Lost for words

It never ceases to amaze me how many Mums pushing their Baby in the pram are so engrossed in their 'phone, that they push the pram straight out into the road without checking for traffic.
They spend 9 months carrying their precious bundle, probably have everything possible in the home, car, etc to ensure a safe and comfortable environment, yet they do this.
I just don't get it.
If they HAVE to check their blasted 'phones, then I wish that they would use a bit of common sense and do so in a safe place.

John Lewis Newcastle last week. I was going down the escalator. Woman my age 60-70 doing holiday care I guess. She had a baby in a push chair. About four steps ahead of me was a tiny little girl alone ,maybe a very small four year old but more likely three. I looked back to the woman and said shall I bring her back . The woman said she will come up on her own and was smiling. Of course by the time I got to the bottom child stumbled off and then hesitated in getting on . There was a young woman with two children going up and I asked her to take the child up. The child was only just grabbed in time by the young woman. I probably have not explained clearly the scenario but the child should not have been on her own. She was unsteady and no longer confident. And it was a grandmother? who hadn't a clue- giving her a treat by going on the escalator on her own? Then we see some posters who say they are not allowed to have their dgd on their own.

off topic a little but recently in town a young girl passed me shouting at a young man behind her. They stopped and argued loudly in the same vein. Each sentence was punctuated with the f word. Some of us were shocked and exchanged looks. She was pushing a child in a buggy. Poor child. what chance does it have in life.

Oldwoman70 Oh no! This, I am distressed to say, makes me confirmed in my fear that "something" is going wrong with the younger generation, the parent-generation of today. There is a completely different vibe for want of a better word. (I'm not at my best at the mo.) The uncaring, rude, 'people are just pawns in my game of life' attitude prevails. Not saying thank you used to irk me but this? An example of the end.....

nipsmum sorry, but no matter what was going on in the mother's life, the care of her child near a busy road should be a priority.

This sort of post makes my blood boil.
It just accentuates the ignorance of these awful people who really shouldn’t have children in the first place.

Unfortunately, there does seem to be an awful lot of hem around.
The poor children I feel,sorry for them being brought up by mindless cretins such as the Op described.

Well Done Busset. ???.

On a similar note I was at work one day when a patient complained of chest pain. I said to the Staff Nurse to do his obs and I would get an ECG machine When I got back she said ' I can't do them ' the patient was sat texting on his mobile telling her to hang on. I reached out, took the phone off him ,switched it off and put it in his pocket ' Now you can 'I said

How awful. Like people who allow their children to run around supermarkets?. A child came round one of the aisles straight into my trolley. I apologised don't know why but the child was crying so asked should I get the manager to see if he was alright No problem said, who I presumed to be, his mother he should look where he is going. I later saw the child running around the crowded car park.

There have always been mothers like this. When they are visible outside on their phones we notice them. When they are sitting at home, fag in one hand, watching soaps, etc and ignoring the child (except to yell at it) we don’t see that.

Good job GN wasn't about when I brought up my children- not that I ever did anything stupid of course.

What amazes me is that children have to be in child seats in a car but once out of the car they are left to run around instead of holding hands or being on reins when they are around busy roads or in shops. No we weren't perfect but my DD was on reins even though we didn't have fancy car seats

We were criticised for letting our children ride tricycles in the street, for holding them by the hand instead of having them on reins when they were toddlers and for not teaching them to say please and thank you before they were out of nappies!

Our mothers were criticised for babies swallowing nappy pins, or being taken out in the pram or push-chair without a harness, and those unfortunate women who used a harness that choked a child ( a lot were dangerous, my sister wound hers round her neck, but survived with only a bad fright) were blamed for that too.

I was forbidden to play near the burn - there was only 2 or 3 inches of water in it, but at the age of 5 I went there anyhow. If I had drowned, my mother would have been blamed.

