People have been left divided after a now-viral post detailed one mum’s decision to visit the supermarket with her poorly young son in tow, leaving many fellow shoppers ‘disgusted’
A mum has seriously divided public opinion after shoppers spotted her unusual supermarket antics.
It’s universally agreed that you should try to stay home if you are unwell. And its all the more important to avoid crowded public spaces – particularly if you have a sickness bug.
So, eyebrows were raised when one woman was spotted food shopping with her very sick child in tow.
In a now-viral post shared on Mumsnet, one person revealed: “My mum saw this at the supermarket. Child was about 6 at a guess. He looked sick and was carrying a bowl with some sick in it.”
The poster said she refused to believe that the offending mum was “all alone” and didn’t have anyone she could rely on to help her out. And she also wondered why the woman wouldn’t use a delivery service or click-and-collect to stop her son’s germs spreading through the supermarket.
“Fellow shoppers and my mum were horrified with sight,” she continued. “Not sure if anyone said anything to the mum. My mum was worried that people could pick up the bug the boy was carrying. Mum doesn’t know if he touched anything in the store.”
People were quick to comment on the post – and they were split. Many expressed their shock at the fact the little boy was clearly very unwell but still being taken around a food store. “Damn. No way you do that!” one wrote in response.
A second said: “It amuses me how we have gone from demanding perfectly well people have to wear masks to thinking it is acceptable for a very obviously sick person to be in the same supermarket a few years later.
“If the mother came by car she should have left him in there. If they got a bus that is very unfair on other passengers. If they walked then it wasn’t fair on the child.”
A third added: “I’m with you OP [original poster], surely there’s very little that couldn’t wait 24 hours until the child was feeling a bit better? I know how rotten I feel when I have a sickness bug, the supermarket is the last place I’d want to be!”
And a fourth said, “I do find it inconceivable that someone would have no one to call on. (Conceivable, that they might not have liked to ask, but I would have thought this the lesser evil than taking out a vomiting child).
“The child is 6, so presumably at school – so there are parents of other children in their class. If the mum has a job she has colleagues. If she’s a SAHM she will have people she meets in the day. Unless they live in an isolated location, there will be neighbours. There are FB groups.”
But a number of people came to the mum’s defence. “Put it this way – do you really think she’d be out with her small unwell child if she had any other choice?” one questioned.
A second echoed: “I mean, that sounds awful for the poor child but I cannot imagine any mother would choose to do that if there was any way around it.
“Lots of subconscious privilege showing itself on this thread. Some people have no reliable help with childcare at short notice, nor extra pounds to spend nor a car to sit in.”
A third added: “It’s obviously not a good idea – I suppose it is possible that she’d just picked up the child from school and was on her way home, collecting supplies as she went. Some people really do not have other options though – most do, but not everyone.”
And a fourth concluded: “The fact it’s inconceivable to you that some people literally have no one to call on and don’t have the £3 delivery charge spare baffles me.”
Do you agree? Let us know in the comments.
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