This mum just blocked my toddler from approaching hers

[Skysky1]

was in town today walking through M&S , with my 3 yr old.
We had just bought toys in the previous shop so he was out of pram and walking with his new toys in his hands and was excited about them.
Walking parallel to us was also a mum with toddler (around two)
My son approached him from the side and started walking directly next to him showing him his toys whilst they were both walking , the child smiled in response and didn't appear to seem at unease, however the mum swiftly stopped and put her arm out in front of my son blocked him between her arm and a Column so that he couldn't go any further and then she said ' excuse me ' as if for him to back away.
He turned to face me and I swooped him up and said ' he's only a toddler'
To which she didn't respond, she carried on walking and I changed direction.
I was left feeling quite sad for my son
I just wanted other mum's opinions on this . Was I in the wrong for letting my child approach hers , I guess everyone is entitled to their personal space. However I never anticipated that reaction it just seemed like a mean thing to do , and I'm always very welcoming to other kids that approach us

It's the same thing.

Chicken pox?

Sometimes... you just don't want your child to interact with others. There may be multiple reasons and they are all some you need to respect. The "he's just a toddler" is sometimes heard as "I can't be bothered to control my child so I let him run wild."

If you apologise in this situation instead of defending your little devil-spawn angel, you will defuse the situation. If you say "I'm so sorry for him barging into you, he got away from me" chances are she will relax, smile, even tell you that her child is tired, ill, infectious etc and that's why she's limiting contact.

You don’t know the reason so don’t sweat it.

Maybe she was worried your child was going to follow her home like a stray puppy.

Or more likely, your child was getting in her space and annoying her, and rather than stopping it, you were looking on endulgently, so she had to take action herself.

Are you on glue?

That made me laugh and laugh. I have not heard saying for ages! Oh, took me right back to the 80s!

Seriously OP, there is no reason to feel sad for your son. He won't even remember it! And kids get all sorts of knock backs from each other throughout the day!

There is no reason to give this any thought at all.

I wouldn’t worry about it.

My thought was that she thought her child might snatch the toy and was trying to prevent that.

Yes she was very rude. It is always rude and mean to be dismissive to a little child. Nothing excuses her classless behavior.

Remember that not all people are nice or decent. Including on this thread.

Oh no, not "got somewhere to go have you?" to another mother who's minding her own business in town with her kid?!
What a total twat, the blocking mother should've stopped immediately, sat cross legged on the pavement and looked on in adoring rapture while the 3 year old did a small QVC style presentation about each new toy along with RRP and pre-owned values along with a nice review covering colour, shock resistance and chewability for the 2 year old who can then advise his clearly not busy mother with nowhere to go about which one she should go out and purchase for him post-haste.

You absolute egg.

All of this.

Maybe she was fed up of explaining?
My son had an organ transplant as a baby and the amount of people who thought it was OK to approach him, touch him even. He was highly immunosuppressed for over a year. I even had a notice on his pram, but people don't read/care.

I remember one day I was just totally fed up of looking at 4 walls are took the risk of sitting in a quiet cafe when some man decided he wanted to sit with us at our table. I told him no and why but he just got annoyed and wouldn't listen. I ended up walking out. If your toddler had approached mine that day, I'd have probably done the same as the woman did.

MN isn’t the place to come for sensible responses. The woman behaved strangely. I can understand why you’re upset. If she was offsetting a tantrum, she only needed so say! People can be v odd.

Obviously if she touched your child and physically removed them out of her way (as you are now saying) then are you sure your child wasn't scaring hers? Or about to run into danger or something?

She doesn't need to say or explain anything. She was just getting on with her day with her toddler!

Honestly, it surprises me that some people manage to get through the day if they're getting offended over such non-events.

Some tit let their child bring a dinosaur to playgroup last week, my kid LOVES dinosaurs and tried to steal it, all hell broke loose and we ended up having to leave early because she was so upset (age 2.3) maybe the woman was trying to avoid this kind of scenario?

You have WAY too much time on your hands.

You also need to start teaching your children that they are not the centre of the world, and they need to respect other people's personal space.

I think toddlers are hilarious so I find interactions like that a bright spot in my day that said, I don’t have kids yet so perhaps I have a lot more capacity to be patient with them, whereas perhaps this mother had enough of toddler-talk, since she has her own 😅

Everyone’s different though and perhaps she just isn’t keen on interactions with random children. There’s no right or wrong here. It’s not as if she shouted at him or pushed him etc.

Tbh I think she was irritated you weren’t stopped your toddler so she deliberately done the blocking with her arms thing to drive it home to you that you should have.

YABU. Not everyone thinks other peoples' kids are cute, even if they have their own. That's me. My children and grandchildren were the cutest toddlers ever, but I really don't want to deal with anybody else's child.

Why a tit? Are kids not allowed to bring toys to playgroup?

I am honestly trying to picture the scene, I am walking minding my own business with my kid.

Some random stops and looks expectantly waiting for me to tell her what I am doing, where am I going and why am I rushing and step away from a random toddler? I'd grab my kid and run away from that weirdo 😂

She was bit rude. Wouldn't have killed to say something normal like 'sorry, in a rush' etc.

Honestly...I find it weird as fuck.

If another toddler stopped to talk to my toddler id be chuffed to bits, and really how rushed can you be in that situation because let me tell you with a toddler your getting nowhere fast.

Feel sorry for the other womans child tbh.

no they are not. Toys are communal, it's bad form not to respect that.