KIDS, BUBBLERS AND DERRO MUMS
I remember having young kids – a two-year-old and a new born, to be precise.
I recall every morning waking up with that sinking feeling, the feeling of deja vu. Get up, feed everyone, get everyone dressed then look at each other for a while. Scrape the Weetbix off the walls and get the pram out.
I had to get out of the house.
I remember going to the park, smiling at other mums who were in the exact same position as me.
Running after toddlers in the park, scooping them up in the nick of time just before they were K-Oed by a swing. More than a few times I ended up in casualty when one of my kid’s heads would come in contact with the “spinning disk of death” referred to as the roundabout.
I recall going to the local Playgroup. We did painting and play dough and other messy stuff that I did not want to do at home because it would just add more cleaning up to my already mundane day. There would be story time and music, which would almost always coincide with when my youngest would do his super-turd of the day. I used a lot of wet wipes at playgroup. Fun times…
I have a theory that kids are like dogs.
You need to run them, work them and tire them out. Sitting around the house all day will make you go insane, but going out was sometimes just as much of a torture. Mr Woog would come home from work and asked what we got up to that day. I told him that from Monday till Friday we were basically on a repeat cycle. And to stop asking because it made me stabby.
I realised I had years of this ahead of me and I needed to suck it up and get on with it. If I was going to go to a park or playground, I wanted to talk to some grown-ups and find at least one special mate that I could share a gin and tonic with at the end of the day if required. So I forced myself on other mums. Not in a Matty Johns kind of way, but I was determined to find a Mummy Gang.
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68 Responses to this article
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Nikki @ Styling You March 13, 2012
I so would have stalked you at the park … and drank from the bubblers.
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Bernadette Morley March 13, 2012
Oh. See I don’t really do parks. Because, um, how do I put this, I DETEST them. No, don’t let me sugarcoat it. I really do.
Although I didn’t have to go to a park to find the same WTF mother as you did Mrs Woog. I only had to meet my new neighbour. After attending her son’s 5th b’day party where the party food included prosciutto wrapped in organic lettuce and a Lego Truck cake made with no sugar or anything unnatural (Bullshit, that truck was red god damn it, I know my artificial colours when I see them) it came as no surprise when this perfect mother was later found to call her husband home from work to change her 4 YEAR OLD’S NAPPY AFTER HE SHAT IT.
See that’s the thing. I don’t care how hard anyone finds it as a parent. We all do. The things that look easy on paper or that should be a no brainer, sometimes aren’t. But just own that. Stop this bullshit army of mother Nazis.
I ate dirt. I drank from bubblers that were probably pissed in 15 times a day. I didn’t drink copious amounts of apple juice, hence I still have my teeth.
Oh Mrs Woog, sorry for the rant, but yes, yes, yes. Love your work. xx
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Mrs Woog March 14, 2012
Oh Bern! Your comment deserves it’s own blog post. It never ceases to amaze me how cool most mothers are, and then you meet a “special” one x
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kim at allconsuming March 13, 2012
There was this hilarious guy on Ellen today (what?) who was recalling that at least 50% of his hydration as a child came from the hose. And that they should now bottle water that tastes of hose and market it to those of us who were sitting there thinking, ‘hell yeah, I used to love guzzling water from the hose’.
And the park. God I hate the fucking park. But yes, I do as you do, chatty chat chat away until it becomes apparent the person I’m talking to is a hover-parent or has multiple snap-lock bags of healthy snacks.
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Mrs Woog March 14, 2012
Or pulls out the hand sanitiser when their kids come over to have a snack. TRUE STORY.
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SensibleSpice March 14, 2012
THANK YOU!
IF I can get my kid to stop playing in the park for a snack I sometimes look at his grubby little fingers and think ‘I probably should’ve wiped those’.
I love eaves dropping on the groups of mothers – outdoing each other and talking up their god-like mothering.
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ladybird73 March 14, 2012
Oh bless – what do you think this list of comments is? It’s the same thing, just from the opposite angle.
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Sarah wayland March 14, 2012
I always get the look of shame when I give the kids a weight watchers muesli bar from the deep recesses of my bag because I haven’t packed a tackle box full of crackers (organic), hummus, cucumber and other assorted snacks. I think mums think Im starting early on the body image issue….if you dont get out of the house THEY WILL EAT YOU ALIVE
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Amanda March 14, 2012
those bars are great my kids love them!! I always get worried I may get one of those peanut allergy kids around cause my boy will eat peanut and honey sandwiches till they come out his ears and have to take one with me almost everywhere. Should I have that sanitiser stuff I wonder??
