To think that this Times article about selfish mothers is vile

[mumbot]

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/janice_turner/article6916343.ece

A bitter and one sided view of motherhood. Do you agree?

I know where the OP is coming from - I don't see that she's condoning the note-writer, but the author sounds bitter to tar all parents with the same brush. I have three children and I don't consider myself to have an entitled attitude. And when I'm pregnant I don't expect people to offer me seats or anything like that. We're all different.

And yet you have read it and are now talking about it...

JodieO... it isn't about being nice to your children, it is about the parents of the children assuming because they have the puke down the front badge that they are somehow more entitled to things than other people. Be it space on the bus for their huge pram or extra parking at the supermarket.

I don't think it's a particularly progressive article, as you say, it's nothing new but to describe it as vile is ridiculous!

Sitting in the back so your child can sit in the front isn't universal anyway - I've NEVER done that. I would get travel sick

Jodie it is the Opinion section of the paper which I am sitting in bed reading. JT writes stuff like this each week on a huge array of subjects.

Weegle I didn't compare them, I fully understand how difficult it is having a disability, I'm merely passing on comments from my disabled father. Not everyone disabled will agree with your point of view I'm afraid.

TFM - yes, exactly, as I said above; what is your point? I read it as it was linked to and obviously I couldn't comment on something I hadn't read. Talking about it on here and wanting to see it as news in a newspaper are two different thinng entirely imo.

I think what she says is true for some people - I have seen examples of those parents who IMO do too much for their dcs and expect everyone else to do the same. Not sure it was enough to turn it into an article for a national newspaper though.

All this respect your elders stuff though I just don't get....people should respect other people - whoever they are and whatever age. Nobody is superior to anyone else because of their age. Everyone deserves to be respected.

Maybe it's that I am an older mother (as in have grown up children) but I agree with most of the article.

Children were loved as much, looked after as much, but life did not revolve around them to the extent that everything else had to stop for them.

And I dont see that the children of my DS's age, (who most of MN would fall into category have done so bad from it.)

I agree with what she says.

I have on occasion sat in the back seat of the car though, but only on long journeys to try and stop my three children fighting, so I excuse myself from her category of parents who give up the front seat for their child.

Slings and an umbrella Mclaren buggy. That's all you need for the bus, anything bigger is such a hassle.

Anifrangapani I've never met a parent like that, only read about them in papers, I find that odd lol. I have 3 children and I don't feel entitled to anything, I don't care where I park in carparks really and would rather park somewhere where I had space around me, near the back is fine by me.

ronshar fair enough, just seems an odd thing to write about especially after it's been posted on here and already done to death.

No they wouldn't - I wouldn't expect them too but I wonder how much of that is because the vast majority of BB holders come from a generation without any sense of entitlement - that despite the difficulties their disabilities present they STILL don't want to cause a fuss, cause bother to other people or be a nuisance. It's often 'embaressing enough' to have a disability let alone take full advantage of the 'benefits' it gives you, if you can call anything along those lines a benefit. Just trying to explain how really the 2 (BB spaces and P&T spaces) should never even be being discussed in the same sentence - they are simply not on a par.

yabu....and a bit mental to describe it as vile...?....OTT or what

some parents are selfish....

the article is v.good.

Agree with the article as well.

It's not about beig superior. And I think it might be different readings of the word 'respect'. I would certainly expect my 8 yo to stand up on a bus and let and adult sit down. Because he is young and energetic, and I assume that adults, like me, are more jaded My 5 yo I would prefer to stay seated, because she is more unsteady on her pins, so I'd put her on my knee so there is maximum sitting down availability.

I expect my DS, and my DD, to 'respect' that some people find things easier than others, and if they can do something more easily than others, then they should do so.

Not read all the article as it was simply to ranty to make sense however I don't understand why people think children shouldn't sit in the front of a car. Ds's car seat in his grandma's car is in the front. It is there because the majority of the time there is either grandma alone or just the two of them. If all three of us go out then an adult sits in the back because it is a real faff to move the seat.

Ds sits in the front in my car as the alternative would be to put him in the boot.

I do get incredibly annoyed at the abuse of disabled spaces though. Happens daily at ds's school and I say something if I see someone parking where they shouldn't.

article is fine certainly not vile imho

Electra I feel the same about that too.

Shoshe I really don't see that around me though, mothers feeling entitled or everything revolving around children. Maybe it's perception, as in rose tinted glasses. The way people always say life was better back then, politicans were better etc etc. Not being patronising but I think most people view things in that way. Do most MNetters have grown up children? I didn't think that from the forums as a whole, maybe I'm wrong though.

''Shuffle the playlist, sister.''
Ha ha! Very good.

I completely agree with her views on pushchairs. I seriously judge people with massive monster buggies that don't have more than one child in them. I remember that thread about the note on the car too.

I too agree with the article and I didn't feel it tarred all parents with the same brush. I think the parents most upset by it are perhaps the ones for whom it strikes a chord, the one's who feel attacked because they are just as the writer describes. So no OP, I don't agree that the article is a bitter and one sided view of motherhood.

Weeble I don't think blue badge holders are all of an older generation though, can't remember statistics but I believe there are a lot of younger people too, also children who are disabled. I remember going out with my parents when I was a child and hating people staring, I used to stare right back until they looked away. Definitely never embarrassed by it. Trying to bring my children up more tolerant and accepting of everyone but it was adults that were the worst

TFM I agree on that, I wouldn't let my 6 or 7 year old sit while someone more needy was standing up and the 2 year old I'd stick on my lap probably.

I agree that the article is not about all mothers an is far from vile.