Who is in the wrong here?

[MrsCherryBakewell]

On holiday and staying in an apartment overlooking a field full of cows. This morning a boy of about 7 or 8, unsupervised by a parent was throwing stones into the field of cows. My DH knocked on the window and told the boy not to throw stones at the cows.
This evening when we got back to the apartment, the mother told my DH that he has ruined her holiday. Her son is now afraid to go outside, and actually he wasn't throwing stones at cows but at the cow pats in the field. Was DH genuinely being unreasonable or is the mother barking mad?

ruined my holiday...my little darling was looking forward to throwing stones into cow shite all year

Good on your DH. Hopefully the kid is now too scared to go around threatening animals. He’s done him a favour. Parents who are terrified of no scare me.

How has your dh become responsible? It is was her little shit child throwing stones so if she wants to be dramatically angry at someone she needs to look closer to home! Your dh wnbu!!

I bollocked some tennish year olds for throwing sticks at the macaw cage at London zoo last month. Ok the sticks couldn't get through the mesh but it was still horrid for the birds. The kids were shouting at them to talk. They ran off and told their mums about the 'rude lady' and one mum chased me and my two v young charges through the penguin enclosure yelling abuse before I turned round and said that obviously SHE was the problem with her lazy selfish parenting. She went nuts and we hid in the reptile house

I mean, teaching your kids to respect animals is basic.

Ruined the holiday?

😂😂😂😂😂

What a precious bellend.

Thank you all. If it we see her and it gets mentioned again I'll point her in the direction of the farmer!

I feel quite protective toward the cows. We were here at Christmas and we noticed that a very small calf was huddled in a bush long after the other cows had all gone in. We let the farmer know and he came to collect it and get it back to its mother. I like to think that my little Daisy is chewing grass in the field peacefully rather than being pelted with stones by a little sod.

Probably should have mentioned that earlier but I still don't think we are being unreasonable.

If the boy was genuinely upset, all his mum had to say was ‘I’m sure the man didn’t mean to scare you, but you probably shouldn’t throw stones in that field - you might hit a cow by mistake’. She’s raising a brat and making a rod for her own back by pulling this ‘ruined holiday’ routine.

The mother is a moron, and she should have stopped the kid from throwing stones.

@MsOliphant Agreed, surely it's just what you do, teach your children to respect animals? Clearly not though. Sorry I did laugh at having to hide out in the reptile house though!

The kid and his mother are in the wrong!

She should have been supervising him and he shouldn't be throwing stones towards animals, whether he was aiming for the cows or not doesn't matter though I bet he was.

It's refreshing to hear your dh spoke up, I believe it takes a village to raise a child and all that. Good on him.

He needed to be told not to throw stones.
He was doing something dangerous and you did the responsible thing.
I think the mum probably felt embarrassed and saying it had ruined her holiday was an over reaction. I'm sure it didn't.

The mother has bigger issues that a ruined holiday.

He'll get a lot worse as he gets older with that kind of attitude.

Put her dc in a field.start throwing stones...at the cow pats.....see how long it takes her to remove her dc....nobody should throw stones at any animal.😡

By the age of 7 or 8, a child would know that throwing and throwing stones in particular is just not done. At animals? Even close to animals? Obviously this not allowed. He knows this. If he's not learnt this at home, then he would have picked up on this at school.
Stupid parent. Thinks her son can do no wrong. She just doesn't care. Child knows he can do wrong in his mother's eyes. Both need to learn a lesson.

This is one of those MN situations where I wish I was there - I'd wait for him to do it again or for his mum to appear tomorrow morning - and relish the bollocking I'd give them. Yay!

Put on some gloves, go into the field and pick up a cowpat. Put it down near to where mother and son are and start throwing stones at it, narrowly missing them each time. Or you don't even need to get a cowpat. Just pretend you think there's one by her feet next time you see her and hurl stones repeatedly. Because this is OK, isn't it. It's what makes going on holiday such fun.

She actually believes he was throwing them at the cow pats!! 😂😂😂 she is a fool and that boy will be running rings round her as a teenager because she is so keen to believe his lies.

Why is he now scared to go outside, did she say? Is it because your dh told him all the cows know it's him and they're going to rise up and GET him next time he shows his face?

Good on your DH.

If that’s all it takes to ruin their holiday I pity them. She’s probably lying of course, but if her DS really is that fragile, he shouldn’t be out alone. Whatever, not your problem.

I was brought up in the late ‘70’s, I have NO issues telling other people’s kids off and would have no problem with other people telling my kids off if they were doing something so horrible.

Do ask her directly how long her brat had actually spent looking forward to throwing stones into cow shit. Was it to have been the highlight of his holiday?

She is talking bollocks and your DH was totally right. I wouldn't worry about having ruined her holiday. How melodramatic of her!

That apple didn't fall too far from the tree did it

Did your husband threaten the child with violence 🤔

In what way does the OP suggest that the boy was threatened with violence by the husband?

1. Why wasn't the mother supervising this child?

1. Your DH was NBU.

1. Maybe it's because my dad is a vet (at times I was practically raised in a barn) but I was taught from an early age not to make loud noises or sudden movements around livestock. You can startle them and that can be dangerous. I think it's more likely the little prince's holiday would have been ruined if he was trampled, gored, or kicked by a cow than if someone tapped on the window and told him not to throw stones. Doesn't matter if he was throwing them at the cow pats. It could still alarm the cows or hit them accidentally.

Your DH absolutely did the right thing! Ruined her holiday indeed. Some people really shouldn't have children.

Jupiter, now who is talking bollocks?

OP said her DH knocked on the window and told the brat to stop throwing stones at the cows. He didn't threaten to go out and stuff him head first into a cow pat.

@Jupiter9 Nope, no violence threatened at all. He knocked on the window and said 'stop that, stop throwing stones at the cows'