OPINION
Honestly, when did mothers become so entitled?
It seems the newest accessory for some new mums is not a baby bag or a severe case of sleep deprivation but a monstrous serve of attitude.
Most new mums are simply doing their best – feeding, changing nappies, trying to stay sane in those early months when it feels your life has been turned upside down.
But some – let’s call them MEMs (Mad Entitled Mums) – seem to have disappeared not just up their babies’ bums but their own.
Take the Brisbane mother who this week changed her baby’s nappies not once, but twice on a café table, apparently in clear view of other diners.
When staff showed their disapproval with her actions, far from apologising the mum took to Google to write a scathing review of the café even though she admitted the coffee was good.
In the review the woman said she put a changing mat on the café table and changed her 12-week-old baby after failing to find a toilet.
When a café worker attempted to clear her table and take away her coffee cup, she apparently told the waitress she hadn’t finished her coffee. The waitress, she says, gave her a “dirty look and made some comment”.
Continuing her review, the mum wrote: ‘I approached her (the manager) upon leaving and asked if she had a problem with my baby and I sitting there. She said in quite a critical tone, that she didn’t think it was appropriate to change my baby there.’
Oh hello! Thank you café owner for being the voice of reason. Because your customer was a classic MEM.
We’re constantly reading of how kids are becoming more entitled but I swear some parents are worse.
Recently I was on an escalator in a shopping centre and was annoyed when a toddler was blocking down shoppers by running up and down the right hand side normally used for people in a hurry.
Surely the mum is going to scoop up her child to let other shoppers pass, I thought. But, no, the MEM on this occasion simply laughed at her toddler’s behaviour as if it was the cutest thing in the world.
A friend who owns a café despairs of mums with prams: ‘They come in with their prams, block the entrance in and out, turn other customers off coming in, don’t leave for two hours and spend a whole $3.50 on a single coffee.’ It’s infuriating, he says, but he can’t do much about it.
I should point out that it’s not just mums. Yesterday I witnessed a classic MED (Mad Entitled Dad) while having a quick post-walk coffee with a mate. MED was reading the newspaper while his toddler son was alternating between scootering on the pavement and eating his breakfast. No trouble there. Only problem was the kid had a shocker cough and had clearly not been taught to put his hand over his mouth. After he sprayed my friend with spit mid-cough, we made the decision to move to another table. The Dad? Didn’t even look up from his newspaper.
I suppose that’s better than the passive aggressive response from the mum in Brisbane.
Her post continued whingeing about how mums rarely get the opportunity to get out and “have a coffee amidst the long list of things we are doing for our families every single day”. (Er, you chose to have the child, lady).
But it’s the conclusion that really irked.
‘I am sorry (not sorry) you are so terribly offended by a tiny baby’s tiny little dirty nappy and that you think it necessary to criticise.’
No, lady, we are not offended by your baby. We’re offended by you.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
