Interfering OLD lady during public temper tantrum.....

[undergroundernie]

I need to get this off my chest in order to calm down as I am still shaking. My youngest dd age 2.4 and I were shopping. She was standing in front of her pushchair in the checkout queue and for some strange 2.4 year old reason did not want to get out of the way and so was holding up the queue. I asked her to move, I said it nicely, then firmly then picked her up out of the way. She predictably did not appreciate this and began to scream blue murder. I carried her out of the shop whilst pushing the pushchair and then put her down and held her hand. She was twisting away and trying to fall on the floor. All very age appropriate and irritating, and much worse when you're out in a public place.
Then a well-meaning old dear (for well meaning old dear read INTERFERING TOOTHLESS OLD CRONE) says:

"Be careful with the child she's fallen over twice already."

I was struck dumb, already stressed due to tantruming daughter I just looked at her, smiled (), and said 'thank-you'. How ridiculously polite. I wanted to scream at her but did not. Now I am shaking with anger and keep going over it in my head. Was I hurting her? Should I have handled it differently? Probably but your options are very limited in a crowded market street. I don't think I was hurting her, I was holding tight but just to stop her wriggling off, to keep her safe for a start.

So just to get it off my chest. SHE WAS AN INTERFERING OLD HAG WHO HAD THE CHARM OF MRS MANGEL WITH NO INSIGHT OR EMPATHY WHOSE CHILDREN PROBABLY HATE HER AND WHO DESERVES SOMETHING BAD TO HAPPEN TO HER TODAY.

Please say something nice and make me feel better.

[cathytom]

what was said to the OP was interfering and offensive IMO, as it implied she had hurt her child, or was not taking care of her. In that situation, I would have been angry and insulted. Just because people get old, does not give them the right to interfere, and say what they like to others. I would only say something to someone, or interfere, if I witnessed someone being abusive towards their child. This was clearly not happening. Maybe the anger expressed towards some elderly people who interfere is because a lot of them behave this way, and think being a certain age gives them right to insult the younger generation. Plenty of mother in laws behave this way towards their daughters in law, and it is destructive to relationships. There are lots of nice elderly people too, and I see many of them in my job, so I am certainly not anti-old people.

[harpsichordcarrier]

god, I really agree with you moondog. good on the old lady for actually giving a shit about someone else's child, even if she got it wrong. if she was well meaning and meant it kindly, then what's the harm?