Little girl in beautiful dress scolded for jumping up and down.

[0None0]

They were at the bus stop. She was about 5 It was a beautiful white dress with embroidery, and matching shoes She had a carton of juice, and was told off for a little skip of pleasure at the sight of their bus coming, in case the juice splashed on her dress or her shoes. Brother that looked the same age, maybe twins, or just very small age gap, in dark clothes and trainers, also drinking a carton of juice with a straw, leaping up and down like a show jumper, without attracting comment.

WIBU to say something?

Absolutely wouldn't say anything but I do think it's sad when people dress their kids in nice clothes every day they can't play in.

How do you know it’s everyday it’s Saturday maybe they were off to a party

I don’t think you had any right to say anything. They could be off to a party for all you know. The little boy was wearing dark clothing so spillages would be less noticeable.

Oh don't be ridiculous.
Maybe they were going to a special occasion.
FWIW I often put dresses on my Dd, also shorts/leggings m/hand me downs from the boy twins next door...

White dress and shoes? Did she have white socks as well? Most mums of girls don't dress their daughters like that every day. Sounds like she was off somewhere special. To even think of making a comment is ridiculous.

I get where you're coming from. The children were clearly dressed impractically but were presumably going somewhere special.

I would be irritated that the mum had given the children a carton of juice if she was that bothered about the clothes staying clean and would be seriously unimpressed that the girl and boy were treated differently.

But I wouldn't say anything. It's a different style of parenting and one I don't approve of but I would only intervene if I felt that a child was being abused.

Echo what everyone else said. Unless you actually know what's happening, there's zero evidence that this was Sexism that you Must Undo with Righteous Intervention.

She could very well be, I don't know, going to a special event. She could be a child who actually gets really upset when things spill and they were trying to head it off at the pass. She could someone who has to drink her entire juice for blood sugar reasons and they didn't want it to spill all over. She could have spilled the juice a million times in a row and the parents were being short-tempered.

Who knows. You certainly don't. I'd concentrate your energies on situations where you know what's going on.

The 5yr old was in a white dress. She told her off because she did not want orange on it - other child in dark clothing so less of an issue.
Or did she eff and jeff at her?

Because juice is hard to get out of white fabric?

How stupid of them, different if they were all in their posh clothes so being careful but why can brothers jump up and down and not the girl?

But yes, you’d be unreasonable to say something really. We all see parenting that we disagree with, different if it’s abuse where we have a duty to step in and report but this is just not my type of parenting. It’s not for me to say they’re wrong and I’m right.

It sounds like it's because she was wearing a white dress and her sibling was in clothes that were less easy to see stains. It's a bit like comparing apples and oranges.

If they had BOTH been dressed in similar apparel, I'd think you had a stronger case.

Say what?!

Blimey it must be hard to leave the house with that level of over-analysis over everything. Exhausting.

I’m a nanny and if I’d turned out my charges nicely I’d scold for jumping up and down while drinking 😂

Oh, for heaven's sake, why on earth would you even think of commenting? Children get told off. Maybe she was on her way to a party, or a wedding even.
Clearly, it's not a good idea to jump up and down whilst carrying a drink. Most parents would tell a child off for that. As others have said, it's none of your business.

Yes , you should immedicately say something... possibly SS or the Police. Its a disgrace.

Oh hang on a minute......thousands and thousands of kids are living in poverty in places you wouldn't house a dog, they have had no education for months and child abuse cases have rocketed.

'Told off' can come in many forms. If it was just a "Be careful sweetie and try not to get any drink on your dress, there's a good girl" then it's not a problem. If she was shouted at, then that's another matter altogether.

When girls are told that their appearance is more important than having fun, there's something wrong somewhere. I don't much like it when little girls are dressed up like fairy dolls and aren't allowed to play or get messy because it will spoil their clothes. Dress them in something practical.

Why is this not everyone’s business?

Because if it was everybody's business, children wouldn't have a bloody clue who to listen to.
Parenting is absolutely full of choices to make, and this parent made a fairly reasonable choice to admonish their daughter. I might not agree, you might night agree, but why should my opinion count? I don't know the full context, and neither do you.

We should all be mindful of abuse. We really shouldn't be deciding how to parent other folks kids.

There was a few families at the DC's primary school like this. Always nicely turned out but had to keep clean and weren't allowed to tear around. They used to drive me nuts over the years.

I'm not sure what the parent has done wrong here, why are you making it into something it isn't

I hate to see parents scolding little kids for every little thing. Some of them never let up. I probably wouldn't say anything though.

Its really not your business because you have no idea about what goes on in that family, what the situation was or actually anything.

I wouldn't want either of my kids jumping with juice in their hands I clean clothes.

Both my kids wore clothes, they picked. Dd would sometimes want to dress right up for the supermarket or sometimes not. If she wanted a dress in, she had it. She also had lots of dark, more practical clothes. But if she had light coloured clothes on I would be worried about her making a mess.

We went to Disney when my dd was young and she spent most of the day chasing too and from a princess dress she wanted AND shorts and a t shirt that was better for running about it. I preferred the shorts and t shirt, but she also wanted a princess dress.

Same as ds, when he wanted to keep wearing a shirt we got for my sils wedding that was light coloured, for months after. I would be worried about him making it dirty. In case we needed it for another time.

This family could have been going somewhere she was being dropped off at.

You have assumed some sort of sexism in a family when you actually have no clue what's going on. And I think you really need to look at job judgmental you are of first inpressions, if you work with young kids. You may miss alot.

@megletthesecond

There was a few families at the DC's primary school like this. Always nicely turned out but had to keep clean and weren't allowed to tear around. They used to drive me nuts over the years.

Does op know this family? Or known them for years?

@Babyroobs

I hate to see parents scolding little kids for every little thing. Some of them never let up. I probably wouldn't say anything though.

How do you know the child gets told off for every little thing?

Are you serious? What can possibly make you think you have the right to barge in instead of minding your own business?

I can't stand the busy bodies who think they have a right to judge, comment and get involved in private families as soon as they can see a pregnant woman and her bump.

A parent and their children is none of your business. You would not react kindly if a stranger was suddenly having a go at you for the way you dress, stand, or whatever you are doing.

Get a life. Unless the child is on fire, at risk to be run over or in obvious immediate danger, stay away.

@Lilypansy

Oh, for heaven's sake, why on earth would you even think of commenting? Children get told off. Maybe she was on her way to a party, or a wedding even. Clearly, it's not a good idea to jump up and down whilst carrying a drink. Most parents would tell a child off for that. As others have said, it's none of your business.

Exactly this. It boggles my mind that someone would comment let alone notice or care. It’s a perfectly normal situation. Child wearing an extra fancy dress (probably on their way to a wedding) given a warning by their parent to be careful about spilling juice on their dress. Hardly an extraordinary interaction and hardly anything but sensible advice given to the child.

Thread is ridiculous.

How do we know what the admonishment was for?
Are we presuming it was because of the potential for the drink to spill?

How do we know it wasn't to stop kids fooling around when a bus is approaching (as it's easy to slip off a kerb into the path of traffic).
It MIGHT have appeared that the girl was being told off, but it may just as easily have been a warning to both - albeit verbalised towards one child.

There's so much missing information here.