Double Standards - Smoking while pregnant and complaining about another's parenting skills

[cate]

Today I was having a coffee, and sitting near a pregnant woman who was smoking next to her toddler. She had a friend with her who was also smoking. The pregnant woman was complaining to her friend that she had seen someone in a car with a baby sitting on her lap instead of being in a car seat. She bitched and moaned for quite a while about how this person obviously didn't care about the baby at all and it was tantamount to child abuse. I managed to restrain myself from pointing out the blinking obvious. The ash from her cigarette was flying over toward me in the wind, so perhaps I should have complained about that. Would anyone else have said something?

[stevebailey]

Firstly, are you 100% sure she just wasn't fat?? I have made this mistake in the past with a train/seat offer scenario and twas VERY agonising!

[Smiler]

Classic, but I wouldn't have said anything - try to refrain from commenting to others about parenting issues (though bitch and moan in private!)

[Narnia]

I would have liked to but don't know if I would have. Now if I'd been in your shoes with a toddler of my own that would be different.

[????]

One's illegal and irresponsible, the other one's irresponsible

[Jah Lush]

Was it Britney Spears they were talking about?

[Brendan]

No I think she said they were having coffee.

[dubluke]

Look on the bright side, at least she wasn't enjoying a pint with the fag

[Lost Yorkshire Man]

dubluke Wrote:

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> Look on the bright side, at least she wasn't

> enjoying a pint with the fag

Or on a roller coaster with a pint and a fag!

[ratty]

Brendan Wrote:

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> No I think she said they were having coffee.

Boom tish!

[karter]

did she also change the toddler's nappy with the fag in her mouth?

[HonaloochieB]

Perhaps she was going for the Courtney Love notion that smoking while pregnant results in a smaller baby, thereby reducing the pain of chilbirth.

I gather it's hellish painful.

[womanofdulwich]

i expect a lot of our parents smoked when pregnant and we're all ok aren't we????

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

That's a myth - mine was 8 14 and I smoked all the way through.

[Keef]

Look on the bright side, at least she wasn't enjoying a pint with the fag

I sat outside the CPT with my dad, and my 15 month old daughter yesterday enjoying a cold pint and a smoke (smoked well away from my daughter).

I thought about this thread.

[cate]

womanofdulwich Wrote:

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> i expect a lot of our parents smoked when pregnant

> and we're all ok aren't we????

Are we? Are they? How would you know?

[dubluke]

Keef Wrote:

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> Look on the bright side, at least she wasn't

> enjoying a pint with the fag

>

> I sat outside the CPT with my dad, and my 15 month

> old daughter yesterday enjoying a cold pint and a

> smoke (smoked well away from my daughter).

>

> I thought about this thread.

Don't feel too guilty Keef, in my opinion that's a bit different, you smoked away from your daughter and having one pint doesn't really affect her, whereas I think that if you were fagging and drinking when pregnant it would be a different matter, as smoking and drinking when pregnant can directly harm your unborn child.

[cate]

Peckhamgatecrasher Wrote:

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> That's a myth - mine was 8 14 and I smoked all the

> way through.

What's a myth? If you admit to smoking all the way through your pregnancy then it is hard to take anything you say seriously about health. I take it you also smoke(d) in the presence of your child. Someone I know also smoked during her pregnancy and she had a very low birthweight premature baby.

[Brendan]

I?m sure I remember drinking and smoking with Keef at least once when he was pregnant.

[cate]

Keef Wrote:

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> Look on the bright side, at least she wasn't

> enjoying a pint with the fag

>

> I sat outside the CPT with my dad, and my 15 month

> old daughter yesterday enjoying a cold pint and a

> smoke (smoked well away from my daughter).

>

> I thought about this thread.

Would have thought having a child would really make you consider your smoking habit. She will still have to smell your faggy breath. And if you smoke in the house, or just outside she will suffer too.

[dubluke]

:-$Brendan Wrote:

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> I?m sure I remember drinking and smoking with Keef

> at least once when he was pregnant.

oops, my bad

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I'm not claiming it was a healthy thing to do, I am claiming that 'a low birth weight as a result of smoking throughout pregnancy' is a nonsense, in my experience.

[dubluke]

cate Wrote:

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> Keef Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Look on the bright side, at least she wasn't

> > enjoying a pint with the fag

> >

> > I sat outside the CPT with my dad, and my 15

> month

> > old daughter yesterday enjoying a cold pint and

> a

> > smoke (smoked well away from my daughter).

> >

> > I thought about this thread.

>

> Would have thought having a child would really

> make you consider your smoking habit. She will

> still have to smell your faggy breath. And if you

> smoke in the house, or just outside she will

> suffer too.

how will she suffer if he smokes outside away from his child where the smoke will be blown away?

[cate]

There isn't always wind about Dubluke, except on this forum.

[dubluke]

cate Wrote:

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> There isn't always wind about Dubluke, except on

> this forum.

haha, I see your point cate, but my one also still remains, if Keef's child is indoors in the house and he is outside in the garden having a fag I hardly think it will be inflicting suffering on her as she won't be in the smokey environment