To think this was unnecessary and 4 year olds don't need constant supervision.

[Butterflykissess]

This happened a little while ago but it's played on my mind since as it was really humiliating and I wondered what others thought. I was in my local shop paying at the self service machine. I was with my 4 children one being a baby in the pram. Kids were next to me at the machine but due to space i told them to wait out of the way a bit so people could pass. Space is tight due to the displays. A group of women were at the machine next to mine. I was just about to pay but my card wasn't registering in the machine, I was trying to figure out why when I heard crying. I turnt round to see it was my 4 year old, before I could even get a word out to call him over the woman next to me screamed "excuse me whose child is this" I said he's mine and called him over and asked if he was ok, at th at moment the other woman who was with the woman next to me, loudly went "she wasn't even watching him!" To which replied saying I turnt my back for a second to enter my pin, how am I suppose to watch 4 children and do my shopping at the same time. She said "normal mother s do! " I turned my back not wanting a confrontation, which she clearly was looking for and she repeated " normal mothers do" obviously looking for a reaction, I ignored her and they walked away still talking about it. Aib u for thinking this was totally ott. I haven't been in the shop since as I have anxiety anyway and now I think everyone will be judging me. Was I in the wrong for turning my back?

why was he crying? If he was loterally just stood a few footsteps away with his older siblings then YANBU

The y were stood at the end of the self check out. I could see them but obviously not when my card wasn't registering with the machine. He had fallen into the ice creAm fridge that is by the end.

Missing point, but falling into the ice cream freezer is 100% something my 4yo would do.

You did nothing wrong.

Is it bad that I’m having a wee laugh at the idea of a child falling into the ice cream fridge

Assuming he wasn’t hurt, of course.

YANBU he was with older DCs anyway

No he was fine no cuts of bruises. He's always falling so I knew it was that as soon. As I heard him.

What ice cream was he going for by the way?

Sorry OP - but in a public place with hazards and strangers around - I do agree that 4yos need to be supervised.
At least - one of your older children should have been looking after him.
Or - you send the older kids to sit out of the way, and keep him with you - give him a packing job, etc.

And saying - ‘how am I supposed to .... with 4 children..’ isn’t really an excuse. Compromising on safety isn’t really an option.

at falling into the fridge - you’ve got a story for life there do of course yanbu.

Some people are just self righteous prats. I encountered one the other day. He thought it was perfectly reasonable to charge at speed on his bike along the shared purpose path in a park, and moan at our appropriately supervised pack of Rainbows because they couldn't get out of his way quick enough. Most of them still don't know their right and their left.
But now it was our fault that he was playing a close game of human skittles.

4 is old enough to go to school when there may be one adult supervising the whole playground. The teacher may have a ratio of 1:30

if he fell into the ice cream fridge you weren't even slightly watching him, He must have taken a few mins at least to climb and on to it in order to fall in.

I think you made a sensible and reasonable decision - as proven by the fact that when he called out you did hear him and respond to him.

I think you should feel confident to return to the shop. You didn’t do anything wrong and nobody will remember it anyway.

He didn't climb into it! It's those small ones that you slide open. He fell into it not inside.

Ice cream freezer

My nearly 4yo kid would totally piss about with an ice cream fridge in the supermarket. So I would keep him with me, yes.

Bloody brilliant! Bring this up at his/hers 18th... the time you fell into an ice cream freezer.

Kids do this stuff all the time, YANBU, you only have to look away for a second and they are up to mischief.

I think she means into as in against rather than him hanging upside down in it large waving in airs and head in-between the magnums and twisters

Children waiting a few meters away is fine and children falling is pretty normal.

FWIW my 13yo ds can fall over think air stood still next door to me. I'd hate to think how I'm judged by people 🙄🙈

"Normal mothers do"....... guessing none of them are mothers then. Sometimes you have to buy food, and those times, you usually have to take your eyes off the children for 30 seconds in order to pay. I don't know how people work the machines without looking at the screen. Seems like dark magic to me. Unless she's suggesting that "normal mothers" have another set of eyes, or some version of clairvoyance, to be able to look at the machine and the children at the same time. I dont, and I consider myself "normal".

People are dicks OP. Ignore and move on.

Sorry OP - but in a public place with hazards and strangers around - I do agree that 4yos need to be supervised.
At least - one of your older children should have been looking after him.
Or - you send the older kids to sit out of the way, and keep him with you - give him a packing job, etc.

And saying - ‘how am I supposed to .... with 4 children..’ isn’t really an excuse. Compromising on safety isn’t really an option.''

Oh bog off, any parent can not have their eyes on their kid 24/7-not possible. The woman sounded like a chav and ignore posts like above on here op, they do this on every thread.

Normal mothers do
This seems a weird thing to say. In what way are you abnormal, OP?

I know I s should just get over it but my anxiety is stopping me. My sister said I shouldn't go out with all 4 of my kids. Not sure what else I'm meant to do tbh as I'm a single parent with no help so it's unavoidable at times. (I had ran out of wipes that day so had no choice) she said im 'obviously single ' which is why this happened and that they wouldn't have started on me if I had a partner so I should start wearing a ring. Sounds pathetic i know .

YANBU, she was being an interfering nosy bag.

2 words for you - Katrice Lee.

Yanbu, kids fall over, bang into stuff etc all the time. You can't possibly watch them constantly and, anyway, even if you had been watching he probably still would have fallen. I'm willing to bet she doesn't have kids! Our family's classic tale is when my then baby brother fell down the stairs and broke his arm in a houseful of grown ups (parents, grandparents, aunt, uncle and me, who was 11 years older). It took him a split second to escape us, scale the stairgate, climb up the stairs and fall back down. These things happen.