AIBU to object to “kidspreading”

[Modernparent101]

So we (oh+2yo ds) turn up at a busy pub. Bunch of rellies (3 adults 2 kids) will be joining in 10 mins. There’s a 9-seat table with a 4 year old girl sitting alone eating a meal and watching an iPhone. No other largeish tables free, so we head over to this one and kind of hang around waiting to see if there’re any parents. After a couple of minutes hovering, we ask at nearby tables and there’re a couple of women at another table about 5-10m away who say she’s with them but it’s ok for us to sit there. They don’t make any other gesture. Now, the girl’s occupying a mid-table seat, so we perch on one end.
When our rels turn up, we pop over to the two women (who have two empty seats) and explain we have a lot of people turning up. One says “it’s ok”. I suggest it may be difficult cos there’ll be a lot of us, so she reluctantly heads to the table and then says something along the lines of “she doesn’t want to move”.
So she pops back to her table and we awkwardly cluster around the unresponsive child.

Or relation.

I bet these twats get away with this a lot. There'd be no death stares from me, you have to tell this type of person straight. "Your child needs to move now thanks, we will be using this table".

What’s a rellie?

I kind of felt sorry for the child so we occupied seats 3-8 if she was at 1 and there 9 in total, with 1 being middle of long side. If that makes sense. Was hard because it felt like we should be neutral to nice to child (not her fault she has weird mum)

Yanbu. They were rude.

If my ds has refused to mi e I'd have left him there. The phone would have moved though

Very closely followed by ds who may or may not be surprised at not getting it when he's decided to move!

But yeah asking b staff was probably easier because is clear some people have no respect or common sense in communal areas.

I have a friend who would have gone on and on about how her DD was there first and really indignant about it.

We no longer eat out together!

Huh, I was all ready to complain about the kid and cat both squashing me on the couch, but it's about a different type of kid spreading.

I think she might be the kind of person who smiles smugly when steaming in front of a bus queue, or ordering out of turn at a bar. Doesn’t obey the unwritten rules usually enforced by polite niceties and the odd facial gesture. Possibly a psychopath.

So this kid was then sitting in the middle of you and all your relatives? 😂😂 That’s so bizarre! I’d have asked her lots of questions. Lots and lots.

I'm sniggering to myself imagining what my sister would do in these circumstances. I know exactly because I've seen her do it - she'd whack the table loudly by the child and bellow "Move it". That shifts 'em every time.

You are all BU. Children should not be allowed in pubs.

Really bizarre and rude behavior by the parents. People can be really rude. We were at a zoo yesterday. I was pushing DD in her wheelchair towards an ice cream queue. Behind us was a woman with a buggy and a toddler who didn’t want to move (behind us, we did not overtake her). She sent her other kid to run, overtake us and arrive at the queue before us!

Could you have pulled the table over so that she was effectively sitting on an empty chair with no table? 😂

Children should not be allowed in pubs.

Children are generally not allowed in pubs when food isn't served. But when the place serves food it's a different matter.

i would have just chatted to her sbe would have moved then

Actually that's genius.

I bet if you'd have started find her the 3rd degree over what she was watching she'd have soon moved to actually be able to watch it

Juells Your sister is a woman after my own heart. I like the cut of her jib.

Ask the staff because they have the authority to tell the girl to move and it's their job to deal with difficult customers

Maybe they can wipe the kid's arse as well.