I'm a young dad to an 18-month-old (first post btw) and would like some advice as at incident on the weekend is concerning me. I was out with the lads I play football with on the weekend at a theme park (no kids, it was a 'team-building exercise' lol). We were sat on a grassy area and had finished our lunch when a group of few younger lads (probably no older than 20/21) sat near us with a crying 14-month-old boy.
Being a dad, I took interest in the child and spoke to the group. One lad said the child was his nephew and he was out with friends but also had the baby (apparently he had agreed to look after him for his brother but forgot he had arranged the theme park trip with his mates and decided to take him along anyway?! Not sure the brother was aware of this or not). It was clear he (and certainly his mates) was p*** off at the situation. I was quite concerned for the child, genuinely a bit worried and still am really. Trying to think what if anything I can do, or should have done?
Worse still - when I told him I was a dad, we got chatting and he said he had tried everything to make the baby stop crying. As soon as I picked him up, I could tell he stank to high heaven and told this lad he needed a nappy change. His reaction? "Oh no, no way bud," as he just laughed and shook his head?! I said to him "you must be cool with it, if your brother has trusted you with him"... Anyway, I offered to change the baby for this immature bloke - so there I was, changing a dirty nappy as his own uncle and his mates grimaced and turned away (my own mates had long scarpered)
So much for a fun kid-free day out lol.
But I am, as I say, genuinely worried, probably more so about the culture of parenting (and uncle-ing?) these days than anything else. Fancy taking the child with you on a mates' day out? And his brother trusting him? It's pathetic. Also, was I right to intervene? Anyway rant over.