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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is without doubt one of the most irresponsible parenting fails ever?

126 replies

Charlie97 · 22/01/2017 17:52

Talking the dog for a walk, very cold and icy here today. We drove to a common nearby, it's just stunning when it's covered in white frosting.

On the drive alongside the common, there is a pond. A family of five where walking across the large frozen lake!

Three children, mum and dad.

I wanted to stop the car and tell them to get off and to stop putting their children in such massive danger.

OH, said it's none of our business drive on.

Why would you do that, everyone knows it's so bloody dangerous.

OP posts:
Stormwhale · 22/01/2017 17:53

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Original poster
Charlie97 · 22/01/2017 17:53

Massive title fail! Should be some of the most irresponsible parenting I've seen!

OP posts:
missyB1 · 22/01/2017 17:54

Yikes that was a really stupid thing to do! I've been terrified they were going to get into difficulties, I might have had to wait there until they got safely across. Some people are bonkers.

atheistmantis · 22/01/2017 17:54

Where do you live? Assuming it's not like my old stomping ground where you could fish on the lake in winter then they do not deserve to have children.

Original poster
Charlie97 · 22/01/2017 17:56

Arhiest, it's South West London.

OP posts:
ineedamoreadultieradult · 22/01/2017 17:56

Unless you live in a country where they can safely drive across/light fires on the frozen lake then that is horrifically irresponsible.

multivac · 22/01/2017 17:57

Has no one read Little Women these days?!

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 22/01/2017 17:58

If this is in the UK, pretty irresponsible as although it's been cold, I doubt it's been cold enough to freeze a pond solid enough to be reliably strong enough to take the combined weight of that family.
If you're in Siberia, they might be ok.

Basically it's Darwinism in action

atheistmantis · 22/01/2017 17:59

Not much lake fishing going on in SW London then! I remember two winters where we had three to four feet of ice on the lake.

purplefizz26 · 22/01/2017 18:05

I don't know if I could drive by and say nothing when kids were involved. Fucking idiots could have killed themselves and their kids.

Original poster
Charlie97 · 22/01/2017 18:08

I felt dreadful, I should've stopped but OH was no, no, no!

We did pass the same way on the way home and they had gone and the lake was still frozen, so I'm satisfied they were safe.

OP posts:
atheistmantis · 22/01/2017 18:08

Not to mention whoever ended up trying to rescue them. My adult Ds is a life guard and he has no time for people like this.

DJBaggySmalls · 22/01/2017 18:09

If they all fell in no one would know!

Original poster
Charlie97 · 22/01/2017 18:10

The adults I think, well if you are that stupid.....

But to take the children, apart from anything what are you teaching them?

OP posts:
WhereYouLeftIt · 22/01/2017 18:11

"OH, said it's none of our business drive on."
What? And had they fallen through the ice ... . That's a terrible attitude.

corythatwas · 22/01/2017 18:12

How long have you had a frost in London? Would they have the experience to test when ice is safe? How deep is the lake? (if it's more of a shallow pond, they'll get their feet wet but not drown)

MyKidsHaveTakenMySanity · 22/01/2017 18:12

We have a huge pond in our small town and whenever anyone is seen on it when frozen, the locals call the police who are usually out like lightning to haul them off and give them a bollocking.

Twoevils · 22/01/2017 18:13

We live not far from a large pond that is frozen over and the local FB groups have been full of tales of irresponsible people out on the ice. With their kids too!

Elsewhere locally someone went through the ice after their dog. It ended well, but so early couldn't.

It's like some kind of magical thinking!

Againagain97 · 22/01/2017 18:14

drive on."*
What? And had they fallen through the ice ... . That's a terrible attitude.*

It was the parents at fault, not OP or her OH. No guarantee they would've got off the ice. Idiots like them would quite possibly argue back! It's the parents attitude at fault here.

IonaNE · 22/01/2017 18:14

Is the water there more than knee-deep?

LilQueenie · 22/01/2017 18:14

I would have said something. Like the twat who laughed when I said putting kids on a quad bike in snowy weather was dangerous. Some people just cannot parent a child.

Violetcharlotte · 22/01/2017 18:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hookiewookie29 · 22/01/2017 18:17

It's as bad as those parents you see on the news who think it's a great idea to take the kids to see the 100ft waves crashing onto the promenade when there's a hurricane blowing! Insane!

Original poster
Charlie97 · 22/01/2017 18:18

How long have you had a frost in London? Would they have the experience to test when ice is safe? How deep is the lake? (if it's more of a shallow pond, they'll get their feet wet but not drown)

The lakes on this common do seem to get frozen, not sure if it's the positioning or what. Certainly remember taking the children when they were young and it being "thick" ice. I think the rangers sometimes break the edges of the ice to stop people going on it, so you can see it's 2/3 inches thick.

That particular lake, I'm not sure how deep exactly but no one else could tell, it's large so how would you know how deep the middle is?

OP posts:
Awwlookatmybabyspider · 22/01/2017 18:19

What were these idiots thinking