To have taken this opportunity away.

[ProclivityForPyrotechnics]

Small village. I was tired, walking home from work. Noticed a child and parent on the other side of the street, we got to the opposite side of the lights together I pressed the button at the lights.

Child lost his shit. Screaming, crying, flailing. Green man came and I crossed the road. They did not.

As I passed the mum she told me I was a selfish bitch who could clearly see her child wanted to press the button.

1. I didn't know that
2. He clearly couldn't reach
3. The lights change immediately and I wanted to get home.
4. Her kids wishes are not my problem!

Aibu to think she's absolutely batshit and if I see her in the pub again I will tell her so?

She was very rude.

Batshit. Ignore.

YANBU.

YANBU. But also she was probably stressed about her kid kicking off.

Wowwwww that's ridiculous! YANBU at all.

I'd wish them both luck in life with that level of entitlement.

And you were meant to know that her awful brat wanted to press the button?
She needs to give her head a firm wobble

YANBU and she's being ridiculous. Totally one of those mums who thinks everyone's world must be centred entirely on the needs and caprices of her child.

Where do these people get off calling women bitches? YANBU.

Bat shit

LOL. There are two possibilities here. She's either a) a frazzled normal PFB mum who will be mortified to look back on this one day, or b) two drops short of a piss.

I once had similar but in my case I was screamed at because I dared to cross an empty road before the green man came on

apparently I should have been modeling good behaviour to her child and waited to cross

I'm surprised no-one has yet suggested the child might have special needs, which is the usual Mumsnet explanation for bad behaviour.

Mum is vile and kid needs to get a grip.

You snooze you lose.

Yeah she's Crackers

I had the same the other week - how was I to know?! I'm not a mind reader

I like this explanation.

My kid likes to press the button and gets upset if he can’t...so if someone else presses it, we just wait for them to cross and then press it next time - simple.

I had a similar experience in a lift once. Apparently I "should have known" the small child wanted to press the button. It was an uncomfortable couple of minutes in a very slow lift....
I'd even asked the mum what floor she wanted before I pressed the button and she didn't say a word, just waited until I'd done it and then had a go.
Aforementioned small child didn't seem fussed to be fair.

Did you have the presence of mind to reach over and press it again before you walked away?

I will confess to having been inwardly annoyed with people who did this when mine were young, when it's obvious that my DC wanted to press it, but never would I have said anything, nor would my child have had a tantrum. We just said "Oh well, we'll do the next one". This woman was bonkers to call someone out on this!

I think you credit people with too much awareness of what random children want. Most people press the button on auto pilot.

We used to have that exact battle with my eldest when he was younger - he has autism and would meltdown if he didn't get to press the button on the bus, pedestrian crossing, lift etc. I had to deal with it and would never have had a go at someone else about it! On the other hand, perhaps she was totally burnt out. Who knows. But not your fault and not your problem. She needs to work out the best way to approach that type of situation, as I would have to do stuff like walk super slowly if I saw we wouldn't get there in time to press it, or tell him we would cross in a moment once I'd tied a shoelace/looked in my handbag etc and then time it perfectly so he could press it.

Which is one good reason never to say anything out loud!

I suspect it wasn't obvious to anyone but you that your kid wanted to press the button.

So you bring the traffic to a halt because you can’t say no to your precious kid. Great stuff. 👍