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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To refuse to sleep on the Mall? 👑

290 replies

PolkaDotMankini · 27/04/2023 19:01

10yo DD desperately wants to sleep overnight on the Mall so she can see the king going past in his golden carriage. I rashly said last year (when I refused to take her to QEII's funeral) that I'd consider it.

But I don't want to. It's raining and cold. It means sleeping on the ground. It will be packed, the loos will be grim and we'll lose our place when we use them. We'll be surrounded by royalist nutters screaming "We love you, King Charles!" and knuckling their foreheads. We'd get a much better view on TV in the comfort of our own home.

I couldn't care less about the monarchy, other than that the parades are cool and I don't see how they could possibly do a worse job than an elected politician.

DD is very disappointed. AIBU to say no and tell her she can go to William's coronation when she'll likely be old enough to sort it out herself?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
Startyabastard · 27/04/2023 22:11

PolkaDotMankini · 27/04/2023 21:15

Right. I offered her the choice between having a coronation tea party at home with her friends, or going to London for 6am to watch from the Mall. I asked her what she thought she would see and she reckoned she'd meet the king and see him being crowned. When I explained that wasn't the case, she was very happy to invite her friends for a tea party instead.

I'll see if she changes her mind overnight. If not, I'm off the hook! 😊

That was a good idea. At least you know what her expectations are.

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 27/04/2023 22:15

Sleeping on the street in the rain for a spoiled, sausage-fingered billionaire to ride past you in a golden carriage.

Normal country…..

StressedToTheMaxxx · 27/04/2023 22:15

PolkaDotMankini · 27/04/2023 19:05

And the thieves. I forgot about them. The prospect of being robbed of my train tickets, purse and phone while I shiver in a soaking wet sleeping bag just adds to the charm.

A sleeping bag would be a luxury! My nutty aunt who loved Princess Diana dragged me and my cousin down on a bloody bus all the way from Scotland for her funeral when we were kids, we spent the night, somewhere in London in bin bags to keep us warm.

SashaAlabaster · 27/04/2023 22:22

LadyKenya · 27/04/2023 19:07

Just channel your inner Zammo.

😆

NamelessNancy · 27/04/2023 22:23

Sounds totally plausible to me. I can take or leave the royals but my kids would do anything to see them. I bet that's a dynamic playing itself out across the nation.

ShandaLear · 27/04/2023 22:25

Daisybuttercup12345 · 27/04/2023 19:41

Why not put your child first.
It's your fault she wants to go. You shouldn't have hinted you might take her in the first place if you had no intention of doing so.

If I put my child first every time she came up with some harebrained scheme I’d be living in Disneyland with a man called Prince Snowy, being a doctor during the day and a ballet dancer at night.

ricketybeauty · 27/04/2023 22:28

HermioneWeasley · 27/04/2023 19:13

When my son was 4 he has the mother of all tantrums because I wouldn’t heap his cereal up so high it touched the ceiling.

you are the parent. Is it your JOB to say “no” to daft ideas.

Not the point of anything but I’m dying at the thought of this 😂

toastunderpate · 27/04/2023 22:28

LadyKenya · 27/04/2023 19:07

Just channel your inner Zammo.

You win mumsnet today!

GraysPapaya · 27/04/2023 22:28

I’d go! It’s an amazing spectacle and once in a life time stuff. What a fabulous memory you’ll make together.

Annoyingwurringnoise · 27/04/2023 22:29

Hell no, a 10 year old will whinge the whole night through. You’d have to be mad. Don’t listen to any of the nutters on here OP,

DisquietintheRanks · 27/04/2023 22:29

SecretsIWouldNeverTell · 27/04/2023 22:04

OP said 'I rashly said last year (when I refused to take her to QEII's funeral) that I'd consider it...'

Show quote history

Well that's not a promise to go then, is it? It's a promise to consider it when the time came.

Just because you agree to consider something doesn't mean you have to agree to do it . Hmm

Advicerequest · 27/04/2023 22:29

Bite the bullet and do it
make it fun
dont let her down

Original poster
PolkaDotMankini · 27/04/2023 22:30

I'm loving the idea that it's "my fault" that she wants to go. She's the one who came up with the idea in the first place! No doubt she'll camp outside the Lindo wing wearing a Geri Halliwell dress when George's wife has their first baby.

