To be annoyed with parents allowing their "just walking " toddlers to wander aimlessly

[Ab1000]

When I'm on my lunch break I'm always in a rush to get stuff done. It's so annoying when parents allow their kids to toddle around and get in everyone's way. I have two children so I do know what it's like but mine were either on reins or had a hand firmly held.

Not just as annoying as hell, but extremely dangerous as well!! I don't know what these people are thinking of letting their toddlers roam free! Crazy!!

Tying a kid on to a leash is horrific tme. Toddlers have the right to walk, all around the
you can easily w

But. Of course mothers should pick them up if they're blocking
A doorway, cashier, etc. Haha English people are always so rushed and grumpy they've lost the plot.

English people are always so rushed and grumpy they've lost the plot

Aren't you a peach take your offensive stereotyping elsewhere.

Jesus, the mass hysteria on here is laughable. Some posters clearly believe that not allowing a small child to toddle about in any location at any time is akin to stripping them of their human rights.

"Tying a kid on a leash is horrific"

Of course a dead child is so much better.
I have a profoundly disabled 11 year old who still needs reins near roads. You have no bloody clue.

Fucks sake, some of you are so mean!! Toddlers toddle, get used to it.

This post has turned into criticising parents who let their children wonder aimlessly into roads and swimming pools. Of course most parents have common sense and should not let this happen but read the original post, it was an annoyance that toddlers get in OPs way while she is trying to buy a sandwich or get her jobs done on her lunch break. So for example, a pedestrianised street in the middle of town to me is a safe place to let toddlers walk and quite frankly if people (adult people) are paying attention to where they are going an exercise a bit of common sense themselves they will walk around them and appreciate that toddlers are not robots and are not programmed to walk in a straight line and get out of the way of people! We are talking about 1-2 year olds ffs!

Oh yeah, I've had the comments about "child on a leash" horror. I, too, am less horrified by a child on a leash than a child being run over.

Some kids are just runners. Some are not NT. One of those things where some parents just don't know how lucky they are. It's no fun applying restraint techniques to get your child safely from shoe shop back to car. Words cannot describe how much no fun it is. Other than needing shoes that fit we would just never take him to the shops.

YANBU if talking about places where safety is a concern (like the coffee shop example a PP gave), but YABU if talking about general pavement space. Just because you're an adult, it doesn't mean you own the pavement. Besides, if you're in that much of a hurry all you have to do is politely say to the parent "can I get past?" and I'm sure they'll guide their toddler out of the way.

I am so shocked by what I have read here. There seems to be so many entitled, self important people who think parents with toddlers need to give a shit about the "very important" business you are up to.
Thankfully in Australia there seems to be more tolerant people towards children.
I also have never seen anyone use reins and have no idea what they are.
Is this a U.K. thing??

I think a busy pedestrianised area is a place where safety would be a concern too. It only takes one person, distracted and rushing to get something done, to trip over the child, and the child is going to get hurt.

If the shopping area isn't too busy - then yes, fine, let the toddler toddle and explore - but if it is full of people rushing around, then it isn't the best place for the exploring and toddling.

And it is not entitled or self important to think that toddlers, like everyone else, have to fit in with the rest of the world. And of course they are too young to do this for themselves, so their parents need to have a bit of common sense - so their child stays safe, and can explore the world safely, whilst other people can get on with their lives too.

Common sense. Compromise. Why is this so hard to understand?

As long as a toddler is not likely to cause a hazard e.g. get in someone's way and that person to go head over heels trying to avoid then they should be allowed to toddle. What really, really I cannot understand or accept is children treating supermarkets like playgrounds, picking up a ball that's on sale and then having a game of football or running about chasing one another or even worse, the scooters. When did scooters become the only way to travel in shops, even seen them being used in furniture stores.

Spot on, @manicmij.

At least in supermarkets you can use your trolley as a shield!!

What we should do is calculate the impact on the economy all these toddler obstacles are having when it comes to efficient moving around, and on the NHS in particular, due to toddler collision related injuries.

Sim just because people (me) choose to use a buggy in busy areas near busy roads rather than risk toddler running around all over the place and into the road doesn't mean that they never take the time to take them to safe places. I can assure you that I spend plenty of time in parks, on beaches, my garden, country footpaths etc etc where my toddler has plenty of time to toddle round safely. And in regards to using the buggy I don't 'shove him in' it at all thanks - I strap him in in a perfectly humane manner! As I'm sure is the same for all parents who choose to use a buggy for their toddler - whether you were referring to me or not, quit making such ridiculous generalisations. As a previous poster pointed out some toddlers are just more unpredictable than others. I've had three. My first two children were much better at walking close to me and happy to hold my hand. Number 3 however is like a bull in a China shop and always looking for a quick escape. Nothing to do withy parenting skills, I've bought them all up exactly the same.

If only the world would change so all your selfish needs are met.

