DS aged 3.9 is stood on our gate …

[indurently]

He’s looking at cars, tractors and so on. We live on a country road. I’m pushing his sister on a swing.

And a couple just walked by and told me he shouldn’t be on the gate.

Racking my brains somewhat as to what we have done wrong!

I think at ages 1, 2 and 3 months matter. There’s a huge difference between a just turned 3 year old and one who is approaching four.

I agree the difference is quite dramatic sometimes and you only realise looking back

Maybe the couple thought that the gate was a gate to a farm or to a property that wasn't yours. Otherwise I can't imagine why they should care! It doesn't sound dangerous for the child.

Ooops, sorry 😜

Probably the same people who complain about kids being inside Infront of the tv all the time 🤣 ignore them OP, sound like misers!!

But seriously, OP, were his feet on one of the lower rungs/bars?

I'm not here to break your balls about stood/3.9/horse vs human, but the bit of the gate his feet were on seems vital info to help us judge whether the nosy bastards were BU or not.

Not read the full thread, but DH broke his arm TWICE as a young child, once falling off a swing, once falling off a gate. I hope your child has better climbing skills!

I find it really hard to believe that someone whose first language is English would not know what ds is stood on our gate means. I think that the poster was making a snide point about grammar, by disingenuously claiming not to understand what the op meant. Their bafflement could be genuine, of course, due to English not being their native tongue. I strongly suspect that this is not the case here. Is that clear enough for you?

I don't think it's fair to go round demanding to know if someone's first language is English.

Both I guess 🤣 but don’t let random people get to you! Someone will always have something to say but it doesn’t make them right!

I don't think it's fair to go around criticising others for writing perfectly clearly. 🤷‍♀️

Fair point

I don't think you've done anything wrong - some people just like to finger wag at young children and parents.

I got used to it very fast but remember DH coming home annoyed as an older couple down road who'd never spoken to us had told him off for not having socks on our new baby - it wasn't a cold day in fact it was height of summer.

'Is standing' is standard British English, but 'is stood' is widely said. Rather like 'she was sat next to me', which in standard British English would be 'she was sitting next to me'.

Edited to add, this person may be asking because they don't know the difference, or that there could be a difference – and that's fine to ask, and not necessarily being pedantic!

That's exactly what came into my mind, my great grandma came looming out of the shadows of my mind like a Korean horror movie spirit waving her stick and shrieking "stand at the hinge end or you'll break it!!!"

I prefer TheCultureHusks “SILENCE !!!!!” 😆

OP - were the strangers worried that he was too high up and might fall?
Were they worried that you weren't watching him?

I got told off on a gate as a child, because I was waving and distracting traffic on a bend - even though it was a quiet road.

Same also with lying and "laid". Although the presence of chickens could complicate this one slightly.

Wasn't it Les Dawson (or maybe another Northern comic) who would say "I was stood standing when...."
or "I was sat sitting..."

@gapattachment

yes it is.

@indurently without being there, I don't know, but just assume their intentions were good (damage to the gate/ worried he'd somehow hurt himself etc) & forget about it.

🤷🏻‍♀️

My late horse would have a good attempt at both. Stand on a gate, climb on a gate, destroy a gate... My "favourite" was the people in the cottage next to his field complaining that the telephone line had an intermittent fault. The bt engineer came out but couldn't find anything wrong. It remained a mystery until one of them was on the phone looking out of the window when the crackling started and she realised my horrible beast was sitting on the support stay for the telephone pole and swinging backwards and forwards. After that the farmer fenced off that part of the field.

I'm gonna try one last time, because how/where on the gate he was standing is the key here.

Was it like this image? Was he on a higher rung? A lower rung?

Makes a huge difference to his balance/security. That's the only thing I think those busy-bodies could have had an issue with.

Standing on the other end can make the hinges sag and it's a pita to use the gate.

Idk why but I love that you’ve got an image to try and solve a MN thread 😭 should be done more often!