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.

A little bit of freedom for children is great. But a small child can knock over an elderly or disabled person, which can negatively affect their life. I can see both sides having had a strong willed active child (who I had to frequently stop!) but also a health condition that can be worsened by bumps, falls etc. I am very unsteady. Mind you saying all this it's not just children - at least we can say that toddlers don't yet understand! There are many adults who nearly knock me flying. Bloody tall men and their elbows! Just the height of my eye! They drive me batty!

I hate this
It's not the toddler toddling, it's the free rangedness, all over the pavement.

Our school drive is a total bottleneck taking us to 2 abreast for 100m or so.
Guaranteed there are always 2-3 toddlers being allowed to wander at a drunken pace whilst scores of tired children and irate parents shuffle crossly behind them as their own parents beam with pride.

I'm pleased they're pleased, just not in the pissing down rain with 4 surly kids to try and get home myself.

It's surely about just having a bit of common sense - toddlers are basically lemmings in better clothes and require a modicum of guidance.

Are we talking about toddlers walking obviously slower and a bit unpredictable? Or are we talking about toddlers walking anywhere other than a park?

Because there's a massive difference between what happened to DailyFail (and I experienced something similar as a teenager!) or just having to coexist with someone that's not as nimble as you.

I do my best to not get in anyone's way by walking on a side and I do hold my son's hand all the time, but I can't carry him for long at all as I'll end up in agony. So surely you can walk around us as a compromise.

*I think the PP was referring to the trolleys which have a cage on the top to strap the car seat in (ie for the really tiny babies

As a side note, I'm terrified of having to walk near people with canes/ crutches as I worry about DS grabbing them but not wanting to make the poor person feel like a leper by avoiding them a mile away .

Toddlers toddle though, don't they. I mean, they walk differently to older people, they see and experience the world in a different way. Of course, running round cafes and onto tube lines shouldn't be happening, but toddlers do what they do just like everyone does what they do. You might have a very important and busy life, as far as you're concerned. But so do they, as far as they are concerned. Why does your take on it trump theirs? They are still citizens, still entitled to go about their daily business. As long as they aren't actually harming anyone, is it really such a big imposition to step to the left and walk around them?

And I am utterly bemused at the inclusion of "streets" on the list of places that toddlers shouldn't be on. Should they never walk anywhere apart from the living room until they are five years old or something?

All mine were permanently on reins if they weren't in the buggy. It's not rocket science.

Learning to walk in the park/on pavement etc is fine. NOT where they endanger other people LIKE ON AN AEROPLANE! Toddler refused to sit, running up & down aisle, then got itsself trapped behind the food trolley as had tried to shove past it & when the seatbelt light came on to land refused to sit down. Cue HUGE tantrum (from child & mother who seemed to think rules didnt apply to her child'. End result was 10mins of circling Gatwick until said child was restrained & 170 odd people giving this mother the death stare.

My dad also has his knee cap dislocated by a small child on a scooter in a shopping centre. He needed surgery & was on crutches for 6 weeks & the mother saw nothing wrong with the whole scenario.

Putting DD1 on reins went as well as putting a cat on a lead.

Some people on this thread are just impatient - toddlers on the school run, ffs.

I once had to slam on the breaks when a toddler ran out in front of my car. His mum was to busy talking to notice her toddler had run off
What did I get- a load of abuse from the mother

Gee, so many judgey perfect parents on this thread who have obviously never ever had a near miss with their child [i.e the lady paying at the counter and the toddler moving away from her].

You have seen a snapshot of that woman's parenting and I am sure something like this has happened to us all at some point or another. We only need to be preoccupied or distracted for a moment and something can happen. I am sure she was very grateful to the OP or whoever it was who called her attention to her toddler toddling away or restrained them from moving out the doors of the cafe/shop.
DH and I lost DS [aged 4 at the time] in the Copenhagen underground once. We were on the train and DH stepped off momentarily when the train stopped at a station to check the direction it was travelling and that we were going the right way. Then he got back on and the train kept moving.... after a moment or so I said 'Where's DS?' and we looked up and down the carriage, couldn't see him anywhere... Panic! Luckily we realised he must have followed DH off the train at last station and we got off at the next one, DH returned to previous station to find DS crying surrounded by kind and concerned Danish commuters, none of whom berated DH for his lax parenting but rather were relieved to see that child and father were reunited.
Gee loosen the judgey pants people and give other parents the benefit of a doubt, we have all been there fgs!