BTW I dont drink out of the bubblers but what the kids dont know wont hurt them haha
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Jacqui (CRAP Mamma) March 14, 2012
My kids both drink and bathe at public bubblers (although usually more of the latter). I often find the youngest pissing himself laughing at his ability to squirt himself AND unsuspecting passers by with the bubbler at our local park.
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Veggie Mama March 14, 2012
I an totally bubbler-ing. I’m very laid back and if people see that as insufficient parenting, then so be it. I had one mum freak out because my 11-month-old occasionally swallowed some bath water. Who cares? She’a not drinking the whole bath, and it’s hardly her only source of hydration.
I’m scared of park mums. I’d like a buddy to break up the monotony but I don’t make friends easily and there’s so many nutters!
As for that mundane routine, yesterday I wrote out everything I did for an upcoming post. With a teething, overtired, cranky baby. The next time I’m asked that obnoxious, loaded question, the asker will be sent there.
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Kim-Marie March 14, 2012
My favourite was the woman who gave me a very earnest lecture about my “aggressive toddler” who gently patted her toddler on the back when she refused to go down a slide. I saw it. He did not whack her. I was tempted though.
She subjected me to an extensive lecture about how I was obviously feeding my child sugar and additives etc etc ( he never even had juice until he went to preschool). Whilst I was plotting my escape and trying to avoid being charged with GBH, I looked down to see her angelic daughter sink her teeth into my son’s leg.
She stopped mid-harangue, picked up her child and stormed off. Never saw her at Playgroup ever again!
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ladybird73 March 14, 2012
hahahahaha LOVE IT! Serves her right.
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Desireempire March 14, 2012
Yep the free and sometimes very mean advice from others (usually mothers or worse non mothers) starts at about the time of conception and I assume continues forever.
I was sitting next to a friend at the ANZ bank a few months back. They don’t have a que, they do tickets and chairs. I opened my wallet and there was no picture of my 3 year old daughter behind the plastic panel, only one of my son. My so called friend, very sternly asked why no photo of my little one? I said “cause she’s not at school yet and I don’t have one small enough”. Well I was chastised beyond belief. Apparently, I should have cut one to size myself. Said so called friend, has now just had her second child. It will be interesting to see how many corners she now has to cut, just to stay sane!!!!
As for bubblers……well I’d prefer my kids to drink water over apple juice any day. And hey, birds have to drink too!!!!
Carolyn -
Laney @ Crash Test Mummy March 14, 2012
We live on a park so we’re pretty much there all the time. I’ve met lots of mums there because I prefer to chat while I push swings rather than go quietly insane. Also my kids drink from and spray unsuspecting passers-by with the bubbler. Usually because I can never find a clean water bottle for them.
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tegan March 14, 2012
I am not a mother, but I am a dietitian, and that mother CAN shove her popper up her arse because babies should never be given apple juice. Love your work mrs woog!
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SensibleSpice March 14, 2012
Hello Dietician friend, please excuse me for using Mrs Woog’s blog comments to get your advice. Umm…my kid loves water – drinks heaps – but a couple of times a week he will have an apple juice for a treat if we’re at the shops….oh and actually I give him fruit juice with his breakfast every morning. We have a decent electric toothbrushing system….am I ok here??
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Pauline March 14, 2012
Fruit juice is nearly half sugar. Read David Gillespie’s book. If you give your child cereal and fruit juice for breakfast, you may as well have given them the sugar bowl.
Bubbler water any day.
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Carolyn March 14, 2012
You should have told her that urine is sterile, even if it comes from a derelict.
This brings back memories, my eldest always climbed on top of the play equipment at the park from a very young age.
I’d like to think that for the most part the mothers that came up to me to say ” did you know your daughter is on top of the swing set?” were being nice but there was a lot of judgement when I would reply “yes I know, she’s a good climber”.
We are all doing the best we can to muddle through.
Oh and she’s 18 now and has never broken a bone.
Her sister however broke her elbow falling off the kitchen bench.-
ladybird73 March 14, 2012
Yes indeed – if it’s good enough for Bear Grylls, it’s good enough for me!
