To think that my dad should have got rid of the foxgloves in his garden?

[poshsinglemum]

I have a 11 month dd.
He was surpervising her in the garden and I went out to see them and dd had a flower in her mouth.
I have phoned NHS direct and although it isn't an emergency we have 12 hours of worry ahead of us.

last weekend I told him to get rid of the plants as I said they were a hazard. He said he would do it next year.

I am soooooo and worried.

poshsinglemum - I think people are being overly harsh with you. The foxgloves are quite dangerous compared to the majority of plants and I'm going to buck the trend and say that he should remove them!

I do understand why people have said "your child, your responsibility", but in fact, this man is the child's grandparent and is willingly supervising the child in his garden. The garden ought therefore to be appropriate. I supervise my own children in my own garden - if I had foxgloves, I would remove them.

I grew up in a garden with loads of foxgloves and my parents didn't remove them, but told us that they were poisonous and dangerous and that we were not to touch them. Every time I went in the garden and had to walk past the foxgloves, I was terrified of them and thought they were going to jump out of the ground and get me! (I was very young!).

Anyway, it's a PLANT and your DD is a CHILD. err I vote for the child. Bye bye plant!

YABU - there are loads of hazards in most gardens, ifyou are going to worry about everything it will drive you mad..

There is an unfenced swimming pool at my M&D's for the first 6 months of DS1 walking unaided I was paranoid but he learned not to go near it and even now aged 5 he has no interest unless he has his swimmies on in which case you can't keep him away from it.

There are lots of plants, however that are not poisonous and are equally pretty.
I am not precious about germs and things like that but some things such as stairs, knives, foxgloves and yes ponds really do freak me out!

and if someone is freaked out about their kid eating something poisonous then i think it is v unreasonable to diss them.

i'm sorry- i think i may have opened this thread on the wrong forum!

YABU about the plants but YANB at all U in expecting your father to supervise your daughter in the garden. If he can't be trusted not to let her ingest poisonous plants he shouldn't be left with her. Surely if you have a word with him he'll take more care? It is a bit rough to say "your child, your responsibility", surely we ought to be able to expect people left in charge to keep them safe?

poshsinglemum Yes, nice for grandad's to mooch with their grandchildren, as you say.

My dad can sometimes be a lax as well. I remembering him coming to help me look after my toddler and baby in an emergency when I was ill.

He was meant to be taking them to a mother-and-baby drop in, but when I walked past on my way back from the GP, he was alone in a cafe, having dropped the DSs off and left them with my friend! Rubbish (bless him)

Unless the child lives there, of course he shouldn't remove them.

poshsinglemum Yes, people are generally friendlier in Chat

screamingabdab, your dad sounds clever IMO!

But that isnt what you asked. I can totally understand you freaking about your child eating a poisonous plant. My dd3 fell in my parents pond a couple of weekends ago which I was a little narked about. But then its not their fault as I took her there and she was my responsibility - my dh fished her out and said the only ones at fault were us for not supervising her enough (we fished her out in one second and were very close and saw her go in). I couldnt bring myself to ask them to cover it. In the same brath they have a cottage garden with hundreds of foxgloves. I have already explained to all my children that they are poisonous and they must never eat anything in any garden. I think all I was saying before was that given the circumstances it is up to you to keep her safe and not for them to remove the risk.

YAB very U but I can understand why.

I am looking forward to your OMG PFB post in a couple of years time!

I remember a friend telling me when I was pregnant about all the plants in my garden I was going to have to get rid of, needless to say I completely ignored her, either of my girls have put anything in their mouth as thats what I've taught them - though now I've said that I'm sure that DD2 will put something in her mouth!

Just teach your DD not to put plants in her mouth, remind your Dad to be careful in the garden and you will all be absolutely fine - promise!

SoupDragon Oh yes, there are many interpretations:

-lazy
-scared of roomful of mummies
-unaware of the norms of playgroup behaviour
-clever, as you say

At the time, he claimed ignorance .......

You can't wrap them up - my mum has false teeth and uses a small knife to cut up apples and stuff, which she then leaves lying abuot. The blade is about 1.5 inches, but I always had to pick it up when we were visiting and put it up high.She just didn;t think about it.

And she is a keep gardener too, i'm sure she has laburnums and foxgloves and hollyhocks and lords-and-ladies.....but my kids don't even put food in their mouths, let alone leaves and flowers.

If I thought I could get away with dropping DD at Toddler group and going to a cafe on my own, I would!

YABU. No, it's his garden. Lots of plants are hazardous, poisonous and/ or irritating. Until your daughter stops eating random plants you will need to supervise her in other people's garden.

NeedaNewName - do you really think you could teach an 11mo not to put something in their mouth? No way could I have taught either of mine that at 11m!

You can't teach an 11 month old which species of plant are to be avoided, it's for an adult to take care of her until she's old enough to learn and understand! Fair enough not removing the plants, but if he's going to keep them he should watch her, surely?!

Seriously though, people would be happy if their baby ate a poisonous plant? I don't think she's being PFB at all.

I don't think she's being PFB either. I am qualified to diagnose as I have 2 DC as does bohemianbint I think

I agree with BB and crokky, I wouldn't be happy with that situation. And it will be a shame if the grandfather cannot be left with his grandchild., and it's a shame if he puts his plants before the health of his grandchild.

Although he could relocate them to the middle of a flowerbed, but a bit difficult to do at this time of year, and the chances are she won't be eating plants this time next year.

I think it was Alan Titmarsh who said you should teach children to only eat things off plates rather than get rid of all poisonous plants...no idea if he has children or not.

Lynettescave - that may be true and sensible advice, but the grandfather was obviously not doing this because the baby was found with a flower in her mouth.

Lynette - yes, but foxgloves are particularly poisonous - I wouldn't get rid of all poisonous ones, but these are one of the more dangerous