This afternoon, Ryder and I were walking down Main Street, happily enjoying the sunshine and minding our own business. This grouchy looking lady was walking towards us, looked down at Ryder and says to me “You should think about putting shoes on your baby before you put shoes on yourself”.
What. The. Hell. I have several issues with this woman and her “statement”, the most obvious being IT’S NONE OF HER BUSINESS!! Do I know her? Did I ask for her opinion? Do I care what she thinks? No, no and no. Who died and made her Queen of All Mothers?
My second issue with this statement is that my kid isn’t even walking yet, he was sitting in his stroller! At his age, shoes are just decoration, it’s not like he needs them for anything (other than looking fierce). I could see how I would deserve this statement if my son was 5 years old and walking down Main Street barefoot (ewwww) while I was wearing nice comfy Rainbows, but we couldn’t have been further from that situation!
Lastly, might I remind you of the weather today. Now, if it were 30 degrees and raining and my poor son had no shoes (or socks) on, I could see how it would make sense for that busybody lady to say something, but it was about 75 degrees out, hot and sunny. Tween girls were walking around half-naked. Mid-life crisis men were subjecting innocent bystanders to their belly hair. With all the bare bottoms, bellies and chests, she has an issue with my son’s bare FEET?? I don’t get it.
I managed to go through most of my pregnancy without strangers giving me unwarranted advice. In fact, I can pretty much count on one hand how many times someone has felt the need to tell me how to parent. I would never take it on myself to walk up to a stranger and tell them what to do. What kind of people do this? The worst part was that she said it and kept walking at her brisk pace, which seems pretty wimpy to me. I guess she didn’t want to hear what I had to say back to her.
Has anyone had this happen to you? Did you have a chance to respond, and if so, what did you say?
9 Comments
I knew you were going to write about this! She was crazy don’t worry about it. I bet she’s not even a mom because any mom would know that babies don’t need shoes and even if you try to put them on for decoration they never stay there anyways. Just be glad I wasn’t there!
Huh!?!? I am quite gobsmacked here! What….what….?!?
Where on earth do people like that get their ideas from! (I actually prefer to see bare baby feet rather than see them scrunched up in shoes – ok, so not in the winter, but you know what I am getting at!)
I just do not know what to say here!
Rude and obnoxious. I have had a few unpleasant incidents with people telling me how to parent out and about. I’m always stunned and I NEVER think of something appropriate to say at the time.
Fah-get-about-it! And, my kids never wear shoes before they start walking. Waste of money, hard to get on their fat little feet and they always pull them off again immediately and lose them.
Geez, what a bitch! I can’t stand people like that. I don’t get it. Why would you cover up the cuteness of chubby feet? Geez. Poor Mel.
I seriously don’t understand how people can be like that. Don’t worry though, I’m sure as Her Grouchiness passed you up, she came across someone else to bitch at.
Shoes? You mean we’re supposed to clothe their FEET, too?! Damn.
Seriously, I would like to think that I’d be the mom who chased that woman’s self-righteous butt down the street and gave her a piece of my mind. In reality, I probably would have kept walking and spent the entire rest of the day tormenting myself by thinking of what I SHOULD have said.
And I have to mention…you totally made my day. I think yours is my first blog roll (beside All Mediocre, which doesn’t really count since I ASKED to be on that one). Thank you for that much needed ray of sunshine.
first about feet:
i’ve actually been guilty of the worst of all sins- letting the kid run around dirty main street barefoot. (i can’t remember why this happened, i just remember it did). the girl is barefoot most of the time. as am i. this is coastal california. also, i used to babysit this little girl who at fifteen months was not walking yet. she always came over in these cutesy little shoes. i remember thinking (never outloud, of course) “she’s never going to learn to walk in those clunkers.” i’d take them right off as soon as she arrived and in a matter of weeks, she was up and walking. so there, miss cranky.
about intruders:
a young mom (even younger than me with a baby younger than mine) noticing z’s tan skin and rosy cheeks, said “you should really make sure you put sunscreen on your baby.” of course i put sunscreen on my baby! geez, i’m not that negligent. i even reapply! i bit my tongue, but wanted to say, “you should really get your kid out of the house more often.”
Yep, I know this woman. She lurks on many a street corner. I loathe her.
Yes, that must be the same woman that took Hilarie’s son’s sippy cup & pretended to drink from it at Target. She is in close relation to the many women who touch pregnant strangers’ bellies. Another close relative is those who ask the poor preggers who have grown to look like a beach ball smuggler, “Twins?” No you stupid social retard! I have a HUGE baby in my belly. People think that they can say or do what ever they want. But if you have a response that is the slightest bit defensive, you’re the bad guy. I have just come to smile sweetly & tell them that they should fuck off. It goes over really well here in the South!
I have taken to going grocery shopping after my husband comes home from work so that I don’t have expose my children to all those wonderful women with too many opinions!!
Don’t they know that a baby needs bare feet to learn to walk??? I so bad want to be “one of those women” to all the people I know that put their poor little babies in shoes before they are even crawling. baby bare feet are the best!!