Page 8 | Weirdest things you've seen other parents do as they bring up or care for their DC?

FortunesFave · 2021-10-17T06:18:46+00:00

Here are mine. I was in a public toilet in the cubicle and heard a woman come in with a small boy. They went into a cubicle together and I heard her ask him repeatedly "Do you want to dirt!?" She meant poo! "Do you want to *dirt*??? Omg. Second is SIL. When her DS was little...around 2 or so, she'd put chips for him INTO A BOWL OF COLD WATER so they'd cool faster. Dump the cooked chips into a bowl of water. Leave them there for a bit and then drop the soggy pile onto a plate for the poor child. WHY? What are yours?

Wroxie · 17/10/2021 12:17

(and no, he doesn't have ASD or any other disability as far as I know. He's quite social but also bossy and rude if he doesn't get his way. Just a precious coddled only child)

Zilla1 · 17/10/2021 12:19

@Muttly I'm now wondering if there was a previously unknown meaning to the Proclaimers - Letter From America.

LabiaMinoraPissusFlapus · 17/10/2021 12:32

I have one. A mum I used to know got her child into the habit of her crawling up into a ball in the corner of the bathroom, whilst her son stripped naked, all so he could do a poo. How this situation arose and continued I didn't ask. But this was the only way he could poo apparently. I assume he grew out of it as now he is a teenager, I hope anyway.

inferiorCatSlave · 17/10/2021 12:33

[I am waiting for someone to come onto the thread to say they know someone who for the 12 year old still checks the temperature of cold drinks for him and adds boiling water if too cold. That would be me... he has something called cold urticaria which means he has allergic reactions to the cold. But I don't feel the need to explian that to everyone and am perfectlky capable of seeing the hmm looks on people's faces!]

Both DH and I suffer from polymorphic light-eruption if we're outside for really long periods of time but DS had Juvenile spring eruption particularly badly - think welts and huge blister and a lot of pain.

All that could be avoided by hat wearing in early spring - had many conversations with teachers who I think usually eyerolled and let DS get on with it mostly - but one neigbour couldn't let it go. Endless PA comments about how ridiculous is was DS wearing a sun hat in early spring usually when I was busy or couldn't reply.

He was bad - didn't grow out of it till 12. It's frankly looking back amazing the shear amount of fuss people made about him wearing a sun hat in spring to avoid a nasty painful condition and number of times he suffered because people knew better till they had fucking NHS printouts and visibly proof and angry parent in front of them - well it's rage inducing .

kateyjane · 17/10/2021 12:33

The squash itself doesn’t bother me; it’s the amount and the age of the child.

Please don’t read if it could be triggering.

Does anyone remember an awful case of the death of a child a few years ago. It was so incredibly sad. The mother had learning difficulties and had been giving the child squash (in similar quantities to the TikTok example) A child that age literally cannot cope with huge amounts of fluids. It stripped his body of all the natural salts and caused him to have huge seizures sadly leading to his death. I know this is an extreme example, but sometimes people do need support and advice- just not from a judgemental perspective.

RosesAndHellebores · 17/10/2021 12:36

Weirdest habit I ever experienced was when a five year old came for tea and used the loo. DD called me to come to the bathroom and he was bending over with his bottom in the air waiting.g for it to be wiped.

My weird thing that was commented on was if the dc were snotty and we were out and I was caught without a tissue, I used a leaf to wipe their noses.

Whilst I appreciate the snot sucking is cultural, it isn't something I was brought up with and to me it seems a horrid thing to do. However, my jaw dropped equally when one of ds's old nursery workers visited for coffee as we'd kept in touch, her baby dropped his dummy, she picked it up, sucked it and put it back in his mouth. At that point I knew why ds had probably been constantly ill when he went to a day nursery.

DeepaBeesKit · 17/10/2021 12:37

Having used both a range of western snot sucker tubes and done it with my mouth, I have no qualms about saying it's far far more effective doing it with your mouth.

I couldnt give a shit if its "gross" if it meant my baby could breathe.

MrsSkylerWhite · 17/10/2021 12:37

I used to skin individual peas and give our first the two little halves inside because I was terrified of choking

EllieQ · 17/10/2021 12:38

@Brollywasntneededafterall

When my friend moved to a new build her dc were never allowed in the garden without shoes on. And never by themselves. Both dc over 5.. She literally followed her youngest around. A bog standard square patch of grass with a slide and a play house in it.

A lot of new build gardens are a thin layer of soil over rubble, so maybe that’s what she was worried about?

Brollywasntneededafterall · 17/10/2021 12:38

My dsd wouldn't have a poo unless we put tissue down first. As her dm had taught her to do. Apparently my dc were feral for not doing so..

