To judge the woman on the bus

[IDoughnutKnow]

She was on the bus this afternoon with two children - aged around 3 and 6. The 6yo was jumping around, doing the whole 'look at meeee' thing, standing up, messing around. The younger child had been bribed into submission with a massive doughnut. The mother (and I know she was the mother, as the older child kept addressing her as Mum) spent the entire 30 minute journey on her phone. I could see Facebook, then Instagram, then she was just scrolling around watching videos. Every now and then she would get pissed off and tell the child to sit down and behave and stop bothering the other passengers - when it was evident to anyone with half a brain that she needed to get off her bloody phone and talk to the child.

WABU to judge her hard?

Lucky kid!

Was it a jam, or a custard doughnut?

Probably a McDonald's for tea too, washed down with coca cola.
She clearly isn't a mumsnetter or the op would have seen that amongst the FB and insta etc.
Out of interest, were you sitting directly behind her to see what pages she was looking at op?

Rice Krispie gate

No. Puffs of air cereal

🍩

Oh bloody hell, not the rice Krispies 😱

There we go, if she’d fed him a proper breakfast of eggs whites and seasonal berries there’s no way he’d be reaching for the donuts mid-morning.

I don’t understand snacks. 😂

YANBU
Another Vicky Pollard (Little Britain).

Lazy, very thick and disrespectful.

I’m a mum who would bribe with a massive doughnut. Sometimes needs must 🤷🏻‍♀️

Who knows what else she was dealing with that day. So, no… I would try not to judge.

Having said that, I’m usually more conscious of my parenting in public, especially because my ASD DC can impinge on others so I’m always hyper sensitive of that. I’d find it a bit weird that she didn’t try to stop a child actually acting out but wouldn’t ‘judge hard’.

The only "massive" food you're allowed on MN is the fabled "massive salad".

PMSL.

I'm too old to be a mum of children of those ages.

If I'm 100% honest with myself - pre having my own child yes I would have judged negatively. Since having one I would have genuinely been in awe she'd taken her kids somewhere on a bus!

This 😂

I did. I double-judged.

And what's wrong with a child eating a doughnut?

They actually got off the bus in order to go to Macdonalds. I am not joking.

@IDoughnutKnow did she stop outside for a fag and say she had to check her benefits had gone in, too?

Nothing much. Unless the child has been given the doughnut so as not to interfere with her mother's mindless scrolling.

Ha. No, no sign of smoking, I'll give her that.

May not be very helpful now, but for future reference...

The Storyteller by Saki

Because it's full of sugar and the child will become obese, adding to the obesity crisis.
And teeth will fall out at a rate of knots.

Or something.

Going against the grain, I think parents should do their best to keep their kids under control in public places out of consideration for other people. Obviously sometimes that's easier than others, but ignoring a child who is behaving stupidly on a moving vehicle for 30 minutes so you can check Facebook etc is just wrong. Sets a terrible example for the child, apart from anything else.

Ignoring kids is not allowed. But if you read them a book or ask them to count red cars then you’re performance parenting. 😅