cars, they are being used by kids from families who clearly don't know how to say 'no' or give a shit about anyone else. For a start, they're generally out and about blocking the pavement with the thing, and there's usually some older male twat in the family with an oversized planet-destroying real car nearby. The kid is always wearing designer trainers and probably eating junk food too...

Ugh I hate those cars - encouraging laziness rather than walking or cycling at such a young age! As well as encouraging burning through the earth's resources by driving, not to mention the waste and landfill caused by the cars themselves.

Will probably get a for this post but those bloody things just seem to represent all that is wrong with the world/people to me!