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Karol P March 14, 2012
I am 39 weeks preggers with baby #2 and have a 2 year old. Yes, we are delighted, excited and can’t wait to meet the new one, but I am also staring down a long, dark tunnel with no light at the end. That’s what I anticipate the next year to be. Good lord, if I met any of you like minded lovely ladies in a park I would not only befriend you, I would cling tightly to your leg and never let go. Bubblers? Ha! The other day I caught my toddler playing with the toilet water and then saw her put her fingers in her mouth. I couldn’t move fast enough to stop her. The Bubbler Nazi would have had a coronary.
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bigwords March 14, 2012
With three young children I try my best to meet other mums while out and about or else I will be confined at home with said three small children getting them something to eat every five minutes and banging my head against a wall for fun. I do not get the mums who are so anti striking up a conversation and making the day tick by faster and more joyously. I would happily let my kids drink from the bubbler. I think they should also install Mum ones with champagne in them, that would help make the park be more fun! x
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Kirsten March 14, 2012
My kid has drunk out of the sprinkler attached to the septic system, so while it’s not a parenting strategy I use to rehydrate my kids, I can see that she survived & I’m aok with a bubbler.
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Belinda March 14, 2012
A popper for a baby, hello tooth decay!
Give me derro urine/worms (had them just last week lmao!), and whatever else the water from those bubblers give us!
My almost 3 yo adores the bubbles at the 6yo’s school… Every afternoon she comes home sopping wet from the 20 minutes of playtime she gets at the bubblers!
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Omega March 14, 2012
I want to believe when another mother acts like that, that is it’s just fear talking. Fear that someone else will think they are not a “good enough” parent, fear that they’re somehow messing it up… they desperately need to show that they are “DOING IT RIGHT” and if that means pointing out some way in which they are “better” than someone else, so be it…
When I cop a lecture/rant from another parent whose style is obviously very different from mine, I do try to treat them with compassion. It’s not easy though. I repeat all of the above in my head like a mantra while I resist the urge to say/do horrible things to them.
I once got told off by another mother at daycare because I was explaining to my daughter what clouds were. We had had a lovely conversation about rain and weather etc on our walk to daycare.. but this other mother was HORRIFIED at my explanation. She said “Its not your place to tell your kid all that stuff, they are meant to learn that at school.. if you tell her everything now, then by the time she gets to school she will be a KNOW-IT-ALL, and NOBODY LIKES A KNOW-IT-ALL!” (irony much?)
I’m afraid my daughter, now 15, is very much a know-it-all, just like her mother. And the little one is shaping up the same way. -
Debbie March 14, 2012
Why would a dero piss in a bubbler ? It’s a park, are there no trees to wee on? Do they piss right into the hole where the water comes out? How many derelicts actually populate this park of yours? Maybe she should find another park, one that is undercover, has little dirt, no dog poo and definitely no birds or deros. Oh, hang on, that’s called a shopping mall isn’t it?
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Curvaceous Queen March 14, 2012
I found the best way to break the boredom of toddlerhood was to escape back to work and leave Daddy Dearest at home. Really worked well for me. Daddy may have rapidly lost his hairline but it worked well for me. I have a zero tolerance for the Mummy Mafia hence my skill at avoidance at all costs. I put bubbler water into the 6th food group along with dirt, assorted insects and grubs and the various non-edible items ingested by small children. Perhaps someone should clue in those “Mummies” on the benefits of the 6th food group to a well rounded immune system.
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Freeasabird March 14, 2012
These mothers also exist at swimming lessons. Blergh! I dread my 4yo’s weekly lesson where I have to listen how angelic her son is & how he picks up his own toys, helps her with cleaning, cooks a roast dinner…blah blah blah. I got the evil stare for bribing my daughter out of the pool with a lollipop. Oh the joys of our parenting lives!
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Nathalie Brown March 14, 2012
I love the park
I love being lectured by people I dont know as Mr 6 hangs upside from a tree shouting ” I wish I could do this naked mum!”. I was once told I should take my Mr 6 to see a behaviour consultant as he obviously had ADHD as he was running far too much and running up the slide and a slide is just for sitting on and sliding down.I smiled and said I would access him as soon as I got home ” I am a child behaviour consultant” wishing for a day we get to hang out at the park together with our boys, I’ll bring the hip flask poppers are much worse than the bubblers, bubblers build immunity, poppers rot teeth. -
Fiona Hamann March 14, 2012
See – if you had just had a bit of patience and waited 9 months or so (for me to breed) before moving back to the big smoke, I could have been your Mummy buddy …we did the G&Ts, snuck fags and generally took the piss before I had kids anyway
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Nicola March 14, 2012
My daughter is 16 months old and loves the bubbler. She likes to drink the water and splash her hands in it. She’s been doing this for months now and is still alive! If I were to worry about every little bit of dirt or germ she came into contact with I’d send myself to an early grave I think. My husband used to eat chewing gum he found on the street when he was a kid and he is still alive too.
