BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids Saw something today that irritated me immensely!

Wow hot topic! I do not have children by choice. I wish society did not push women to have children. I have seen so many neglected children. I was at a very busy mall one day and in the middle of the courtyard is a 3 year old girl crying and terrified. Her mother was too busy shopping to notice the little angel wandered off. I have called the police more times than I care to count, every time I see a child left unattended in a vehicle. Giving birth does not make a person a mother (or at least a good one).

My biggest pet peeve is in the work environment. I have had to work extra shifts because people with kids call out ALL the time. If you agree to work 40 hours a week, whether you have kids or not, you should do what you agreed to do. Having kids is not a valid excuse for calling out of work. I know a single mom that raised 3 kids and in her 30 year career never missed a day of work. She told me her job provided a roof over her family's head and food on the table. She could not afford to lose her job. When her children were ill she had plans already in place.

I believe in compassion, however, these days most women use kids as a lame excuse.

Jenny, that is so true. I've suffered in the workplace for not being a parent, so has my sister. There will always be some mums who genuinely work hard and do their best but there are loads who treat work like it's optional. I am all for removing this 'family friendly' nonsense out of the workplace, ALL that should matter in a job is that you are there and you do it well, companies shouldn't be having to bend to employees the way governments are trying to force them to nowadays. I used to like that potential employers were allowed to ask me if I planned on having children because I could truthfully say "no", now they're not allowed to ask. I went from getting every job I interviewed for to barely being offered any around the time I hit my 30s, coincidence? I struggle to believe it is coincidence really. As an employer I would think twice before employing a woman of a certain age nowadays. And I don't think that's wrong frankly, the workplace is for work and only work, the Government should stay well out of it.

You can see it coming can't you.... Parking bays for mothers with kids obligatory at ever workplace car park !!! :-D

Don't put ideas in their heads Gaynor ! :o

My local grocery store not only has "New and expectant mother" parking but also "Senior Citizen" parking. This annoyed the craaaaaap out of me until I realized: A-neither is a protected, legal status so I can park there if I want to and B-I can use mother parking until I look like I need to use senior parking. I don't do this all the time but I do sometimes and really don't feel bad about it all. It's marketing, so who cares...

Oh, and I'm on SwearBear's side regarding being annoyed at someone who would come to a CF forum to play the "poor me when I was pregnant" bit. Sorry, but I doubt we go to the parenting forum to give opinions. Just sayin'.

Rayna, you seem to be seeing resentment where it doesn't exist. It may have escaped your notice that these spaces are available to all pregnant women, not only those that are actually experiencing some mobility problems due to their pregnancy! Surely that is discriminatory? Some above mentioned their parents having MS and recovering from a brain tumour, like me these people are not necessarily entitled to a disabled badge but could often require disabled parking and other disabled privileges. I can leave the house walking fairly well but within 5 minutes barely be able to move. I've had pregnant women look at me in disgust when I didn't get up and give them my seat on a bus. Well their 'condition' is visible, mine isn't! It seems to me that in this day and age it is incredibly judgemental to make faces at someone just because they look healthy. Being ever so slightly older now I have never drawn nasty looks at teenage boys if they don't offer their seat to me, because for all I know they could have chronic juvenile arthritis or any number of other invisible conditions. I don't think that all pregnant women consider themselves 'entitled' but some clearly do, and they are the ones drawing the nasty glances and making assumptions about others purely on the basis of how healthy they look. Really that parking should be there for anyone who temporarily requires some mobility assistance, for whatever reason. As for buses, is there any real medical need for a pregnant woman to be sitting down (save for the most heavily pregnant)? Pregnancy isn't an intermittent condition, once any 'disability' aspect of it starts it will be there till you give birth, so if women have managed to walk about and get to the bus why are they any less capable of standing than anyone else? If they do feel that bad should they be out in the first place? It just reminds me of my ex-mother-in-law who would drive into town and walk about happily shopping for hours at a time. But of course once home she couldn't possibly put the bins out because she's 'disabled'. Difference between her and me, if I can't put the bins out I wouldn't have been walking about town for hours either. Some people manage to do all the fun things but are strangely incapable of helping out with the less fun tasks.