Childfree by choice #7 Parents: not everything is about you

[ATV2021]

@mediocrehouseplant has the winning title people.

Also @LaBlonde & @Platformcrocs

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Previous thread:

Childfree by choice #6 Sleeping well at night, petition for childfree flights

Started the new thread, I hope it's okay. First thread option seemed to have the most votes, thank you @mediocrehouseplant 🙏 Last thread was adult only resorts and cruises, childfree holidays, being told by some members who are parents that we actually do want kids, we just don't know it yet...

tattle.life

 

[LaBlonde]

i’ve never had a winning thread title idea! 🥲 i would like to thank @mediocrehouseplant for nominating, @Platformcrocs for the post, this thread for being amazing and my children for being non-existent

also just for the first page this is a parent free zone please go and tend to your tiny children and their tiny tummies or whatever

 

[judgejohndeed]

The title

 

[ATV2021]

i’ve never had a winning thread title idea! 🥲 i would like to thank @mediocrehouseplant for nominating, @Platformcrocs for the post, this thread for being amazing and my children for being non-existent

also just for the first page this is a parent free zone please go and tend to your tiny children and their tiny tummies or whatever

I should have added the warning to the opening post but I got overwhelmed remembering all the names I had to tag

In my childfree life on A/L, going to skip off to Bicester Village this week and spend MY money on unnecessary tit I want

 

[Blond3g1rl]

I should have added the warning to the opening post but I got overwhelmed remembering all the names I had to tag

In my childfree life on A/L, going to skip off to Bicester Village this week and spend MY money on unnecessary tit I want

Enjoy, I love going to Bicester

 

[xxAprilxx]

 

[ATV2021]

View attachment 1923160

And also add that you've not met the right guy yet....

To which you sigh and go well the right guy won't want children. If he does, he's not the right guy . Plus you don't even need a physical man in your life if you actually want a damn baby lol

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

View attachment 1923160

This is the best thing I’ve seen in a long time

 

[littlewonder]

i think my fav thing about this thread title is how unnecessarily angry it’d make 95% of the parents I know

 

[ATV2021]

Woman calls for child-free suburbs because she doesn't want to live near screaming kids

All she wanted was to swim laps without being jumped on by disruptive, noisy children.

www.ladbible.com

The comments on the FB are understandably mixed. The "you were a kid once" is my favourite. Yes but we had disciplined (and didnt grow up violent), behaved better and didn't scream 24/7

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

I saw a small clip on Facebook of “Australia wife swap” and this man on it sets a 20 minute timer for his 6 year old to eat all his dinner and if he doesn’t then he gets put in time out… also if he fidgets he gets put in timeout and once in time out, he has to sit still…

why have kids if you’re gonna be like that? That’s another thing I’ve never understood, if you’ve got no compassion to love and care for your child properly, why have one?

I’m all for bringing kids up with rules and boundaries and I’m the first to say I don’t like a spoilt brat, but there’s a balance between rules and being a dictator.

my dad was a dictator and my mum was strict, but usually fair, whereas my dad was a miserable sod and I think I behaved at his house out of fear.

 

[Jane Porcupine]

Today at work someone had scheduled a social meeting at the end of the day to day goodbye to someone who is leaving. I was really busy so I popped in to say good luck etc but then left the meeting. This was in Teams so I could still see the chat after I left, and it looks like the woman who just came back from mat leave was holding her son up to the camera. Lots of comments of 'oh hi Baby name!' and 'doesn't he look big!'

So glad I left early.
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I saw a small clip on Facebook of “Australia wife swap” and this man on it sets a 20 minute timer for his 6 year old to eat all his dinner and if he doesn’t then he gets put in time out… also if he fidgets he gets put in timeout and once in time out, he has to sit still…

why have kids if you’re gonna be like that? That’s another thing I’ve never understood, if you’ve got no compassion to love and care for your child properly, why have one?

I’m all for bringing kids up with rules and boundaries and I’m the first to say I don’t like a spoilt brat, but there’s a balance between rules and being a dictator.

my dad was a dictator and my mum was strict, but usually fair, whereas my dad was a miserable sod and I think I behaved at his house out of fear.

I agree! However I had a friend to stay this weekend with her little girls aged 5 and 6 and I was really surprised by how they think it's ok to pick up, look through or play with things which are obviously not toys/theirs without asking.

They had even been in my bedside table at some point. They got red pen on my spare room bedding and sofa and scribbled on a really nice notebook I had. And these are not even what you'd usually consider naughty children. It just seems like it was assumed that everything that was reachable by them was fair game.

I would expect that of a toddler and I'd have moved things out of the way, but at their ages I didn't think I'd need to. I am obviously incredibly naive.