Life is full of risks, we try to minimise them, but these young women talking on phones, don't seem to realise they are putting their children at risk. Perhaps it should be illegal to use a mobile phone while looking after children in a street, but how on earth could the police enforce such a law?

But but But! My mum, now 86, talks about being out of the house playing all day as a young child. Her mum had no idea where she was, she just turned up for meals. Yes, there where fewer cars on the road but her cousin was killed by a trolley bus and there where bombed building everywhere and not the health and safety precautions there are now. Im not saying this mum should be excused her neglect but do we idealise the past?

Absolutely shocking incident ... and so so sad that this is actually the norm these days.

MaggieMay
The bit about your GC hugging and thanking their mum for 'not being a crap mum' made me smile and remember my own children saying something similar when they were young.
Your family obviously have all the right values.

A girl I know slightly is a childminder. I saw her one day in the distance crossing a road while looking at her phone with a toddler trailing behind her. By the time I reached them they were a long way away. The thing is this girl also child minds for another aquaintance of mine and I didnt know whether to say anything to her about it. I'm afraid I chickened out. We all sing in a choir together and I didn't want to cause bad feeling! Perhaps I should have said something?

I was driving past a young woman pushing a child of about 4-5 years old in a wheelchair with one hand, while talking on her phone. The footpath sloped away to the road and suddenly the wheels of the chair must’ve hit a bump and the child slid out of the chair to the ground almost rolling onto the busy road.
She, still deep in conversation, grabbed him by the neck of his sweatshirt, dragged him back onto the chair, and continued on as if nothing had happened! Totally oblivious to the danger the child could have been in ?

It’s not the phones in themselves, Kim19, it’s the fact that many using them become quite oblivious of their surroundings and what is going on - not just young Mum’s, I’ll add.

I’m sorry, nipsmum, but when you see potentially serious incidents happening and the main carer apparently oblivious and then on some occasions down right rude to those who step in to help, you can’t help but condemn their attitude, and as for the Mum who said “yeah, ok” and shut the door in the woman’s face, a simple “thank you” would have been enough, no matter what might be going on in her life, (which of course, we don’t know). What comes across in that post, however, is the Mum’s apparent lack of concern over what had happened to her daughter, which in itself is worrying rather than condemning of her.

We certainly seem to gun for young Mothers on their phones these days. Can anyone remember the main area of criticism levelled in Grans' parenting days?

Why is this surprising? There is so much selfish behaviour nowadays. Of course seeing what is on FB, checking messages, doing a bit of shopping is much more important than taking responsibility for their actions. So lucky you were there to stop the lad landing in the road. Adults behaviour - bordering on neglect.

This situation is terrible, people with mobiles phones and young children should be reported, its very dangerous
A friend of my sons, [no phones involved] was walking across a main road, although not very busy at the time, with his little boy running behind him, wife and new baby in pram further behind, when a motor bike came out of nowhere, little boy [7] was killed, so was baby in pram, mum was badly injured
The man should have been at least holding childs hand,

My grandson, a few months back, was taking his little sisters to the park, where he saw a young lad, no more than 6 or 7, climbing on the very top of the helter skelter slide, as he had climbed over the safety rail, and gotten stuck. This was extremely high, and the boy was terrified and stuck with shock. My grandson climbed up, had to climb over the rail himself, got the lad to climb back over with the help of his sisters, and helped him down, even gave him a bar of chocolate to help him calm down as he had started hyperventilating.
His mum??
On her phone, talking, and my gs didn't believe it WAS the boys mum at first as she had watched him climb up to get the boy down, all without taking the phone away from her ear!!
He truly did not believe it when the kid ran over to her, shouting 'Mum, I was stuck up there!', she took his hand, and simply left!
My daughter told me my GS came home and gave her the biggest hug and said 'Thanks for not being a crap Mum.'
Made her day.
Its unreal. If you are with your kids you need your wits about you....xxx

Appalling.
the incidents you describe as well Jaycee5 and jennil23.