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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to expect my childminder to use DS's £400 pram for him!!!!!

161 replies

nearlythere · 07/04/2007 14:58

Well, i'm silently fuming! When one of my ds's starting with a childminder friend we bough a silver cross linear freeway for her to use so that we don't have to lug prams etc around all the time. He is her only charge as he is mildly disabled and she is fantastic with him, however, yesterday i nipped out of work to go to the bank and saw something that has wound me up!

The childminders daughter has come to visit for a few days with her 8-month old baby, so there's the start of the story!

I turned round in town and saw my SC pram (very distinctive as is a limited edition colour and i've not seen one the same) went over to say hello to DS and what did i see- the grandaughter sitting in my lovely pram, and my ds shovelled into a cheapo £15 beach type buggy- no padding, no canopy, doesn't lie back etc!

should i say something? am i being silly? Just really annoys me that the daughter is a real cheapskate- has the cheapest of cheap travel system from argos then swans off with my pram as soon as she gets the opportunity! I would understand if she had a small car and couldn't fit everything in, so asked in advance if she could borrrow it, but i know for a fact that her travel system is in the boot of her very large car!!!

OP posts:
Original poster
nearlythere · 07/04/2007 16:33

she was flaffing about getting her purse out and stuff- i didn't know what to say so i just sort of said hello, is he behaving? nice weather! the type of things you say when there is nothing else to say!!

i felt really awkward!!

OP posts:
looneytune · 07/04/2007 16:34

I'm a childminder and think this isn't on. Ok, you don't know the facts but I'm not surprised you're upset!! Agree you should say something.

Original poster
nearlythere · 07/04/2007 16:35

i don't like he P&T- doubledecker kids! not my thing- and getting very common these days- i tend to go for the unusual! mountain buggies are supposed to be fab but i'd have the first wheels any day!

OP posts:
misdee · 07/04/2007 16:36

MB are fab!

LittleSarah · 07/04/2007 16:37

Yes that would infuriate me too! If it is probably just a one-off I would try and be calm about it but would say something.

Nemo2007 · 07/04/2007 16:40

that first wheels pram does look superb but would never have fit through my narrow front door so I have a P+T which I do really like for the ease of use.

LittleEasterLapin · 07/04/2007 16:41

First Wheels?!

Nemo2007 · 07/04/2007 16:44

here

Nemo2007 · 07/04/2007 16:46

better pictures here

LittleEasterLapin · 07/04/2007 16:48

oooooh

Nemo2007 · 07/04/2007 16:49

tis a very nice pram but I have a nightmare of a front porch door and you can get barganious prices on ebay!!!!

JetPeanut · 07/04/2007 20:17

You're all mad, IMHO. She "didn't realise that people look at prams like they do cars"... so that would be a vehicle that gets you from A to B then...? How offensive this snobbery is. Perhaps all us poor souls with cheap travel systems should just go and die of shame. WTF...

iwouldgoouttonight · 07/04/2007 20:39

Oh my god - I have been walking around with a cheap travel system and hadn't realised that people are looking down on me thinking I'm either poor or stingy! This post has quite offended me! But I also drive a battered old car so by the sounds of it people are looking down on me for that too!!

I fully understand if your DS needs that particular type of pram because of his disability, but it does sound as though its purely snobbery!

When my DS goes to nursery they use the nursery's own pushchairs when they take the babies outside rather than using ours - I don't give it a second thought. I care more about the fact that he is being cared for properly rather than what pram he's sitting in!

zookeeper · 07/04/2007 20:41

"well-presented in a quality pram" Pass the sick bucket.

Hulababy · 07/04/2007 20:44

I don't think this has anything to do with what the pram was, cost or anything. I'd simply be miffed that the pram that I had paid for and provided was being used for another child, whilst my child was in a less suitable pram at the same time. Especially if I knew that the child in my pram had their very own sitting ont he drive ready to use.

zookeeper · 07/04/2007 20:47

It has everything to do with the cost and the perceived quality. Haven't you read the derogatory comments about the girl who has the cheap travel system? The fear that the poster might lose business because, god forbid, the child is not in a "quality " pram . This thread is really offensive.

Hulababy · 07/04/2007 20:49

OK, the new debate on this thread is to do with cost and "looking good", but the original post was not really about that.

And TBH yes, If I had provided an expensive pram that I had paid for, for my child to use and this situation arose I certainyl would want to know why my child had been oustd out into some little insufficient buggy rather than his big comfy pram in favour of another child.

colditz · 07/04/2007 20:53

Look, I use the cheapest of the cheap pushchairs, and I use them until bits drop off. It's not the point. I wouldn't want him putting in another pram because another baby's mother wanted her baby to go in his. Bugger the cost, bugger the quality, it's HIS!

mummytosteven · 07/04/2007 20:55

I would stick to the comfort of your child rather than bad for business argument on this one .

MrsApron · 07/04/2007 20:57

Snobby about prams yes ok, but if they are your business that is fair enough, your child is a walking advert if that is the case. Upset that your child is in a cheap zero comfort pushchair instead of a comfortable one yep. Unreasonable no.

I would have been bloody raging that my child was palmed off into a random uncomfy buggy so her grand daughter could be pushed along in your one.

SHe is v unprofessional to do this. And yes I would now be wondering how else your son is pushed out when her grandchild is there.

Poke her eyes out gwan.

zookeeper · 07/04/2007 20:59

But the poster said "the thing that really got to me .....is that i run a few baby shops.. and so peolpe expect that he is well -presented in a quality pram"

do you think that if the pram had been a more expensive model she would be complaining so much?

Hulababy · 07/04/2007 21:00

I do actually think the business comment is probably a fair one. As already said, if people know her DS around town, then yes in some ways he is a walking advert for his mum's business.

colditz · 07/04/2007 21:00

Ooooooohhhhh

MrsApron!
I said that earlier!

Lact8 · 07/04/2007 21:01

How old is your DS nearlythere? Talking age?

I only ask because DS2 always loved the opportunity to get in anyone else's pram/buggy than his own?

Just an idea...

zookeeper · 07/04/2007 21:02

are there people would not go to a baby shop because the owner's baby was seen in a cheap pram? lol

Can't believe I'm arguing about this

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