 

[SpaceshipEarth]

Oh my gosh this reminds me of the time my friend stayed over with her two kids, we spent the whole day doing kid friendly activities and then fed them a kid friendly meal. They were still hungry so she was offering them all the food in my cupboard and fridge including some left over brownies I had baked as a treat for them and was saving the last two for hubby after they had gone. I was so mad

And the time my other friend stayed over and whipped out the potty for her kid to use on my living room floor. I was horrified lol! It was a number 2 the kid wanted to do. In my bloody lounge!!!!

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

Today at work someone had scheduled a social meeting at the end of the day to day goodbye to someone who is leaving. I was really busy so I popped in to say good luck etc but then left the meeting. This was in Teams so I could still see the chat after I left, and it looks like the woman who just came back from mat leave was holding her son up to the camera. Lots of comments of 'oh hi Baby name!' and 'doesn't he look big!'

So glad I left early.
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I agree! However I had a friend to stay this weekend with her little girls aged 5 and 6 and I was really surprised by how they think it's ok to pick up, look through or play with things which are obviously not toys/theirs without asking.

They had even been in my bedside table at some point. They got red pen on my spare room bedding and sofa and scribbled on a really nice notebook I had. And these are not even what you'd usually consider naughty children. It just seems like it was assumed that everything that was reachable by them was fair game.

I would expect that of a toddler and I'd have moved things out of the way, but at their ages I didn't think I'd need to. I am obviously incredibly naive.

Yeah I totally agree that kids need rules and boundaries definitely! There’s no way a kid should be allowed to treat your house like that!

I just think some people do it in the totally wrong way and I know what that feels like and it’s just sad really.

 

[JE172]

Oh my gosh this reminds me of the time my friend stayed over with her two kids, we spent the whole day doing kid friendly activities and then fed them a kid friendly meal. They were still hungry so she was offering them all the food in my cupboard and fridge including some left over brownies I had baked as a treat for them and was saving the last two for hubby after they had gone. I was so mad

And the time my other friend stayed over and whipped out the potty for her kid to use on my living room floor. I was horrified lol! It was a number 2 the kid wanted to do. In my bloody lounge!!!!

They could have been space brownies!

 

[Jane Porcupine]

Oh my gosh this reminds me of the time my friend stayed over with her two kids, we spent the whole day doing kid friendly activities and then fed them a kid friendly meal. They were still hungry so she was offering them all the food in my cupboard and fridge including some left over brownies I had baked as a treat for them and was saving the last two for hubby after they had gone. I was so mad

And the time my other friend stayed over and whipped out the potty for her kid to use on my living room floor. I was horrified lol! It was a number 2 the kid wanted to do. In my bloody lounge!!!!

This all sounds very familiar too, unfortunately. I don't understand why parents don't get it that this stuff isn't normal and acceptable because it's a kid doing/wanting it.

I know loads of people with kids but the only ones I ever have to stay in my house are my nephews (once) and this friend's girls. With this friend she's a single parent and really struggles with having anyone to watch them so we try to be inclusive. But every time they stay I can't wait for them to leave in the morning and it's a looooooooong time before I'm ready to repeat it.

 

[Millais]

I don’t know anyone with kids, but when I do, my house will be a child-free zone! My couch cost three weeks’ wages at the time I bought it and got stuck for months due to Suez Canal based chaos. If someone’s kid got pen all over it I’d die.

 

[Gem_woody]

I don’t know anyone with kids, but when I do, my house will be a child-free zone! My couch cost three weeks’ wages at the time I bought it and got stuck for months due to Suez Canal based chaos. If someone’s kid got pen all over it I’d die.

Same, my house is a three bedroom but I don't have a spare bed so that people can't stay over easily

 

[littlewonder]

did anyone else have messy friends when they were kids? I always got in trouble for the mess my friends made or their rudeness - it wasn’t my fault they didn’t respect things!!! Why was I blamed?!? It happened in my late teens too, pal comes over and stains the carpet because they insist on doing their makeup on the floor then I would get bollocked for it?!?! Honestly the injustice

it’s a massive peeve of mine - so many people just don’t respect other people’s stuff and it’s a really unattractive trait imo. at Uni our flatmates acted like everyone’s stuff was fair game and I felt like I could just never have anything nice that wasn’t ruined by someone else

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

did anyone else have messy friends when they were kids? I always got in trouble for the mess my friends made or their rudeness - it wasn’t my fault they didn’t respect things!!! Why was I blamed?!? It happened in my late teens too, pal comes over and stains the carpet because they insist on doing their makeup on the floor then I would get bollocked for it?!?! Honestly the injustice

it’s a massive peeve of mine - so many people just don’t respect other people’s stuff and it’s a really unattractive trait imo.

Some of my friends would leave rubbish in my bedroom and that would annoy me because I was brought up to put my rubbish in the bin.

another one burnt my carpet with straighteners & stained the carpet with foundation. Literally 0 respect because their houses were dumps! We didn’t have money growing up, but the house was always tidy and clean!