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Jess March 14, 2012
Stabby. I love it! And I’m stealing it
And I’d rather my kids drink water from a bubbler than sugar-filled, teeth-rotting apple juice. Especially bad for toddlers.
Go Mrs Woog!
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ladybird73 March 14, 2012
Um. Wow I had no idea that park drinking fountains had so much risk attached! I would have thanked her for letting me know. Why do we always assume people are being mean when perhaps she is also a Chatty Cathy and thought you might not realise you were putting your kids at what, to her, clearly seemed like a high risk, even if you don’t agree.
You could have then informed her in the same spirit of helpfulness that apple juice is also not the healthiest choice for a baby.
You say she should lighten up – but maybe you could do with chilling a bit on the defensiveness too?
My policy is to always assume people mean well. Sure makes for a happier life. -
Carls March 14, 2012
I wish that once, just once, I could’ve found a mother in a park or playgroup like you Mrs Woog, and like many of the other mum’s who have posted on here today. Most of the people I have met are those zip-lock bag, santising hand wash, blonde big boobied and perfectly groomed mummies who have beautifully perfectly groomed kids who don’t do a freaking thing wrong. I, on the other hand will often turn up at the park in what I slept in with a cap on my head and let my kids go feral outside where they can’t break anything. When they’re hungry or thirsty we go home (there’s no bubblers in our park). AND back then, I used to smoke so I would move far away from the kids and smoke those babies dry
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Sarah March 14, 2012
The behaviour and attitudes recounted here are why feminism is doomed. We’re our own west enemies. How come dads manage to go to the park without caring about clothes or whatever, have fun, not care what others think, and come home tired and happy?
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Annieb25 March 14, 2012
Not only did my kids (who are 20 & 18) drink out of bubblers – but I still do. When I’m on a run & I’m thirsty to the point of gagging, I will drink from the bubbler. I’m still alive. For the entire time I was a mother I never carried a bottle of hand sanitiser in my bag. My kids always ate first, then I remembered they had dirty hands. Neither have been chronically ill nor are they fundamentally scarred from my slack parenting. I’m so glad I’m not dealing with some of the mothers around today. I’d possibly need to stab them.
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Angela March 14, 2012
I got dirties from one of the “fancy schmancy” Mums at my sons school because I let my almost 3 year old wear no shoes at pick up time. Well I just couldn’t be stuffed dealing with the melt down associated with shoe application K? And the footpath is clean and dry and yes it may have dirt on it, but dirt is good dagnammit.
I would have said something about the apple juice, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself. -
anothermum March 14, 2012
Man I hate the fricking park! I hate thinking about going, then spending what feels like three days getting two kids ready to go, then walking to the park, then counting down the minutes in the park where I spend the time trying to plan my exit strategy – ‘Oh honey, we’d better go, I think it’s going to rain in three hours!’, it’s exhausting! And PS am I the only mum who wears gym clothes/trackies to the park? I always feel as if I wasn’t sent the invite with the hooded anorak, jeans and smart boots dress code.
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Seana Smith March 14, 2012
Oh yes, wearing the kids out has been my life’s work and many playgrounds have had them ripping around. Two of mine are completely hyper and have no fear, and I love a natter at the park and usually find someone to blether too. Easy to make friends and the kids help me to lose the ones who’d never have lasted anyway.
‘There’s a child climbing a tree!’ comes the panicked yelp! And even kids can be so picky. ‘Children aren’t allowed to play with sticks,’ youngsters have informed me.
False!!! Mine are…. No broken bones or hospital visits yet. Mine seem to bounce…
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Rachel @ The Kids Are All Right March 14, 2012
Mmm, on board with the boredom and park hate, but the day (last year) I saw a woman let her large slobbery dog drink from the bubbler, with his big drooly mouth all over the spout, was the end of bubblers for me and all my children. SO gross. I might shudder if I saw someone else’s kid drink from a public bubbler, but I’d never judge the mum.
