AIBU to wait on steps with my injured child outside flats?

[Mammababa4]

So this morning I was meeting a friend in central London with my 4 children for breakfast then to go to a museum. My children are 7, 5, 3 and newborn.
While walking from the station to the breakfast spot my 5 year old little girl fell over, she had a bloody knee and twisted her ankle, I called my friend to ask if she could come meet us with some plasters and help me carry DD back to the station as she wasn’t going to be able to walk around a museum, my friend said sure and she would be there in 10 minutes.
DD was really struggling to put weight on her ankle so I sat her down on the steps of an apartment building. It had double doors and DD is only small so she wasn’t taking up the whole steps.

First 2 people came out, I apologised they were fine and went off to stand at the side. Then another man came out, and I told DD to bring her hand in so he didn’t step on it, but before DD got a chance he stood on her hand, she’s fine but obviously it really hurt. The man immediately swore in French (maybe thinking I don’t speak any French), then told me to move her from the steps. One of the people who had come out before came over and apologised for his swearing and told him to leave it, he was clearly angry though.
I explained to them DD is injured im waiting for a friend and we won’t be long.
A few minutes later another 3 came down clearly part of the same group I was trying to make sure all the kids stayed away from the road while comforting DD. As they open the door I said oh watch we are here. Again they told me she shouldn’t be sat there, so I explained again. None the less the man from early came back over to tell me I was being selfish and inconsiderate but the rest of his group seemed to shuffle him along. Two of them came back and asked if they could help/apologised for the man’s behaviour but said they could help me move DD around the corner where there is a small park/garden with benches. I declined as I didn’t feel comfortable with a stranger carrying DD. The man who had a very strong accent then muttered something about it being inconsiderate for me to keep blocking the door when I’d be offered helped but they walked away.

WIBU?

You shouldn't have blocked the doorway. It wasn't safe to have her sitting there - for the residents or your child, who got trod on.

He was rude and unpleasant but you shouldn't have been blocking the doorway. I would have taken her round the corner to the public bench.

He was rude but does sound like where you sat her wasn’t ideal! Sounds like you need better planning going out singularly with 4 kids eg double pram, buggy board etc

You were both BU: him for being rude and you for blocking the access.

It doesn't sound deliberate I think it was an accident which explains why it wasn't safe to wait on the steps and why the man was angry.

I just wanted to say poor you. I hope your wee girl is alright and you got her home safely. Its not easy getting out and about with small children.

She didn't know about the bench round the corner. She could have struggled around looking for one, with the 4 kids in tow, for ages.

Honestly I'm not sure where some people live that there are all these handily placed benches all over the place! I need them for health reasons and there's never one about when you need them.

She was struggling to put her weight on her twisted ankle.

Well it really was only ambitious, though. It was all called off because of a grazed knee and even then that wasn't the end of being a victim and behaving awkwardly.

I have low tolerance for just about everything but this is awful !! A woman is managing 4 small kids in London and a child has an accident and people walk on her child and shout at her ?
What on earth is wrong with society ??

If she cant weight bear, then im not sure that a plaster is going to help with that.

So you risk falling rather than asking people to move because more people hurl abuse at you than move to let you past?
That's really very sad.

The paster was for the bleeding knee. The sitting on the step was for the sore ankle.

If I left my front door and found a hurt child sitting on my door step I'd help them.

I think if it caused this much fuss why didn’t you just make her sit on the street? The stairs are no cleaner than the path

People tried to help and the OP refused their offer. She preferred to inconvenience and cause a hazard than allow a stranger to push a buggy round the corner. Ridiculous.

I don’t think the man “walked on” the child as much as he accidentally stepped on her hand because he wasn’t expecting a child to be sitting on the steps of the building he was leaving.

I feel sorry for the little girl but the OP could have either got the family to a more sensible place to sit or accepted the help that was offered when it was offered. Instead, it became a huge drama.

If it’s just one young child, I fail to see that she could’ve been causing that much of a blockage unless she was right outside the door.

Managing 4 young children, including a baby, in a busy area of central London on your own was always going to be tricky. How do you usually cope with them?

I hope your DD is ok.

YABU going to a busy part of London with all those children. Every young child should have someone to hold their hand and be solely responsible for them. This is probably why your daughter fell over.

Why would you carry a 5 year old to the station, along with struggling with a buggy? Surely if anyone sprained their ankle you would call a taxi?

I do find it very odd that a mother with four children would set out for a whole days outing without a single plaster. Kids fall over and have accidents all the time. Surely you'd at least have some water and enough tissues or wet wipes to clean up her knee. Plus some Calpol of course. What if it had happened nowhere near your friend?

I like to think I would do too. But that clearly wasn't a safe place to stop with an injured person. Someone exiting a door in a hurry expecting to walk straight down steps into the street could easily bump into or trip over OP and child even with the best will in the world.

Of course he was rude. It's a shame the day was ruined for the other children though. I think you should have accepted the nice people's help though. It seems a bit like people can't win here, they offer to help and you say no, they say you are causing an obstruction and they are wrong. That one man was unnecessarily rude though, sadly these people exist everywhere.

Not the point, I know, but IMO a trip to a central London museum with 3 young children plus a newborn, was a pretty bonkers idea anyway.

I do think you were a bit unlucky to have so many people come out in a short space of time. I’d probably of accepted the help and carried the injured one piggy back style and asked them to push buggy.

I have four as well and tbh I was really restricted in my choice for days out when I was by myself as limited by loos and fencing. I bought memberships for a big adventure playground and we spent a lot of time there. For things like museums we’d divide the dc and two eldest would go with one parent as they got more out of it and toddlers would go to park with the other.