Maintainence man manoeuvred my 3 year old out of the way

[tooloololoo]

Today I was in a bakery with 3year old dd, she went to look at the cakes whilst I ordered. However the maintainence man kept manoeuvring her out of the way back to me whilst I was ordering because there was a vent by her legs. It resulted in dd having a massive meltdown and throwing herself on the floor

On reflection am I being unreasonable to think the maintainence man could have walked me instead of taking ds shoulders and walking her back to me?

At first I was distracted at the till and didn’t realise it was a maintainence person

The fact he ‘kept’ moving her means she was in his way repeatedly. What was he supposed to do, given that she was clearly unsupervised? He needed to get on with his job.

When I was a teen I worked in a bakery. A preschooler ran round the back of my counter (where there were knives, cables and an oven). I crouched down, blocked the child with my body and placed my palms open in front of me to stop them. The mum gave me a right telling off for touching her child. I’m still annoyed quarter of a century later.

I work in retail, people like you who don't pay attention to their child/let them do what they want/expect us to watch them are so annoying.

Sounds like he was looking out for your child and you should be thanking him, not complaining.

He was doing her job!

Why on earth didn't you have your dc hand and parent like everyone else instead of someone else having to keep your child away from potential danger! Yabu

I’ll go against the grain and say that adults should not put their hands on children that are not theirs. Except in places where the adults have a duty of care like school.

If you can’t notice your 3 year old repeatedly getting in the way of someone and they’re having to bring her back to you would you of noticed if they didn’t walk her to you and walked her out the shop? You need to keep your 3 year old closer to you in a shop

He was keeping her safe, why didn’t you hold her hand/ keep her with you the first time he brought her back? She’s three?!?!

YABU. You should have been holding her hand.. he obviously didn’t mean anything by it other than him trying to do his work / keep her safe

What would you have preferred? The maintenance man to poke her back toward her mother with a wrench?

No, he could have opened his mouth and talked. Unless he’s a mute.

He probably did but mummy dearest was too busy looking at her cakes and 3yr olds rarely listen. It was clearly safer for him.to guide the child back. I'm sure that wasn't his preference either but the only person in the wrong is the parent who couldn't be bothered to keep an eye on her kid.

OP Coolidge opened her mouth and talked, told her child to remain by her side, or is she a mute?

The situation should never have happened, he should never have had to intervene.

But of course it’s the man’s fault!

*could’ve

I’m not saying she was right to let her child wander off but he shouldn’t have put his hands on her either.

Yes because more pussy footing around is just what the child needs!

being moved to safety by a concerned adult isn’t wrong! Having to move the same child more than once while the parents ignore is down right infuriating especially when having to do a job.

Also worth remembering maintenance men normally come with tools and other pretty dangerous things and so he was trying to keep her safe - unlike the mother!

You're right actually. He should have got the 3yo to do the maintenance work and he could have sat and had a cream bun with mommy. 🙄

So you admit her actions caused his actions?

More than once?

Actions have consequences, the alternative consequences for the “distracted” mother was the child got hurt? Or wandered off?

Maybe one of those would’ve been a better outcome, whilst the maintenance man looked on smugly?

And you can bet the mother would have blamed the maintenance man if she was injured!

Ffs just parent your child . . .

Of course!!

No one ever needed to manoeuvre my children in public but if my dad or brother ever did I took it as a hint to hold the child's hand or move them elsewhere and keep them out of the way. Zero adults want to accidentally harm children.