Oh, OK. So when the toddler with the glass bottle full of hot sauce trips and falls (as toddlers are wont to do), dropping the glass bottle, which then shatters, cutting the shit out of her and introducing hot sauce into the cuts, she’ll do fine!
There aren’t enough :rolleyes: for that.
A good way to keep other people from bothering your child; look after it yourself. If other people are bothering your child, that’s probably a pretty good sign that you need to pry your butt off the couch and run interference between your kid and the stuff it’s getting into.
No? When I was three, my mom told me I was not to touch the power cord for the Christmas tree. I ran in there and tried to plug it in. Either my hands were wet or the plug was bad or something, because it knocked me flat down. Know what? I didn’t do it again. (In fact, it gave me a very healthy respect for electricity.)
I see that most of the people in this thread are forgetting another salient point: not everyone finds Your Little One Jr. cute, lovable or adorable. No, I don’t want to hear Susie sing a Beyonce song. No, Harry knows no magic trick that will enthrall me.
If this is a family gathering or one designed for families (church picnic or similar), I will be fairly easy going when it comes to kid interruption etc. But I still don’t want to see Marci’s dance routine or listen to Joe Jr’s recitation of the Bill of Rights. And the host’s dog may not want to be dressed up in a tutu, little Emily…
All of that is only adorable and wonderful to those who are genetically related to the youngster (and not always even to them).
I stand before you and have the temerity, the audacity to say this: stop allowing your kid to interrupt adult conversation. Stop allowing every function to be child focused. If your child cannot play independently, then that child belongs with a sitter OR you need to fulfill that function.
And while you’re at it, please teach your kid “excuse me”, “please” and “thank you”. “You’re welcome” is slightly more advanced, but no less necessary. Thank you. (and maybe you could teach them to not yell in grocery stores? And to stop jumping on waiting room couches? One has to start somewhere).
OK–I just realized my whole rant is only nominally tangential to the OP. Oh, well–it still felt good. 
Those Tobasco sauce bottles don’t break all that easily. Even so, the worst is a quick trip to the ER. I wouldn’t have any problem with my daughter getting me a bottle of Tobasco sauce.
I’m not disagreeing with the OP though. I watch my daughter like a hawk and I have never had a problem. We are lucky to, at least so far, have a very well mannered child. This kid is amazing, and I don’t think it’s anything we ever did.
And this is what it boils down to. The dislike here is not over some particular action. It’s once again a bunch of people who somehow feel like they are owed a life with zero interaction with children.
Please. I have kids. For the most part, I like other people’s kids (as with all people I meet, there are some I like more than others). I have enough responsibilities with my own, though. If I have my kids with me somewhere, I’m watching them - as I should be. If I’ve made other arrangements for them, I shouldn’t then have to watch someone else’s kids. I don’t expect other people to do my job and I’m not willing to do theirs for them. If a friend asks for me to keep an eye on their child while they run to the bathroom, I’m more than happy to do that. When people just assume other adults are going to be in charge of their children because they’d rather be taking a dip in the pool, that’s an imposition. It’s rude.
While I don’t have kids, I agree with this. If you specifically ask me to keep an eye on your kid for a couple of minutes, fine, but don’t assume. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I chose not to have kids because I generally don’t want to be responsible for them. If you chose to have a child, YOU need to bear the responsibility or make arrangements otherwise. I’m not a jerk that would blithely let someone get hurt (child or adult) but I don’t want to watch your offspring.
ETA: I don’t expect a life without contact with kids, but is there really something wrong with saying you don’t find them and everything they do adorable? Specific little kids can be cute sometimes, but for the most part I don’t think they are. I’ll humor them rather than hurt their feelings for my own convenience, and I think most adults would do the same. I don’t see anyone expecting to not have contact with kids; they just want the parents to be responsible.
