How much do you 'ignore' your children?

[Gameboy]

Have just been out with two families - friends of ours- who have kids about the same age, and I have to confess, I am amzed by the extent to which they actively 'ignore' their children trhoughout the whole afternoon.

By this I mean they seem to 'zone out' from all the various requests/ questions/ constant 'to-ing and fro-ing' that seems typical of under- 6s??

As a result they actively seem to enjoy themselves more, manage to have 'adult' conversations (which I gave up years ago )and it seems that their kids eventually give up and go and sort out themselves whatever it is they want....( which seems like a good thing I suppose)

I can't decide whether I'm just a mug with my kids and let them dominate my life too much... but I simply CAN'T ignore them - it seems really rude and uncaring somehow??

Confused as to why your last comment is to me??

I never said you were wrong so please don't think that??

You are a fab mum as are we all How you bring your boy up is your decision and as long as you are actively trying to encourage him to play with kids his own age and not discussing anything'too adult' with him then ignore us lot and carry on

No magnolia, i wasn't having a dig at you. sorry if it came across that way i was simply saying in some peoples eyes i may not be right but i cannot change what has already happened. I do try to make him do more childish things but he has no interest

I can accept hte early speaking as dd did this too and she was round adults only until she was 1 when she started at nursery but the thing I find hardest is the fact that your friends see him at 7 as a friend.

How do you feel about Michael Jackson spending time (abuse aside) with young boys?

Now Michael Jackson into the mix is a bizarre twist too far...

Someone pass the popcorn please...

Ok

At the end of the day other peoples perceptions of you are irrelivant (sp?) We all said our opinions but that in no way means we think you are wrong. None of us bring up our kids perfectly (except me of course ) but we do the best we can and thats exactly what you are doing.

Have a lovely afternoon

Oooh!

Marthamoo

I need to do the housework people!!!! Stop posting!!!!!

Jampots, i feel that if it is innocent and the parents are there then fine.

I trust my friends i knew them before i had my son and know they wouldn't harm him in anyway.

spiudermama- I have no problems with children being different or bright, My ex was both. His reason for being isolated from children when young sound very like hmb's, but he didn't really get himself together over it. As an adult he was still only happy around older company and he was also bullimic (he linked this to his inability to socialise). He was not by the way AS or anything like that-his problems were a result of his early years not mixing with children- and his lack of confidence stemming from that. It made things harder than they needed to be.

I think Vaunda's friends don't have many children between them so they make a bit of a fuss of him when he's around

and no doubt he's cute and enjoys the attention

sounds hunky dory to me

Me too but I can't drag myself away. It was like this the Judge Flounce weekend - just kept tossing the odd biscuit over my shoulder to the boys while staying riveted to the PC screen.

Lol, m'moo, I've posted ds off to his father's and am sitting here with a bag of peppermint creams waiting to be entertained...

my hair is curling on its own (which isnt good) its in desperate need of hair dryer attention which it just isnt getting

Whatever happened to Gameboy, who started this thread. She's done the sensible thing and disowned it by the looks of things.

Katie is asleep and the twins are 'exploring' the kitchen

My dd is at her dads today... so does that mean I am ignoring her?

thank you Lucy5

My dh is making lunch and I'm 'putting clothes away upstairs'
I think I'll be rumbled if I don't go back downstairs and help. One can only 'put away' so many clothes in a day after all.

Yes Weesadie it does!!!

Ring her now and give her some attention

Funny you should say that Magnolia, I have been trying to ring ex and getting no answer!

Not the give dd attention though, I want to ask him to bring her back later as I have been invited to the cinema!

Oh, the shame....

Lol.... keep ringing woman!!!

ha ha, have texted and said I assume your answer is yes... he is always leaving his mobile somewhere and forgetting about it....

Haven't read the whole thread, just browsed through but it reminded me of when I was working, we had a cleaner at the office who came in twice a week. She had asked for permission to bring her 2.4/3 yr old (not sure) daughter and we all doted on her, chatted to her etc and she was surprisingly "grown up" for her age - very responsive and articulate - probably went on all her mum's jobs, but one thing that struck me was that I don't remember ever seeing her smile.

When I was at university a friend of mine had a son and the rest of us (childless) students found him wonderful to be with. He grew up on a university campus and was certainly around adults more than other children. We all enjoyed it as we did not have children of our own and did not know many people who did. He would always come to the adult parties and be made a lot of fuss of etc. I know of several people who would have put him near the top of their guest list as it was lovely to have him around and there was nothing sinister about this.

His upbringing was certainly not conventional, and I didn't agree with his mum all of the time, but he is now a very pleasant, unconventional adult, not a James Wotsit or whatever that antiques boy was called!

So maybe thats why I never smile. I'm so grown up and inteligent