You know toddlers are little people right ? We are meant to encourage independence! Judging by this thread your damned if you do and damned if you don't ! As for toddlers on the school run I'd much rather be mindful of a toddler toddling than a mum pushing a buggy into my ankles.

To all the people saying 'toddlers toddle, that's what they do, why do your needs trump theirs' etc. Have I missed something here?! Are 2 year olds now contributing members of society with jobs to get to, and taxes to pay, and the right to vote? No? Then I'm sorry, but my need to get to my job, which pays the taxes for the NHS and education the aforementioned toddler will benefit from, does trump their right to take up the entire staircase on the tube at rush hour....

Sorry but someone trying to get to work/catch a train might actually trump a toddler having a go at doing stairs!!

They're 'experiencing the world around them and learning independance' Yes well that's nice. But there's s time and a place and 8am in a busy tube station is just NOT that time.

People cannot be expected to indulge every whim of flight of fancy; what good do you think that is going to do?

SeaWitchly that's what reins and buggies are for.

Nobody is saying that though. I also do not think reins or hand holding would make that much of a difference judging by the responses here it appears children, elderly even the disabled are just one big major inconvenience to others. Don't get me wrong there are certain places where it's too dangerous and some people are plain stupid but some of the places mentioned are ridiculous.

I agree that toddlers shouldn't always be left to toddle aimlessly exploring wherever they want. My child is older than this but has learning difficulties so would do this but isn't allowed to in busy places. He is on reins or put in his sn buggy, for his own safety as much as anything.
If it is just walking slowly or in a not quite straight line, which still happens even with reins, then I think people should put up with it. I've had people moaning because of him taking too long on stairs which he cannot help and at his age it would be dangerous to carry him down.

Of course some of these examples Shouldn't have been allowed to happen and I personally wouldn't take my toddler on the tube at rush hour if it was avoidable but the posters saying they shouldn't be in shops on their lunch break are ridiculous.
Why is your lunch break more important than what everyone else is doing that day?

Unbelievably entitled

I have adult friends who walk slow, don't pay attention etc. Shall they be banned too?
Maybe we should all have to do a walking license so very important people can get their lunch quickly and people can walk at a fast pace on a CHILDREN'S school run!!

Just to clarify my original post was about parents who allow children to wander about instead of holding their hands or putting them in reins. I was talking about busy places not in the park or on a quiet street. It's about using common sense and not holding the queue up in the airport while dd/ds practices toddling.

As a mother and more recently a grandmother, I always thought I was in charge of the toddlers not the other way round! Littlest GD loved to amble but from playgroup through our busy shopping centre, lots of pedestrians, cars, buses, trams etc she'd be on her reins. She learnt about the green man and liked to press the button at the crossings. Once we got nearer home, I'd undclip them and she'd have freedom to run on the wide, almost empty pavements, hide behind a tree etc. I was alert for traffic so she wasn't in any danger, and there were few pedestrians so we weren't hindering anyone.

Of course small children need freedom, but as the responsible adults we need to set appropriate boundaries.

YANBU when it comes to safety: stations, restaurants, busy roads. Or blocking a way for a length of time.

YABU when it's just a bit of an inconvenience. School run is ridiculous. Unless you are really running late, (as they will be too and then that is another issue). I get it is really annoying when parents think their child has priority over everything (shop door story above = annoying), but it is no more annoying than an adult who thinks that their lunch break jobs are Very Important too. Unless you have a runner (hello DS2) then reins all the time is rubbish. Let them explore.

!

Aside from obviously dangerous situations like coffee shops/the underground I don't see why toddlers shouldn't have as much right to occupy space as anyone else. Besides which, they're cute, which is more than can be said for a self righteous, self important adult rushing to get places.

What is all this PFB about? Why is someone being precious because they allow their toddler to toddle? Winds me up how intolerant of children so many people are. Walk past the child and get on with your day instead of being a dick about it.

Oh sorry, my mistake. Hadn't realised people needing to get to work on time made them self-righteous and self-important....