Stupid Things People Say « Back to Group Discussions

[MrsKoehn]

I need this thread right now, so I thought I'd make a nice venting thread for the club. I think we're going to need it....

[MrsKoehn]

I'm going to tell the first story. Fresh from a Walmart Cashier yesterday.

Okay, so picture this. I forgot my wrap so I carry Ana through a 2 week grocery shopping trip. Thankfully hubby pushed the cart.

We got to the checkout. I'm making small talk with the lady ringing up the stuff. She asked how old Ana is. I replied 4 months.

"Oh, she should be watching Little (or did she say Baby?) Einstein. My son's in kindergarten and he's already learning computers!"

"Is that right? Wow, computers already?"

"Oh yes, she should be watching it all the time. It's SO good for their brain development. They learn like their colors, numbers, um, shapes, animals, letter, all that kind of stuff so they don't have to learn it when they get to kindergarten and can just learn like computers and stuff."

"Wow, so how old was your son when he started watching it?"

"Oh, well he didn't ever watch it and that's why he's so far behind."

Really??? IMHO, I think she needs to go home and try watching some Little Einstein. She was really not that brilliant of a woman to begin with, then saying that.... Hubby hadn't heard anything like that before. He thought it was pretty ignorant too. I let her watch some Veggietale songs and stuff, but not all the time by any means. A 4 minute song here and a couple of them there. NOT for any length of time. Oh my. We watched a lot of TV as kids, we survived. But, I don't want to do that with her. We only have a pc anyway. No TV.

[sere234]

Hahaha, don't you love random advice from strangers? I'll come back to this thread soon!

[tm0sweet]

The ONE time I ran into the grocery store with LO in his bucket seat rather than in the Ergo an older lady approached me and said "in my day we held our babies. We didn't make them sit in a bucket all day" grrrrrrrrr

Oh, and I was also lectured by an older man who was watching ds2 throw a ball at the park "he needs to stop using his left hand. Make him use his right hand for everything. This world is just not made for left handed people"

[MrsKoehn]

Do come back, Sere!
Oh man alive, tm, that's so weird. I'm left handed too and he's right. It is a right handed world. I've survived, as have my next three siblings, as did my grandpas. My mom's dad was ambidextrous though. He was born a leftie but also loved in Nazi Germany. He was forced to use his right hand so grew up able to use both.

[PacificMar]

People I hardly know have been approaching me and "complimenting" me along the lines of, "Wow, it looks like you've lost most of your pregnancy weight!" I know they're trying to say something positive and motivating, but it makes me uncomfortable that they're looking at my waistline and commenting on my body shape when I don't know them that well. Also, while I'm not as slender as I'd like to be, I also didn't expect to come out of the pregnancy experience with a completely unchanged body. 

[MrsKoehn]

Lol at their middle, assuming they're women, and say, "Oh thanks, so...how many DID you have?"

[STLmama225]

Fun thread :)  I most frequently get comments on how big DS is (not 4 months yet and wearing 9mo clothes, over the 95% in weight and length).  "My goodness, he must be a good eater!"  "Wow, only 3 months?  He's...um, healthy!"  "Your arms must be killing you from carrying him around!"  I never know what to say...he IS a good eater, and yes he's healthy, but babies can't over-eat!!  It's just annoying.

It also gets to me when people ask if he's "still" only nursing.  He's 3 months old!!!!!!  Of course he's only nursing!  I'm so paranoid that someone (cough, cough, my MIL) is going to shove food in his mouth before we want to introduce solids -- I would FLIP out!  I'm watching her like a hawk.

[Simonsez2u]

I keep getting comments from family, friends, and co-workers regarding our fertility.  For example my Mom keeps commenting on our birth control and how we had better be careful or I'll end up pregnant again or my co worker commenting on how I can finish a project as long as I do not get pregnant again or a friend commenting if I get pregnant again I can just give them the baby (they are having trouble and this one is a joke).  We are grown ups, we do not plan on having any more,  and we are careful.  However, if we did have an opps it would not be a disaster.  It's crazy how concerned people are about me getting pregnant again.  We only have three kids for pete's sake not ten. 
 

