Did something really mean and now feel terrible

[Anniebows]

I know I did completely the wrong thing here, my DS was given a balloon at a little show, after the show his behaviour was not great, he also wrapped his balloon up in his toy. In a moment of frustration I pulled the balloon string off the bow and let it go, my child was very upset. Ive apologised and explained I was wrong to do this but I still feel really terrible, anyone had a similar experience? Have I scarred him for life

Well if she does, I'm going to have to read it with her.

Survival of the fittest, that goat just was not up to it. And before you go at me, I never ever kill a thing, a fly, a spider, I take in strays, I think everything deserves it's life. But the OP was told in the first few posts about the balloon problem, so wind your neck in.

@janeavrilavril

My comments have been aimed at the people who think animals eating litter is something to laugh about. And no, an animal dying from eating litter is not a case of survival of the fittest. What a strange thing to say. Do you honestly think scruffy humans should just drop litter wherever they fancy and if an animal eats it, that is just a case of them not being strong enough?

This thread is insane.

OP please do not worry about this. We all do things that bring on the mum guilt. Please don't give it a second thought

For all those people bringing in shortage of helium and killing farm animals, really? Is that needed? If we want to go even further we could mention that maybe farm animals (cows) are responsible for a huge portion of climate change with their methane productions, which is destroying the planet! Honestly, does every post on Mumsnet really have to end with making the OP feel shit about something they hadn't even thought they needed to feel shit about!

damn right it is survival of the fittest.

you know @prescott this thread now can easily slipside into what defines 'the fittest'. I don't litter either and I certainly have never let a balloon off ever. I am sorry if u have lost animals that way.

Wow

I only see one poster putting the boot in

I’m one of ‘them’ and no, in the interest of animal welfare, I don’t eat meat. I think you’ll find that animals and birds are injured and killed in far greater numbers than you like to think.

This 👆

Buy him a better balloon to make up for what you did and also a small treat.

Good for you. Lots of folk feel the way I do though. 🫣

Dead farm animals. Hilarious 🙄.

If it stops them buying those fucking awful balloons then yes. Her ds will be fine. The animal who ends up eating it will not. It will die in agony.

Those who are saying that this thread is 'batshit' or laughing, sometimes it takes the folk that others think are crazy to raise actual issues. Balloons should be banned. Full stop. Even if disposed of properly they can end up causing problems to wildlife. It's naive to think otherwise.

Your comment shows how shockingly unaware you are.

Same lol. They're all unhinged.

@Anniebows he might remember it for the rest of his life as an upsetting moment. (Hopefully because it's the biggest trauma he suffers as a small child.)

He's unlikely to become a serial killer due to it. Take comfort in that.

Plus, there's a possibility he won't be a balloon fan, and not want them near him. Which as you can tell from this thread isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Sick person

Think it's you that needs to ' read the room' tbh. Balloons are just another form of toxic litter and anyone who doesn't realise or care about this is an idiot. Laughing about it is even worse.

How small your lives must be if this is amusing to you.

If that was aimed at me you missed the eye roll emoji. I don't think it's amusing at all.

The odd bollocking for bad behaviour won't do him any harm at all.

I find it shocking and depressing that so many people just don’t care

I think it's surprising what young children remember. I remember some moments where I look back and think "What was I thinking?" that they don't remember. Dd though blasts me because I kept red flannels to clean cuts and scrapes so they didn't see they were bleeding because she sees it that I was being dishonest. Who knows how or if your child will remember it?

My dh did similar last year. On a day out, we allowed the kids to buy a souvenir. Ds (then 6 yo) chose some really crappy metal handcuffs (despite there being loads of really lovely souvenirs). Anyway, that evening, DD and DS were playing, it got out of hand and it ended up with DS hitting DD (then 10 yo) and then biting her on the back. Dh told him off which sent ds into a rage and he started screaming and hurling stuff around. My dh got cross, so to punish Ds, he picked up the crappy handcuffs and twisted them in his hands so the metal all bent together and they could no longer be used. Obviously Ds was distraught and then kicked off even more. Sigh. Anyway, I gave dh a (private) bollocking about how he handled the situation. He felt awful, spoke to ds and apologised. Ds apologised to dh and dd. Ds isn't traumatised by what happened.

Sometimes as parents we don't always handle situations correctly. It's normal, we're all human and make mistakes. It's how you deal with the mistake afterwards that's important.