BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids Accosted by overprotective parent.

This morning I was walking my dog in my very urban New York City neighborhood, and as I passed the local elementary school I was accosted by a mom who said, "Could you please not walk your dog on the sidewalk in front of the school. This is an area where little children play and it's unsanitary to have dogs walking by because they might urinate and the kids might come in contact with it." Then she haughtily added, "There is a dog run over there, why don't you walk your dog there?"

I was speechless and just looked at her like she had 3 heads, then moved on. I just didn't feel like wasting my energy getting into a confrontation with this woman. How can you reason with someone like this?

I'm just amazed at how overprotective some parents are today. How many millions of kids grew up around dogs, and somehow managed to survive? Also, for some reason it's become trendy to raise kids in New York City, rather than moving out to the suburbs. I have no problem with this, but just don't understand why people expect to live in an urban area and have everything be "child friendly". It seems to me that dog pee is one of the least disgusting things you might find on a New York City sidewalk.

O.K. I feel better now. Thanks for allowing me to vent.:)

If you weren't breaking any laws or in a specifically dog prohibited area she was WAY out of line. Dogs are part of society. I'd rather deal w/dog pee than kids any day.

You probably handled it correctly - not worth getting into a ruckus w/some nut.

A-ha! LOL! I had this happen to me! and I just smiled and said "well, maybe you should teach your children not to lick the light stands". It was a guy in my case, and he was just gobsmacked that I dared to backchat him!

I can understand in a park where the kids might be playing sports or rolling around on the grass, but on the sidewalk, come on. And you're totally right, when I was a kid dogs went everywhere, and we rolled around on the grass in the dog pee and none of us ever died from it, funnily enough. I don't imagine that dog pee has become toxic in the intervening years!

I shudder to think what pathetic wimps this generation of kids are going to turn out to be...

Wow, that's just insane! It's a public sidewalk!

That mom is going to have a very difficult job trying to enforce her wishes... I was in New York last weekend, and EVERYONE seemed to have at least one dog! Perhaps she should concentrate on things she CAN control... like asking the kids to walk on the sidewalk instead of eating off of it!
Sorry lady, but sidewalks are for everyone.
You were very good greenblue to just walk away.

Wow that should be the least of a mom's worries! How strange.

I'm 47 and have a 23-year old son. Many of my friends and family opted to wait longer to have children and are now my age with much younger children. I find that a good percentage of those parents have given up any adult life they may have had and put 110% of their time and energy into the children. Now this may sound like a good thing, but there can also be TOO much of a good thing. I see 12 and 13 year old kids depending on the parents to keep them entertained. At the risk of sounding really old, I remember when I was that age, I wanted to get out and be with me friends as far away from our parents as we could get. I'm wondering when the kids finally leave the home, will the parents have anything in common or will they be lost. I know one family that has two kids that just went off to college and they actually will not make any plans for themselves if it happens to be when one or the other adult child may have a break from college. It's all a bit much. Do the kids like being wrapped so tightly in their parents' cocoon?

Oh my lord!!!! That is absurd! Kinda reminded me of a few months back when my brother-in-law and his wife wouldn't go near my dog (he is a very clean dog!) because she was expecting!! The child wasn't even BORN- it is hardly going to catch anything!

I actually think that bringing up your kids with animals, and teaching them to love, respect and care for them, is one of the best things you can do for them. You hear of so many people that won't have a cat because "it will sleep on the baby and smother it", or a dog because "they're dirty and have fleas". You're denying your child a very special learning experience and the chance to form lifelong bonds.

I often wonder if this trend isn't responsible for so many of the pet owners that we have today - people who weren't bought up with animals but get one as an adult, and have no clue how to care for it and train it. I used to teach dog agility, and my beginner classes should have been called 'You and Your Dog 101" because so many of these people simply had NO idea. It makes me mad that animals suffer because their owners are idiots...

I think the worst thing I've seen is people who get a dog/cat as a "practice" object for having a baby, then when they have a baby "Oh, we don't have TIME for our pet anymore, we need to get rid of it!" I hate seeing that type of irresponsibility. Or people who get a puppy/kitten "for the children" and then when the kids lose interest and the animal is wild and untrained and not so cute anymore, they get rid of it.

I had never had a dog before when I got one at (my) age 24, and I did lots of research and reading to figure out how to take care of her and deal with her issues (she's a very shy Sheltie who was from a puppy mill). I also didn't get a PUPPY, because I know how time-consuming they are. Basically, I thought it through, and still have her at (her) age 13, though I'm still dealing with her shyness issues.

Cindy