WIBU? Goat, hay and child.

[Spaceunicorn6789]

We were at the zoo yesterday (me and DP) and they had a little petting zoo area with little goats in. I love goats, so grabbed some hay out of the feeder on the ground, went and sat in a quiet corner and fed the littlest one.

A boy, around 4 or 5 ran up to me and scared the little goat and tried to grab the hay out of my hand (he already had some in the other hand), no parent to be seen. So I said "No, you can't take this hay because it's mine and it isn't nice to grab, you can get some more hay over there is you want though" and smiled. The boy started crying and wandered off.

Now me and DP have been arguing (light heartedly) since yesterday afternoon about this. He thinks I am the most evil Cruella DeVille type in the world for making this boy cry whereas I think you can't just go up and take something from someone else's hand.

WIBU?

mostly lighthearted!

Well saxa, you can be the exception. It's kind of funny though that the rude machine snatched your cheque. But sorry.

Nope. Ywbu

There was plenty of hay, his parents should have been watching, I would have done the same.

I remember having to pull two children away from my dd at a playgroup once.

She was about 3, the other two older than her, they had her backed into a corner trying to intimate her to hand over the toy she was playing with. By the time I got there, she was sobbing.

Did their parents care? Did they heck.

They carried on nattering away, and gave their child a hug each when both kids when crying to them because I told them to leave my dd alone

t's kind of funny though that the rude machine snatched your cheque. But sorry.

It was £200, there was no one around to help and I needed it to get through the weekend, so that's why I got upset.

I think you were right to say what you did. Personally I probably would have said something about him running up and scaring the goat.

Really annoys me when children chase animals or birds and no one says anything. I quite often say something to children chasing pigeons even though I have occasionally had their useless parent have a go at me. Whether you like pigeons or not it is not ok to chase them

Either he was old enough to ask nicely, in which case it is a good thing the OP reminded him of his manners.

Or he was too young and his parents should have been closer.
either way, OP did good, parents did bad.

I HATE seeing children chasing animals or birds. I was at a stately home once that has a bird garden attached, and some of the birds are able to roam around the visitor area rather than being in enclosures. There was this horrible little boy running at some guinea fowl, which were terrified and trying to get away from him, but they weren't able to run fast enough and he was actually kicking and treading on them. His entire family, parents and grandparents, were just standing there watching and chuckling indulgently. I sharply told the kid to stop frightening and hurting the birds, he burst into tears, and I got an earful of abuse from the supposedly responsible adults. I can't stand entitled, bratty little children who are indulged in this sort of behaviour and I have an even lower opinion of the adults who allow it to happen.

I agree with you OP, although the child may have been younger and still learning.
People who think adults are not allowed to enjoy things kids can enjoy though are BVU.

Spaceunicorn - not wanting to particularly piss on your lighthearted thread, but if you're thinking about having children with your DP, you need to knock that sappiness out of him! Of course you don't give in to every whiny child with no manners - and he needs to learn that children need boundaries and manners if he wants to be a good dad.

Yanbu. At all. I wouldn't have used so many words but I would have done the same. I have been known to tell children of all ages to stop throwing stones at the ducks on the pond, stop kicking dirt and dust at the geese whilst on a walk around a lake, stop taking over the display at the museum whilst we're still looking at, reading or interacting with it and that "sharing" is not the same as "snatching" at toddler groups.

I hate that adults now feel as though they have to ignore children's bad behaviour for fear of their parents' reactions. At what point does it stop being cute and start becoming antisocial behaviour?

I tell kids off in public as well. Either their parents have seen, are not there, or will not intervene. Also I will always put an animal being hurt or frightened before a child doing that to them.

PMmehun they back away slowly

Petting zoos are really for children
I think it's a little kid in an activity for little kids during their holidays

Unless they say "this activity is ONLY for children under xx age" then no, it's not.

I bloody love animals but wouldn't go to a petting zoo (despite loving it) purely for the fact there are a lot of children with zero enforced boundaries like this, and entitled parents who believe their little darlings experience trumps anyone else, and the animals rights to safety.

OP you we're perfectly right.

I have been to petting zoos without kids and enjoyed it. Lots of adults also enjoy cute animals

YANBU. Perfectly nice and kind way to deal with it, IMO.

I really want to go and pet some goats now (not a euphemism).

You did absolutely the right thing not to encourage him to talk to or interact so closely with a complete and utter stranger - especially when he was not being supervised by his caregiver.....and petting zoos are not just for little children - they're also for the inner child in all of us!