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?

The mum might have been in a lot of pain or feeling very nauseous. It's easy to assume people are making no effort but you don't really know what's going on with them.

Noisy running toddlers are annoying but I think just something you put up with in waiting rooms. By 4 they have a better understanding of what's appropriate behaviour in different environments. I can tell my toddler to play quietly and stop running, but every 5 minutes she forgets and has to be reminded.

Guess I'll just have to find it myself then.Ta ra duck,don't be a stranger now xx

Oh fhs - like everything in life - there is a balance to be struck.

Parents of toddlers should try and have consideration for other patients and patients should try and have consideration for parents with toddlers. A little understanding on both sides would go a long way.

Why are views so polarised and extreme on here?

The lack of tolerance towards small children on what is supposed to be a parenting site is frankly staggering.

^ this!!

streamcloud you sound far too sensible and reasonable to be posting on here. I couldn't agree more.

No one wants to be in the Dr's, none of us are at our best but making a 2yo sit still for half an hour (like a real one, not the imagined highly-disciplined ones we hear about on here) is a total nightmare. Both parties have to wait, it is understandable that someone who is ill may be irritated by toddler particularly if they are in pain and may knock into them etc. Sometimes attempting control with a cold that age in an enclosed space leads to more disruption not less.

Thanks for the insult too don't give it if you can't take (don't worry,I haven't charged you for this piece of advice
This is why you’re getting the responses you are,i don’t know if you mean to or if you’re purposely goading,( some responses to you have not been ok,) but it does come across as goady.

So right.Or if she had shouted at her child she would be accused of being a mean and/or abusive parent

Why can't people grasp that it's not ignore and allow a child to do whatever they like OR shout at a child and be angry.
You can manage a child between those extremes...but I agree those two are the easiest at the time methods for those that can't be arsed.

MrMeSeeks I am merely thinking outside the box and sticking up for a mother who I feel is possibly being unfairly judged,like mothers often are.Because of this my parenting is being judged- I am being accused of being that mother by people that don't know me from Adam.I've been accused of being sat on my phone while my kids run riot and told that my kids 'learnt from me' ie I'm basically being told that my kids are brats when they know nothing about my (lovely and well behaved) kids.To me this is a lot more goady than me calling someone a twat (especially when they really are indeed a twat lol).

NutElla5x once again, some of the comments towards you i also don’t think are ok, i think people would take your comments on board more if your posts weren’t so abrubt.
It’s coming across as hostile and goady, which you may not mean to be.

I'm still in favour of the portable babycage

@FairfaxAikman There's a reason why Doctors surgeries have toys available , because they understand it's natural for young children to need to keep themselves occupied.

If parent (peron with child) was doing nothing then I would totally agree YANBU.

Right now with my lively 2yo I would take my ipad though I am sue I would be judged for that too.

Outside of MN no one really cares how a parent keeps their child quiet in a doctors surgery - just that they do.

MrMeSeeks
Noted.I will now await you telling the entitled 'kids are to be seen and not heard' brigade' how to conduct themselves nicely.....

Some people want to find you and your child irritating no matter what your carefully prepared package of entertainments. Snack? How dare you make crumbs in the waiting room. Book? oh you performance parent you, how dare you. Toys? How dare they make a noise. Damned whatever you do.

This. A mother's place is in the wrong.

Outside of MN no one really cares how a parent keeps their child quiet in a doctors surgery - just that they do.

Outside of MN 2 year olds are only just past being babies and people have real difficulty keeping them 'quiet'. Most scenarios you can avoid but a Dr's surgery isn't one of them.

There are not enough GP’s and the GP’s we do have are dealing with clinics, emergencies, taking phone calls for home visits, talking to people in a mental health crisis, dealing with children with complex health needs, talking to old people who are lonely maybe just widowed who need to talk, talking to coroners about andeath they have attended before the start of surgery.

Occasionally GP’s do have other stuff to do and the appointment takes longer than 10minutes. With the best will in the world it’s difficult to occupy a toddler longer than a few minutes and maybe everyone needs to be more just a little more understanding.

*There are not enough GP’s and the GP’s we do have are dealing with clinics, emergencies, taking phone calls for home visits, talking to people in a mental health crisis, dealing with children with complex health needs, talking to old people who are lonely maybe just widowed who need to talk, talking to coroners about andeath they have attended before the start of surgery.

Occasionally GP’s do have other stuff to do and the appointment takes longer than 10minutes. With the best will in the world it’s difficult to occupy a toddler longer than a few minutes and maybe everyone needs to be more just a little more understanding.*

I couldn't agree more. It's not as if the parent would have chosen to bring her toddler to the surgery for a fun time out. It's about the most stressful thing to have to do. A bit of tolerance all round is called for here.

How does anyone keep a toddler quiet you ask? IPad and peppa pig

When dd2 broke her leg we had many many appointments involving hanging round for x rays, specialists etc, up to four hours on a couple of occasions. She had an iPad and headphones. Guess what happened...

Lazy parenting aside, mothers (and yes it’s always mothers being criticised here) can’t win.

Our gp surgery used to have an area which was partitioned off from the rest of the waiting room. It was full of toys, had its own speaker, the walls were transparent (perspex?). You could wait in there with your child for over an hour, they could make a bit of noise as the walls muffled it but very loud yells and scrreams would be disturbing for the patients in the normal waiting area.

Now we have fewer gps, more nurse practitioners, and many many more patients. There's no room for a separate area for children despite the waiting area actually be8ng about twice the size it was, and the entire building being extended to anout twice it original size, with an extra floor added for clinics etc.

I just feel sorry for doctors these days, and any hcp. I also feel sorry for patients as we are not getting the treatment we deserve or need but its not because the practitioners aren't trying - they are.