To think waiting rooms are not playgrounds

[FairfaxAikman]

Feeling like utter crap today and functioning on very little sleep as a result I hauled myself to a GP appointment this morning.
In the waiting room was a toddler who was LOUD!
They were running around the whole of the large waiting room pushing a large digger and shouting and squealing at the top of their voice.

I'm all for kids playing and enjoying themselves, but AIBU to think a Doctors waiting room, which is full of sick people, is not the time or place for it?

Let someone face it there's some parents that don't give a shot if there child is being noisy. This woman sounds like one of them.

Shit obviously

Agree it’s annoying but why don’t doctors etc arrange their appointments properly and manage their time better so people aren’t kept waiting for more than a few minutes?
At my previous surgery I usually wait and hour to be seen. New surgery I never wait more than 10 minutes.

It's not good but there's nothing you can do about it. I'm lucky that my son likes playing quietly with cars or whatever in those situations. My friends toddler (18m) will just scream as loud as she can for a laugh! I don't know how she can deal with it, the more attention you give them and their noise the more they do it for a reaction.

Could you wait a bit further away next time and listen out to be called? I usually do that if it's busy in the waiting area.

YANBU.

I was waiting in A&E with my son and a woman was looking at her phone the entire 45 minutes oblivious to her child who was being a noisy pita. Take a book, a puzzle! Have some consideration.

I'm always amazed when I watch 'GPs Behind Closed Doors' at the number of mums that take their children into the doctor's room and then allow them to piss about with the equipment, interrupt and generally misbehave without even attempting to get them to sit quietly.

Mean mean mean mean post

@KendalMintCakey that's just horrible. Your poor son, that must have really upset him. What the hell is wrong with people?

I hope you find a nicer surgery so that your boy can have a fresh start there.

the best thing that works though is another adult asking them to be quiet.

There's something wrong with the attitude towards children in our country. It's absurdly out of touch with reality and needlessly piles stress on parents. We are not meant to keep kids still and quiet so much!

I've just come back from taking my 16 month old to the doctor. The appointment was 35 minutes late. My daughter has no interest in toys or phones but will pretend to read books for about 30 seconds. It was absolute hell trying to keep her calm today so I'm glad I wasn't aware of anyone judging her for being ill and upset.

Oh come on there aren't really that many places they have to be still and quiet even at school for infants tehres a fair amount if play.

And the places they do go that require decent behaviour aren't every day places.

Drs hospitals funerals restaurants etc

Are you seriously saying that expecting a kid to be have or a parent to step up onve every few months down the Drs is too high an expectation?

There's something wrong with the attitude towards children in our country. It's absurdly out of touch with reality and needlessly piles stress on parents. We are not meant to keep kids still and quiet so much

I completely agree.

YANBU, and wearing headphones can mean you don't hear your name being called.
They've put noisy toys in my GP and dentist waiting room. That and the inspirational video on teeth whitening and dental crowns which plays on a loop drive me to take a valium each appointment.

"can't sit still and occupy themselves quietly.
Why is that?"

Because an average 0-18 month old is developmentally incapable of it for the lengths of time you are talking about here. Always have been, even 5000 years ago. If you remember differently, you are remembering wrong.

I should add that mum was alternating being on her phone and actually encouraging her DC.

Well, in this case then she wasn't parenting very well.

I do appreciate it's hard to keep bored kids quiet, but most parents do at least try. I've no issue with parents playing with/talking to their children, and I'll happily respond to kids if they talk to me/show me toys etc, but shouting and running around is a bit much.

I sympathise. I also agree that it's hard with little children in a place like that. I think we all tend to suffer with selective memories - as a parent you forget how irritating a noisy child can be in a quiet place when no-one has any choice to be there for a length of time - as an adult without kids or with grown kids you forget the hell of keeping a child out of everyone's hair!

Being in a doctors waiting room with a toddler is way worse than being on your own

Christ. Parenting isn’t “optional” but what do you actually want parents to do?

My twins are 18 months and they have a lot of appointments. In some clinics we’ve been up to 2 hours delayed. I try and keep them in their buggy as long as I can, but after a short while they start screaming because they want to get out. They’re bored, and they have no comprehension of being quiet. They simply don’t understand. It’s either leave them in the buggy to cry and throw whatever toys I try to distract them with, or try to wrangle two toddlers around a waiting room. It’s utterly hellish.

I’d love to know what magic I should be performing to get two children who don’t understand the concept of being still or quiet to do those things.

I doubt very much that the parent was having the time of her life either.

I wish the UK wasnt so intolerant to children acting like children and god forbid SEEING this in a public place.

There's something wrong with the attitude towards children in our country. It's absurdly out of touch with reality and needlessly piles stress on parents. We are not meant to keep kids still and quiet so much!

Selfish attitude. There's a time and a place for children to be noisy. A GP's surgery is not one of them.

I don't mind kids being Kids- running around and making noise. Just don't play on loud electronic devices.

I wish the UK wasnt so intolerant to children acting like children and god forbid SEEING this in a public place

You'd have a point in a park or walking down the street. Not so much when it's a Drs surgery and people are sick and dying. Requires not being selfish for like an hour

GreatDuck - but toddlers need to go to appointments too (mine have a lot more than me) and toddlers who don’t yet understand requests like “be quiet” will usually be loud. One of mine is much calmer, the other is a big fan of yelling. If I tell him to stop he grins and thinks I’m playing a game. It doesn’t go well. If I distract him with a toy, he will play and yell. Yes, it’s annoying - it annoys me too. I can’t bloody stop it though. I went to a hospital recently that gives you a pager and bleeps you when you’re next, so you can go for a walk or a coffee or whatever. That helps massively but in times where we have to sit in one small and very boring waiting area, it doesn’t matter how many toys I bring or things I try.

Selfish?! Who’s being selfish - the parent, who is not a magician, or the child who has no concept of this whatsoever? Don’t be so bloody ridiculous.

Tammy I have been to hospital appointments and GP appointments many times with my dc when they were babies and toddlers, sometimes having to wait more than one hour. I didn't think it was fine for them to make all the noise they wanted just because we had to wait.