[sere234]

Stlmama- that reminds me! When E was 3 mo we started going on a weekly (or sometimes biweekly) date. Since we have a convertible carseat we just hold or wear Everett in a restaurant and EVERY SINGLE TIME our host/ess has asked us if we want a highchair for him. Yeah the boy is big (19ish pounds now at 4 months) but he is a couple of months from even sitting on his own!!!

They are just trying to be helpful but can't they see he's obviously a helpless babe still? I guess they just see his size and assume he's older than he is. DH and I get a good laugh at thinking of E "sitting" in a highchair

Also, I too am worried about someone feeding him solid food since he's such a chunker so I watch him pretty closely as we'll!

[tm0sweet]

Isn't it strange how people assume large babies cannot possibly thrive on breast milk alone? I've gotten a few comment s along the lines of "wow! He's so big I bet he's ready to start solids!" Ummmmm.... How do you think he got that big in the first place?! Obviously my milk is not insufficient.

[MrsKoehn]

I get comments on how fat Ana is all the time. She's 4 1/2 months and only 13 lbs people. Yes, compared to her birth weight of 6, she's growing well, but really, she's not that big. Lol

[PacificMar]

Recently one of my relatives observed that our five-month-old "needs to be more independent," by which he meant we shouldn't carry her around but that we should put her on a mat or in a baby seat so she can "entertain herself," allowing us to accomplish our tasks more quickly. Sure, it takes us longer to do dishes or cook, but we don't expect a small baby to be independent. These precious days will go by fast anyway; we can handle her "dependence" as long as that's what she needs!

[guen]

Originally Posted by PacificMar 

Recently one of my relatives observed that our five-month-old "needs to be more independent," by which he meant we shouldn't carry her around but that we should put her on a mat or in a baby seat so she can "entertain herself," allowing us to accomplish our tasks more quickly. Sure, it takes us longer to do dishes or cook, but we don't expect a small baby to be independent. These precious days will go by fast anyway; we can handle her "dependence" as long as that's what she needs!

It's pretty depressing that society is so fixated on making babies independent as early as possible.  It starts from birth "don't let them sleep in your bed, you'll never get them out!". :-(  Why can't we just let babies be babies?  The sad irony is, the more dependent we allow our babies to be, the more independent they'll grow up to be.  The more we push them away, the more clingy they will be. Let's fill their little needy cups with love and security before sending them out there to stand on their own two feet!

The most recent "stupid" thing I've heard was more sad, actually, than stupid and it wasn't about my baby, it was about hers.  Her 7 week old is having all sorts of troubles with feedings and tolerating her formula.  But the mum had to quit breastfeeding, she said, because "breastfeeding didn't work out".  I asked what went wrong that it didn't work out?  She said, the baby wanted to nurse too much. :-(  This is her third and last.  There wasn't much I could say that would have been helpful or constructive, but I felt so badly for that poor wee thing, crying and trying to latch on to me while I was holding her. I would have nursed her if I could have!

[franjapany]

that breaks my heart.

[MrsKoehn]

How sad!

I was commenting to my sister (who pumped for about four months and did formula as the main food) that And hasn't been sleeping week at night.
"Yep, she's ready for some rice cereal!"
Because it's so much more nutritious than breast milk??

When she was a few weeks old, my Mom and sister, "You need to put her down more. She needs to learn that Mommy won't always be there."
She's a tiny baby. Mom SHOULD always be there! Now that she's older and still has to be with me all the time, going through separation anxiety when I go to the bathroom all of a sudden too. "See, I told you so."
Not all kids are this high maintenance, she just is.
People!

[kparker]

That poor tiny baby :(

I'm still poochy around the middle, and my cousin (who is a very innocent, sweet 10 yr old), asked if I was having another baby. I didn't know what to say! I told him no, that was just some leftover baby fat. He got such an embarrassed face! It was priceless.

My son is 5.5 months, wearing 9 mos clothing, and is 28.5 inches tall. He's a BEAST. And apparently he "needs" real food. He is "starving" and "getting so thin" (oh please) according to my mom. She had us all on 100% solids before 3-4 months so she's crazy but she could at least listen to me. It's not like I don't feed this kid every 2 hrs during the day and every 4-5 hrs overnight. Starving, sure! /eyeroll