OP posts:
TellySavalashairbrush · 27/04/2023 22:34

Definitely don’t do it. However, you could do a special ‘royal set up’ in the comfort of your own home/garden, with bunting , royal themed food all while watching it on the TV. Reassure dd she will see far more on TV than if she was there in person.

AppallinglyReheated · 27/04/2023 22:34

PolkaDotMankini · 27/04/2023 21:15

Right. I offered her the choice between having a coronation tea party at home with her friends, or going to London for 6am to watch from the Mall. I asked her what she thought she would see and she reckoned she'd meet the king and see him being crowned. When I explained that wasn't the case, she was very happy to invite her friends for a tea party instead.

I'll see if she changes her mind overnight. If not, I'm off the hook! 😊

There you go - turns out what she had in mind was wayyyyyyy beyond the realms of reality. If you'd have dug in and just said 'no, it'll be bloody awful' she'd be thinking you were denying her some amazing incredible fantasy...

Just keep up the planning, cake, dressing up incentives and she won't change her mind!

waltzingparrot · 27/04/2023 22:35

You'll be fine. Just take a big umbrella and a multi pack of cheesy wotsits.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/04/2023 22:50

I'm impressed that you know with certainty that is going to be pouring with rain that night. Where do you get your forecasts from?

SophiaElizabethGrace · 27/04/2023 22:59

For those who are not bothering to read the thread/OP posts, it is not possible to sleep on The Mall overnight before the coronation.

As you were.

GlomOfNit · 27/04/2023 23:01

Don't know why the OP is getting so much grief. Her post clearly says she said she'd 'consider it' (which, at age 10, is surely decodable for 'mmmm probably NOT' Grin) she HAS considered it, she thinks it's a crappy idea.

Everyone who's scolding the OP for being a rubbish mother, breaking promises, being cruel etc - do you genuinely NEVER say 'I'll think about it' when your DC ask you for something fairly preposterous? And if you do, then what do you think that means, apart from, literally, 'I'm going to think about it, I don't have an answer right now'?

Given that the Mall is closed to crazed, Union flag-decked forelock clutchers until 6am, I would imagine that the 'holding areas' where they are kindly permitted to congregate before being allowed onto the Mall will be where people camp out. Believe me, there will still be soggy campers!

IWantRebeccasConfidence · 27/04/2023 23:04

sashagabadon · 27/04/2023 19:10

There won’t be any “ thieves” to Nick your train tickets 🙄
The mall will be the safest place probably in the world next Saturday but other than that do what you want.

Do they have some special screening test or scanner at the entrance to pick out dishonest people? How the fuck do they do that? Of course there will be people who are pick pockets that think it’s the lace to be in a crowd! Yes they’ll be frisked on the way in for bombs and the like, but they don’t need anything other than themselves!

But sounds hideous. I’d make her go outside now, and say it’s raining, you’d have to sleep on the concrete in your clothes, try it, what do you think? Nope, back to a warm bed.

Original poster
PolkaDotMankini · 27/04/2023 23:06

Getting into the spirit of the thing, how are these for patriotic t-shirt choices?

"Charlie's Angels" 🤢

To refuse to sleep on the Mall? 👑
To refuse to sleep on the Mall? 👑
OP posts:
IWantRebeccasConfidence · 27/04/2023 23:07

PolkaDotMankini · 27/04/2023 21:15

Right. I offered her the choice between having a coronation tea party at home with her friends, or going to London for 6am to watch from the Mall. I asked her what she thought she would see and she reckoned she'd meet the king and see him being crowned. When I explained that wasn't the case, she was very happy to invite her friends for a tea party instead.

I'll see if she changes her mind overnight. If not, I'm off the hook! 😊

Didn’t read you update before I posted. I think asking her what she thought would happen was a really good idea! Tea party and watching the conformation sounds@ lovely.

Original poster
PolkaDotMankini · 27/04/2023 23:08

It was a MN idea to ask her what she was expecting to see. I'm not that savvy. Worked a treat.

OP posts:
Florenz · 27/04/2023 23:10

Your daughter will be able to say that she witnessed history for the rest of her life. I'd definitely do it.

GettingThereCharleyBear · 27/04/2023 23:10

Good that she’s seen sense! Even better you could use this as a little history lesson and tell your kids what a corrupt bunch of parasites they are who abuse their power for their own gain.

We did this early with our kids and now they couldn’t give a flying fuck about the whole shit show - parenting win 😂