For me the salient point is this. When I’m eating a restaurant, I don’t want to trip over your kid on the way to the bathroom, because you let him run around the tables. Keep your kid from kicking the back of my seat in the movie theater. When you’re at a buffet, don’t send your kid to get his own plate, because he will inevitably so something unsanitary. And if you have a baby or child having a total screaming meltdown, take care of the situation NOW. Don’t ignore it and force everyone around you to have to tolerate your brat’s screaming fit. This last goes triple in the movies: I PAID for my ticket, and have the right to not have to listen to our kid. Get him out and calm him down. Don’t like that? Shoulda got a babysitter.
Well, you know what, I was walking down the street yesterday, and I was stuck behind this old couple. Being old, they walked very slow. I said “excuse me” to get around them, but they must have been hard at hearing because they did not respond. I swear it took me fifteen extra minutes just to go a block.
Now, would it be reasonable to think “keep track of your old people and don’t let them block the sidewalks and if you can’t get a caretaker”? Of course not. What I thought was “I live in a society full of people, some of different ages with different needs. Being a member of society who has decided to go out in public, I practice tolerance and respect.”
Maybe these parents find something about you they object to. Who knows. We go outside, we gotta deal with people
If your old people were screaming ucontrollably, assaulting people, and spitting in the food at restaurants, they would indeed not be fit to be in public. I don’t mind walking behind a kid who is slow. Kids have short legs, slow happens. I do mind a kid who is hitting me or smearing his snot in the buffet unsupervised.
Lol. I have 3 kids, have been a Brownie troop leader, Sunday school teacher and committee chair, soccer team mom and volunteer at the elementary school. I enjoy kids and they seem to like me. Perhaps one reason is that I set firm limits and kids know what to expect from me. I also don’t patronize them, but that’s not at issue here.
I dislike rude and/or badly behaved children, but I blame their parents for their lack of manners and civility. I also dislike parents who assume that I want to supervise their child at a social occasion and also those who insist on showing their children off (first steps, first words are an exception for me, but I know that is not true for everyone).
Gosh, it’s too bad that you didn’t have room to walk around them on the grass, or even in the actual street.
It’s even worse that your analogy is not remotely relevant.
<Gah. you guys are psychic. Every time I want to post something, you guys have already made my point.>
Well, it’s true for me as well, but, geez, they plan them? “Come over on Tuesday at 10 am to watch Junior’s first steps!” I’ve only ever happened to be at the right place at the right time. (Course, with eight younger siblings, there were a lot of “happened”.)
Hee. No, what I meant was I delight in hearing that Baby has said her first words or he has taken his first steps, but I really don’t want to know that he now pees in the potty, no, no–don’t show me! or that she can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star etc.
It doesn’t happen all that often, but when I had kids in preschool (and younger), I was constantly surprised by how much parents bragged about their kids or just plain monopolized conversations about their kids’ activities. It’s one thing if that is the topic of conversation and Junior’s behavior is a pertinent example, but there were times I thought “you all need to get a life outside your offspring”. All of it seems to stop once 8th grade is started, but it starts up again around the time of college apps.
Really? A kid who bumps into in a buffet is assaulting you?
It must be something to be such a delicate flower! You and I clearly have different ways of looking at the world!
I’m not a parent, and I don’t think I’m owed a life with zero interaction with children. I had no problem being around my nieces and nephews, because they were well-behaved. One of my closest friends has a son who is a functional autistic; I always stay at their house when I go to Chicago, and I make allowances for his occasional lapses. Last Saturday I even babysat by myself for a friend’s 14-month old grandson so his mother could work.
What I don’t want to have to do is put up with children who are screaming and otherwise misbehaving because their parents can’t be bothered to deal with them or teach them that certain actions are not acceptable in public.
On preview: I don’t consider being “bumped into” assault. Practically knocking me down because you’re not looking where you’re running, and not bothering to say “excuse me” (which my friend’s son has even learned to do most of the time) is another thing entirely.
ok, ok. you got him. he’s actually battering the adult.
You don’t batter an adult. Adults need slow moist heat. Mesquite chips are a nice touch.