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Faith March 14, 2012
The 6th food group – what a great way to look at it!! On making new friendships, I have a limited amount of friends because I used to always be judgemental about our differences and wasn’t used to being exposed to other people’s diversities that I disagreed with or made me question my own actions/thoughts/way of life. Now, I think, hey? surrounding myself with people like me with the same interests and attitudes doesn’t open me up to the multitude of perspectives and possibly a refreshing look at a situation that I had never considered. We aren’t always going to agree but there are benefits to having a good, respectful argument. On meeting ‘righteous’ mums and dads, I often remain quiet while they blab but now I’m going to then say “each to their own, hey? Have you …read that new book..eaten out lately….joined Hoopla?” Thanks for the variety presented here.
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Jules March 14, 2012
I have seen the output from some of these looney mothers – over anxious 8 year olds who freak out wth dirt on their shoes, or recite horror stories of blood and broken bones at my 5 year old who had climbed to the top of the swing. One in particular has had to seek counselling for her son….but actually he isn’t the problem, she is.
I do have to object to snotty noses though, particularly some kids who have an endless stream of green snot down their face and their parents don’t care. I’m all for a la natural except when it means the rest of us and our kids are going to spend the next week holed up in the house as sick as dogs. Or the mother who brought her child to the playground and told me her daughter had chicken pox…WTF. -
Anna Colbasso March 14, 2012
Bubblers rule! No wasteful plastic, no being weighed down with a tonne of water, NO COST. Anyway, how else can kids build strong immune systems if they never meet ordinary germs? And my smug, matronly , patronising response would be to ask whether this was a first/only child.
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Jackwafabwa March 14, 2012
I love meeting the other nutty mothers in the park, even the overbearing uber-competitive holier-than-though ones. Makes me feel very normal having bigger picture perspective and all. But the best bit is that they give me something to laugh about at wine time with some other mums. Bring on the crazies!!
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Sam-O March 14, 2012
Becoming my standard response, but FFS!!!
I’m way more horrified that she gave her child juice. Fructose is way more dangerous than the bubblers. 1 in 3 Y gens will get diabetes a study that I heard today…
My poor kinder boy’s bag weighs a tonne because he has to bring water to school because they do not have bubblers anymore. Ridiculous.
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Lisa @ Home/Work/Mum March 14, 2012
Those “park mums” scare me, I’d love to know where all their qualifications come from. My 8 year old has always been a bubbler girl, and she’s still going strong.
As for the hand sanitizer, WTF??? I realized I wasn’t going to cut it with that crowd when they all pulled out the wet wipes before their kids ate, and the best I could manage from my bag was a used tissue. -
mummymanfs March 14, 2012
you had me at gin n tonic. tho where i live we tend to have a more “my kid is more nuts than yours” comp than a “isnt my puddin just the new messiah” kinda thing.
love a bubbler…. never seen a bird drink out one and bubbler bacteria over processed fructose in a box any day…. and anyway DIDNT WE ALL GROW up fit and healthy on BUBBLERS?? (oh and PS didnt breast feed – physically couldnt — plus it would interfere with my gin n tonic time- so that obviously makes me the mother from hell!!) -
Whoopsie March 14, 2012
I too hate the park. I love my children…don’t get me wrong…but I hate the friggin park! My children are nine now and I’ve always hated the park. I hate the small talk, I hate the sizing-up of other mothers, I hate their judgements and I hate getting sucked into their vortex. I simply despise the whole “park” scene. OMG it feels so good to have finally said that ㋡
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Tara March 14, 2012
Those of us without kids can still totally relate to this if you own a dog in the inner city area of Sydney. And the cliques are JUST as snobby & just as hard to break into…
I don’t bother taking my foldable water bowl to the park, I let my dogs drink from dirty puddles & other people’s clean water bowls! My dogs are rough & tumble (albeit both purebreeds), but people with delicate little fluffy white things that you shouldn’t be allowed to call dogs, still pick their dogs up & hold them in the air like they’re pit bulls about to attack.
Then when you do break into a dog-park clique, there’s the inevitable conversation about breeders, vets & foods. I’m scared to tell them that I think vaccinations beyond puppyhood are a ridiculous waste of $$, that my dogs eat chicken necks every single night, & that I got them cheap because they don’t have perfect markings.
I hardly ever pick up poo- I pretend I don’t see it happening… & I DID eventually find a like-minded group of dog owners who take 6 packs to the park & stand in the corner smoking!
