am I being unreasonable to expect strange old women not to comment on your parenting?

[mummyloveslucy]

I was heading towards the town yesterday with my 2.5 year old daughter in her pushchair, she happens to be very tall for her age and is often mistaken as being older than she is. An old lady then came up to me and grabed the pushchair telling me that "this child is far too old to be pushed around in a pushchair". I explained politely that she is only 2.5 and that we live a long way from town and she can't walk there and back. She then went on to say "Well, you could catch a bus" to which I replied it's cheaper to walk and better for the environment. She then walked off muttering somthing under her breath.
Was I right to be so polite or should I have told her to mind her own buisness? I think most mums would have done the latter. I think she was probubly lonely and wanted to feel that her oppinions still count. She was in her 80's. Now I feel that every one is thinking the same as her, it does knock your confidence.

(oh, he's 2.6)

my son has been walking full time since he was 20mths of his own accord....wouldn't use a buggy board or the toddler seat on the front of the pushchair i had.... i tell you what if he would sit in a buggy long enough for me to strap him in it i would as its a bit of a pain in the bum having to walk at the slowest ever pace....and have him run riot if he thinks he can get away with it....at nearly 3 he is getting very good but still has his odd relapse.....

but as i said i'd love to have him in a buggy still!!!

and dog i think it is very unfair of you to make such harsh comments- if you were on the recieving end you wouldn't like it!! just because a mum walks to town on a saturday makes her a 'single mum on benefits'- i get that approach all the time...and a lot because i am a fairly young mum of 2 at 22, but in reality i am happily married both of my children are my husbands, i dont work but claim no benefits and i hate it when people just assume or make nasty comments!!!- didn't your mother ever teach you that if you had nothing nice to say dont say anything??

I think all Mums should get T shirts printed saying "If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all". Isn't that what we tell our children? I've never felt as judged in all my life as when my daughter was born. Isn't it sad that people can't be happy for you.

I know glaskham, I've been married for five years. I'm 25 but must admit probubly look about 18. I get the odd look, you just can't win can you? I'm not on bennifits but don't judge people who are either. I don't know who Dog thinks she thinks she is!!!

I hate that 'assuming' too - I'm a childminder with 4 children under the age of 5 atm (will be 5 under 5's from Jan until ds turns 5) and I get some right looks because I have so many young kids, I've had comments in shops (hardly pops to shops as not part of my job plus wouldn't want to will all of them, it's just say if I'm grabbing some fruit or getting them a treat) and I explain I'm a childminder and that only ONE of them is actually mine - they soon shut up .

pop to shops and with all of them (since I became pregnant my typing has been TERRIBLE!!!)

If I saw a woman and suspected she had 5 children under 5 I'd think she deserved a medal but was also compleatly mad! now that would be extreme motherhood.

I think they comment more because they all look so different aswell LOL - you know, that 'oh...all those children must have different fathers' type look I do know of childminders who wear t-shirts about that stating that they aren't all theirs but I can't remember what they said - very funny though!

p.s. JUST IN CASE anyone decides to jump and say I shouldn't have this many under 5's.....it's all above board and allowed due to the ages and circumstance

to the op
i think you did well to be so polite.

i hate this type of thing, today i was shopping with ds and he asked for a toy beetle, so i went back to get it. he had been very good, very patient all around the shops, it was only £1.50. the woman at the checkout sneered "youve made a rod for your own back there". just because they're older it doesnt mean they know better!

rant over.
y
ou handled it very well btw

YANBU.

1. 2.5 is not too old for a pushchair
2. I bet that old woman dipped her kids' dummies in sugar and left them out on the doorstep in their prams all day 'for some fresh air'.
3. Sod all that 'two wrongs don't make a right' malarkey. I would definitely have said something to her (not 'shouty, sweary' rude, but sarcastic /cutting, perhaps...)

In the OPs position I would like to say mind your own blardy business but I would probably say nothing and make a quick exit.

My Ds uses a pushchair at 2.6. what's the point of dragging children (not literally) around the shops/park etc when they will get tired and grumpy. Why is it anyone's business but ours how we transport our own children from place to place.

i spect by the time We are 80 we might feel like we can get away with telling parents what we think!
we so know best