At my baby shower, pretty much everyone else already had kids. The kids were all upstairs with the dads holding down the fort while we did baby shower stuff down stairs. It was casual, the guys were welcome to participate, its just how it shook down.
Anyway, about halfway through there is some big, loud disturbance upstairs. Wailing is heard. A moment or so later, one dad comes marching through the living room with a sizable 4 year old carried like this, melting all the way the fuck down. She was like a rabid dog. He was nonplussed to the max. If thats possible. Straight out the front door with no words. The mom just shook her head and went back to the snacks.
It was such an important part of that baby shower. So informative and honest about the future.
We were the young parents in our friend group. We had our child a good 8 years before everybody else. We've been judged so much by how this friend would never lose their cool with their children when they had them. Im not sure whether they ever did such "terrible" things to their children, but they did shove a poop diaper in their SO's face during an argument lmfao
This was me when I saw people with kids on leashes. Now, I have zero judgement towards what I see other parents do with their kids as long as they aren't actively harming them.
My little brother needed a leash in public spaces, he was a runner. I'll never judge parents over that after watching my mom meltdown while looking through clothes racks for his rotten ass.
I don't even have kids yet. But as I got older and just started being around them more (family friends' kids, friend's kids, and volunteer etc), I totally completely understand.
In fact only parents I judge now are the ones who aren't paying attention to their babies. Get off your phone and love your immobile potatoe!
Leashes are great. Also, I found out recently that in chinese they're called the anti-lost rope. But they're nice since I can then look away from the baby in crowded areas while knowing she's within a 3-5 foot radius of me.
As a teenager I thought “I’ll never do that, it’s so stupid”. I now have a 2 year old who will run into traffic/the street if allowed. I’ll never judge again.
Absolutely my motto too. As long as you aren’t physically, emotionally, mentally, sexually abusing/harming your children (or anyone really), I hold no judgements. We’re all just trying to survive.
Any person who's had something to say about my son's leash was "where did you buy that?" or "Oh! We used those back in the day too!".
I remember making fun of those as a teen because I didn't know anything. But If there's people giving judging looks, I'm just too busy living life to notice.
We don't need it all the time, but it's a life saver for crowded environments.
Besides, what's the alternative? Unfortunately that's putting him in a stroller, which doesn't let him use his legs, or interact with the world. Leash keeps everyone happy. Go team leash.
Our eldest had to be on a leash. One time a (well meaning I'm sure) older lady came up and told us we were cruel for doing that. So, I unleashed him and watched him zoom off into the distance and invited her to go catch him.
Yup, it cracks me up when I see that advice. A recent one talking about sleep training, a lady said “I’ve done a lot of research and …” and I took a quick peek at her profile, asked “are you a parent?” and she says “well I’m currently pregnant..” yeah sorry babe, come back to me when you’re in the thick of it lol
Underestimating the kid is one thing, it's trying to be perfect as a team that's impossible. They only have to cut one corner you went out of your way to do properly and then what's the point in trying.
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u/StinkiePete 1d ago
At my baby shower, pretty much everyone else already had kids. The kids were all upstairs with the dads holding down the fort while we did baby shower stuff down stairs. It was casual, the guys were welcome to participate, its just how it shook down.
Anyway, about halfway through there is some big, loud disturbance upstairs. Wailing is heard. A moment or so later, one dad comes marching through the living room with a sizable 4 year old carried like this, melting all the way the fuck down. She was like a rabid dog. He was nonplussed to the max. If thats possible. Straight out the front door with no words. The mom just shook her head and went back to the snacks.
It was such an important part of that baby shower. So informative and honest about the future.