No consideration whatsoever what this means to the development of the toddler and how they will be in society, if they are made to feel they are in everybody elses way! Also, not all parents/adults have the strenght or a strong back to carry the child all the time, and sometimes the pushchair is not an option.

You should work on your anxieties and issues cause just like you like to rush, other people use their lunch break to take a slow walk and relax.

If only the world would change so all your selfish needs are met.
This goes both ways. What you perceive as a business person's "selfish need" to them is important - just as important as your toddler's need to toddle. Neither of you is right about the other, but neither of you is wrong. Compromise and give and take.

No one is saying that children should be packed up and kept out of sight. People are just saying that there's ways and means to teach your children to walk, and to walk in public, without being a disruption and a hazard - which is, after all, essentially what you're trying to teach them, in spite of all this outraged rhetoric about toddlers having rights. In dismissing and pooh-poohing the rushing adult's needs in favor of your child doing something that they could do somewhere that isn't in people's ways, consider that you are being just as selfish as you think they are.

No consideration whatsoever what this means to the development of the toddler and how they will be in society, if they are made to feel they are in everybody elses way!
And what if they are in everybody else's way? Because sometimes, that is legitimately the issue. What then? Yes, your toddlers have rights. Yes, they're people. But the rushing business people are people too. I don't think they have the right to tell you that your toddlers can't be out in public, of course they don't! But neither do I think parents of toddlers have the right to tell other people that their lives have to be put on hold while your child toddles in their way, if/when they can be guided - or taken - elsewhere. You don't have the right to tell someone "what you're rushing to do isn't as important as letting little Rufus find his legs". You don't know. You have no way of knowing what that person is rushing to do. It isn't important to you, but it's important to them - as important as raising little Rufus is to you, perhaps.

Everyone who is saying that toddlers have rights, well, I think that's true to a point, but I don't think they have the right to be prioritized over everything and everyone else, when we as a society should be teaching them that everyone has to compromise and give and take in order to keep things running smoothly and pleasantly.

OP must live somewhere overrun with toddlers - a Softplay Castle or Willy Wonka's Castle perhaps. Can't say I've noticed 'toddlers' specifically in the way. Maybe my time in a queue might be extended because an elderly person is making sure they have their transaction correct or I might walk around the extra space a person in a wheelchair is taking. Sometimes there might be the occasional toddler in a shop, toddling about, with a watchful parent close by.

But can't say I've been knee-deep in the little buggers.

Exactly what I have been trying to say, @faithinthesound - but more eloquently. Some people won't listen, though they, because we are such meanies, wanting a bit of common sense and balance here.

It's not something that's ever bothered me. But maybe I just have a more relaxed attitude to these things.

The biggest problem here is that there are a subset of parents in this world who genuinely do put their children above all else (which is fine) but expects the rest of the world to do the same (which is not fine).

Parents who want people to treat their toddlers as people with rights, that's fine, but remember that part of that is learning that other people have rights too. So your toddler needs to learn that they can't always get what they want, that they don't always have the right of way, that other people have needs - needs that sometimes (not always, but sometimes) - trump theirs, and that they are not the only person that matters on the planet.

I'm not saying that there aren't adults who need to learn that too, because there are! But I think there are some parents who are leaving that part out of the "teaching Rufus to walk unaided" lesson, and then vilifying the rest of the world when it points out that it, too, has rights.

Woman picking up from the nursery near me this afternoon parked fully on the pavement (Range Rover) so if you wanted to get past you had to walk out into the busy road. I said she had a cheek. She just looked bewildered and said 'but it's raining, I have young children'.

So there are parents out there that forget that the world continues to spin on its axis even though they've birthed a child and just behave selfishly and screw everyone else. I don't encounter very many but it does happen. A bit of awareness and consideration wouldn't go amiss. She was without a doubt the kind of parent that would allow her small children to get in the way or cause someone to trip over them because she'd given them total free rein regardless of the situation.

Imagination -- "If only the world would change so all your selfish needs are met."

I assume you are talking about the selfish parents who INSIST that the rest of us stop in our tracks to admire their PFBs learning to walk, climb, scream etc. They think all of us must be just as in love with PFBs as they are because who can resist glorious PBFs! And what can be more important and more urgent than watching PBFs toddle??!!

Yup Imagination, these parents are utterly selfish.

YANBU. I was driving a long distance over xmas holidays to visit relatives and stopped at a service station. I really needed to go to the loo and to get there you had to walk down a long corridor. The corridor was fairly wide but a mum with a baby (can't have been more than 18 months) was letting her having her first walk down the corridor. The baby was practically walking backwards they were so slow, and that's understandable but they were ambling unsteadily in a zig zag pattern so there was no way for me to overtake! The lady was aware of me and other ladies behind her practically at a standstill as we tried desperately to get to the loo. She just smiled and cooed "we're going to change your butt! We're going to change your butt!" Over and over again. So inconsiderate.