to be annoyed by these 'learning by experiences parents'

[grumpydotcom]

Name changed for safety.

Feeling thoroughly pissed off with the 'perfect' parents I've crossed paths with today .

First encounter. I'm cycling to work this morning and need to get a move on. Come to the cattle grid type thing on the cycle path and child on bike is blocking the crossing. Parent has already crossed and is patiently encouraging the child to follow. Child is having non of it .Parent is aware of queue behind but Freddie's 'learning experience' and need for Freddie to make the crossing on his own in his own time (for as long as that may take ) is more important , at the expense of others , no sense of urgency or consideration for queue behind which is building up.

Second encounter lunch time in Greggs queuing for a sandwich . Queue is massive and does not seem to be going down. Reason - parent with small child at the front and child wants to pay . Parent patiently explaining to child about contactless and how that works, and then child drops the card and everyone waits while child is encouraged by parent to find and pick up the card (under the counter ). Parent laughs ' never mind Freddie you try it again ,you can do it' and turns and smiles at the queuers as if we should all be impressed. Staff at Greggs look around awkwardly .

FFS pick up the child and the bike and remove them from the cycle path so others can pass!!!!!

Take the card off the child and pay for the sandwich without delay and get out of the way!!!!!

Thank you

Ever heard of the 20 minute lunch break?

@5foot5 This is shocking, cant believe the nerve of some people

🙈 You've just reminded me of DS having a meltdown on there. He was being chivvied along the bigger gap where there's a bit of a jump, his cap fell in in the river and although it was fished out in seconds, he had to be dragged off the stones and we were treated to a very dramatic 30 minutes of wailing and ranting along the valley.
I'd blocked that memory for a few years, and the pressure of queues brewing on both sides did not help 😂
We favour the bridge by the car park!

Time and place matters. Children do need to have experiences to learn, but yes awareness of how busy the surroundings are doesn't go amisd. I'm trying to train my juniors age DCs on life skills, but I will use the N word (no) if it's an impractical moment.

I recently ended up doing a polite "excuse me" to a toddler and their spatially-impaired parent who decided that the narrow school gateway was the spot for stopping and faffing in bags. Children tend to be better at shifting than their parents. Toddlers I can understand, it's the parents that should know better. Someone else called it "centre-of-the-universe-itis" the other day which sums it up well. Just engage with what's going on around you, that's all and don't walk across the entire pavement in formation or extend your dog lead all over it

YANBU - all the parent has taught them is to have a lack of self-awareness or consideration of others around them. If that was a Greggs in Newcastle town centre I imagine parent and kids would have been lamped.

I find people who are self-absorbed and do not think of others tend to be impatient with others as well.

My experience too, the person behind someone in the queue huffing and puffing, tutting and tapping impatiently usually then take far longer faffing about and not in the slightest bit bothered about who they're holding up behind them when it's their turn.
People like that have no consideration for anyone but themselves, they're not unreasonable holding others up but if they don't get what they want immediately then everyone else is unreasonable holding them up. It's the definition of selfish and I've noticed it more and more in the last few years.

I'd blocked that memory for a few years, and the pressure of queues brewing on both sides did not help 😂
We favour the bridge by the car park!

@RammyEwie Yes we now usually use that bridge and go along the other side. Or better still we park at the other end where it isn't as crowded

Yeah, fuck that. By all means let them do things at their own pace when not at the expense of others, but I personally couldn't care less about other peoples children's 'learning experiences' when I'm in a rush!