Hopeisallineed · 17/10/2021 12:40

@InvincibleInvisibility we live in Cumbria so this is entirely normal, otherwise we would never go out. Kids school also does not have ‘wet playtime’s’ they are out, even in a snow storm!

Clocktopus · 17/10/2021 12:59

Does anyone remember an awful case of the death of a child a few years ago. It was so incredibly sad. The mother had learning difficulties and had been giving the child squash

Which case is this as Google is bringing up nothing?

talkalarm · 17/10/2021 12:59

She probably didn't do it with the nursery babies @RosesAndHellebores

Everyone does that with their babies in the town I grew up in, literally every parent I've encountered who uses a dummy over the course of 40 years - they're kids have been fine

TheFlyHalfsMum · 17/10/2021 12:59

What’s with all the snot sucking?! I’ve had four kids and never needed to do it! Is it a really common thing?!!

Beseen22 · 17/10/2021 12:59

My mum used the word streamy for passing urine and the very word gives me shivers to my spine.

Classicblunder · 17/10/2021 13:01

@TheFlyHalfsMum

What’s with all the snot sucking?! I’ve had four kids and never needed to do it! Is it a really common thing?!!

I agree! My kids just somehow coped with snot. They just did mouth breathing if nose very blocked.

Standrewsschool · 17/10/2021 13:02

A friend of mine always used to be told to look away when someone was kissing on tv. In her forties now, she still finds watching kissing on tv uncomfortable.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 17/10/2021 13:03

@Bluskyenonstop

Few mums in my child’s school holds their Y6 kids hands when walking to school / from school. There is nothing wrong with any of those kids and it’s all on the pavement.

My DS is 18. He still sometimes holds my hand or links arms with me if we’re out. It’s affection.

ISeeTheLight · 17/10/2021 13:07

In John Lewis cafe, saw a mum with a young baby. Maybe 4 or 5 months old. It was boiling hot; probably 25 degrees. Baby was wearing a full fur pram suit and was very distressed. Screaming, bright red face etc. This went on for 10 minutes. Clearly overheated. Mum was totally oblivious. We told her - ina nice way - baby was probably very hot and maybe needed pram suit off? She got very defensive. She was clearly planning on being there for a long time too as she had ordered a drink and food.

talkalarm · 17/10/2021 13:07

@TheFlyHalfsMum
I think snot sucking is used when they're tiny. I used the nasal aspirator because DS was 6 weeks old and couldn't feed because he couldn't breathe with a blocked nose

BiBabbles · 17/10/2021 13:11

I honestly cannot remember how I dealt with snot when my kids were babies, but from toddlerhood on as possibly the weirdest parent thing I did: I have a set of hand towels - different colour to the ones we use the bathrooms for drying hands and such - that we use as handkerchiefs in the house when we have a cold. Not cultural at all, it came from when I was kid and I found kleenex and tissues hurt my face, I'd end up so sore, sometimes the skin would get damaged and everything hurt (and I had years of regular sinunitis so this happened a lot) and once I really needed something and the closest thing was a handtowel and it was just so much nicer. I then found when my kids were toddlers, it was easier to hold and get them to blow into a handtowel than a kleenex.

I imagine it might look odd to others to get a kid to blow their nose into handtowels though we only do it in the house so I don't think anyone else has seen it.

BoredZelda · 17/10/2021 13:27

She was extremely proud of the fact that none of her children had seen her naked since they were babies and none of the kids had ever seen their dad naked at any stage.

The hang-ups those poor kids are going to have.

My parents were similar. I have no hang ups about nudity.

MrsSkylerWhite · 17/10/2021 13:28

SeeTheLight

In John Lewis cafe, saw a mum with a young baby. Maybe 4 or 5 months old. It was boiling hot; probably 25 degrees. Baby was wearing a full fur pram suit and was very distressed. Screaming, bright red face etc. This went on for 10 minutes. Clearly overheated. Mum was totally oblivious. We told her - ina nice way - baby was probably very hot and maybe needed pram suit off? She got very defensive. She was clearly planning on being there for a long time too as she had ordered a drink and food“

See this all the time in shops. Some people just don’t think.!

TheFlyHalfsMum · 17/10/2021 13:28

@talkalarm

Must have been lucky to never have tiny baby snot attacks. Because otherwise two of mine have been very snotty children!

mafted · 17/10/2021 13:28

@TheFlyHalfsMum

What’s with all the snot sucking?! I’ve had four kids and never needed to do it! Is it a really common thing?!!

Same here. Four children and never once sucked any snot!