Wow, are parents really this protective these days?

SideWinder

SideWinder

SideWinder

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I was working in my oh so wonderful supermarket on the shop floor for a bit and overhead a conversation between a mother and her son. The son was aged around 4-5 but i'm not very good with ages. He was up to my waist and i'm 5"9.

Mum: There you are! Don't you wander off like that again!
Son: I saw someone from my class Mummy!
Mum: Don't do it again. Someone might have stolen you!

Christ, are we living in such an age where a mother actually says that to her son? It really surprised me...i was expecting more of something along the lines of "I could have lost you!".

Perhaps i'm being naive.
 
Its a fair comment in my opinion. Its teaching the kid not to wander off. I have kids.
 
Obviously i'm not a parent and nor do i know anyone with young children so it just surprised me a bit. I always read stories about how parents cover their children in 'cotton wool' and with so many 'Health and Safety' thingys, children aren't able to express themselves like they used to. For example climbing trees, going exploring in woods and whatever.

I dunno, just seemed so blunt and direct for the poor boy. He'll now forever be scared of people stealing him and probably cling to his family for dear life.
 
Yeah. I would definitely be protective if I had kids. I was almost kidnapped in Greece as a baby and would have joined the list of the likes of Madeleine. There's no way I'd lose sight of one of my kids.
 
I'd take your mum and son over the ones that seemed to be following me around the supermarket yesterday...

Mum: Stop that nathan
Mum: Stop that nathan
Mum: Stop that nathan
Mum: Stop that nathan
Mum: Stop that nathan please
Mum: Stop that nathan please
Mum: Stop that nathan please
Mum: STOP THAT NATHAN!
Mum: Stop that nathan please
Mum: Stop that nathan please
Mum: Stop that nathan
Mum: STOP THAT NATHAN!
and so on...

I dunno what nathan was doing but his mum needs to either give him a slap or shut the hell up.
 
greeny_fastcar said:
Strange choice of words from the Mother I must say.

"Stolen" :rolleyes:
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Not really that bizarre. 'Stolen' is a concept children understand. 'Kidnapped, Sexually molested, photographed and put on the internet before being buried in a forest' are terms they understand less and ones that you perhaps shouldn't be explaining to young children anyway.

Stolen is also more persuasive than 'lost you'. The child will understand that something stolen does not get returned whilst he's probably lost loads of things and then found them again. Lost doesn't matter too much then whilst stolen is dreadful.
 
Kemik said:
Yeah. I would definitely be protective if I had kids. I was almost kidnapped in Greece as a baby and would have joined the list of the likes of Madeleine. There's no way I'd lose sight of one of my kids.
Click to expand...

Want to reveal what happened? You don't have to.
 
Sounds like a bad choice of words to me aswell.

As said "I could have lost you" would've been better.
 
I know a couple of parents who are very frank with their parents "you didn't put away your toys, Daddy could have slipped and broken open his head and died. Do you want your dad to die?" - I remember standing there thinking "Oh my days."

It did seem a little harsh to be telling them like that - but they still leave out their toys from time to time, just like I'm sure this kid will run away from his mother time and time again.

I don't really see anything wrong with it - the child will understand the concept of 'stolen'.
 
SideWinder said:
Want to reveal what happened? You don't have to.
Click to expand...

Sure thing. I don't remember any of it, so just going off what my dad's told me.

They were at a restaurant and my dad was outside with me, trying to get me to fall asleep. The table was right next to the front window of the restaurant. The food came and my mum shouted and signalled my dad from the table. An old women offered to look after me while my parents and their friends ate. My dad said no, but the lady insisted and said she wasn't going anywhere. The seat was literally only the other side of a bit of glass from the table, right outside the restaurant.

My dad went back inside after giving me to the women and my mum asked where I was. He pointed to the women but she'd gone. My dad went one way out the restaurant and my dad's mate, Jon, went the other. Jon just managed to catch the women going in to a house. She said she was just showing me to her friends but Jon grabbed me and took me back.

This all happened only a few months after a similar, blonde haired, blue eyed English lad had been taken from his family in Greece so I got out of it lucky.

Cannot trust anyone. Even a lovely little old women.

I stayed with Jon last summer (he's moved to Oz) and I asked him about it all. It's pretty weird to think I could be living a completely different lifestyle with different parents if it wasn't for him.
 
Kemik said:
Sure thing. I don't remember any of it, so just going off what my dad's told me.

They were at a restaurant and my dad was outside with me, trying to get me to fall asleep. The table was right next to the front window of the restaurant. The food came and my mum shouted and signalled my dad from the table. An old women offered to look after me while my parents and their friends ate. My dad said no, but the lady insisted and said she wasn't going anywhere. The seat was literally only the other side of a bit of glass from the table, right outside the restaurant.

My dad went back inside after giving me to the women and my mum asked where I was. He pointed to the women but she'd gone. My dad went one way out the restaurant and my dad's mate, Jon, went the other. Jon just managed to catch the women going in to a house. She said she was just showing me to her friends but Jon grabbed me and took me back.

This all happened only a few months after a similar, blonde haired, blue eyed English lad had been taken from his family in Greece so I got out of it lucky.

Cannot trust anyone. Even a lovely little old women.

I stayed with Jon last summer (he's moved to Oz) and I asked him about it all. It's pretty weird to think I could be living a completely different lifestyle with different parents if it wasn't for him.
Click to expand...


Cool story.
 
Generalisation:

Kids can't do anything these days - go off cycling and explore, play football in front of their house, climb trees, cross bridges without a risk assessment being done; no wonder they start rebelling and start drinking, smoking, taking drugs, carrying weapons, etc.
 
Maybe the kids mother was just trying to scare him into staying with her. I don't think there was anything wrong with what she said as it's teaching her child not to go off with strangers and in all honesty the world would be a safer place for children if all parents did this. I work in a toy shop and the amount of times I have found children as young as 2 or 3 wondering around with no parent in sight is terrifying. I've even had parents leave their kids in the store while they go to another shop or to the cash machine!
 
Don't think there's anything wrong with it but it is a fairly new concept. When I was that age (12/13 years ago) we wouldn't have been told that sort of thing but I doubt we would have walked off in the first place because we weren't given any of that 'supernanny' treatment where the kids aren't punished at all.

Do find it quite awkward when my niece says it though, e.g. "No don't leave me here because I might get taken by a bad man" when we say we'll leave her behind if she doesn't hurry up - feels like the innocence of childhood is fading, but with the way things are going it looks like it is going to have to.
 
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