Aaaaaaaah Sydney, love it or hate it, we HAVE to share those public spaces!!-
Michelle March 15, 2012
I’m sorry, Tara, you should pick up dog poo – nothing to do with cliquey pet owners…just plain manners
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Aeron Winters March 15, 2012
Tara, it’s people like you that spoil the landscape for the rest of us. There are actually laws about picking up dog poo. Beyond that it is common courtesy to do so. As for not vaccinating your pets, you are the reason I have to vaccinate mine.
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Tara March 14, 2012
And btw… I DO let my dogs drink from the bubblers too- but hell, they both sleep in bed with me, and I’m still alive!!!
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Emma Partridge March 14, 2012
Wow – some perspective needed I think! Millions of children in the world don’t have safe drinking water. Australian tap water (and yes, bubbler water) is among the cleanest in the world and yet some people swear it’s not good enough for their kids? Kids actually need contact with germs to build their immune systems, but we’ve forgotten this in our modern (first world!) obsession with ‘hygiene’ and cleanliness, much of which is driven by advertisers of ‘cleansing’ or ‘antibacterial’ products, or goes hand in hand with a fear of ‘other people’ (I mean really – it’s a long time since I hear the word ‘derelict’ as a noun to describe another human being…) and public places (which are assumed to be dangerous if they’re not sprayed and wiped with anti-bacterial goop ten times a day). The whole thing is depressing. How about we recognise how lucky our kids are and send some money to Oxfam for kids elsewhere in the world who would love a bubbler with water as clean as ours…?
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Margi Macdonald March 14, 2012
Oh lordy lord, now my youngest is almost 19, I am so glad The Park Thing is long gone. When I look back at the way parks used to be – you know, blistering hot metal slippery-dips meters high off the ground, roundabouts for mad spinning, old steam rollers to clamber all over, and not an ounce of soft-fall anywhere – I sigh, because modern parks and their playgrounds are just so damned boring. Kids need to take risks. How hideous that the biggest risk in any park these days, is that someone is going to get all shrill and judgemental about your parenting decisions.
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Nareen Young March 14, 2012
Ahhhh parks in the inner city of Sydney. So many war stories. But I know a sure fire way to ensure that none of those painful mothers who want to impose their childrearing views on you won’t come anywhere near you. In fact, they’ll walk as far away from you as they possibly can, with one exception I’ll reveal soon – take dark-skinned Koori kids with you. The more the better. Nup, those mums won’t come within cooee, except, and here’s the exception, if they want to come over to ask you to get your kids to behave. Then they’ll tell you that they expect all the kids in the park to maintain a certain level of behavior and that there shouldn’t be any less of an expectation of the kids with you because they’re Aboriginal. They might ask you about the kid’s parentage and how you ended up with them if you’re not dark-skinned, but they’ll move away quickly soon after that. Works every time, trust me.
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Celia March 14, 2012
Oh Mrs Woog, once again I am laughing out loud in front of my computer….lucky there are no judgy mummies here!
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ladybird73 March 14, 2012
No judgy mummies? Are we reading different comments? These mums are judging just as hard as the rest of them, just with a different set of criteria.
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Celia March 15, 2012
I meant no judgy mummies here in front of my computer….’cept me!
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Claireyhewitt March 14, 2012
The bubblers at the park are likely to be cleaner than the drink bottles at my place, those non leak sippy cup lid things…are they meant to smell funny.
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Mrs Woog March 15, 2012
with the bit of mould in it? I know what you mean x
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Megan March 14, 2012
Mothers of the world, unite! Encourage, respect and sympathise with each other. We all have to find our own way of coping with parenthood.
…and have a G&T at the end of the day if you like!
Definitely drink from bubblers. We have one in our front garden. All the neighbourhood kids love it.
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andy March 15, 2012
taking good care of our children’s teeth starts before the teeth are even through the gum! Brushing an infant’s gums with a wash cloth or silicone finger brush can help minimize the growth of bacteria that can cause early childhood caries.
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Kerri Sackville March 15, 2012
Unless the derelict’s actual penis was in the bubbler (good lord – his penis wasn’t in the bubbler, was it?) I’d say drink away.
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Mrs Woog March 15, 2012
No, in fact I could not see any in the park at all! x
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jen March 15, 2012
I didn’t know what a bubbler was. We call them drinking fountains in South Aus, but yes, my son can and has drunk out of them. I didn’t even think of people pissing on them and what have you.
But no, I never met any other mums in parks unless they had a dog as well. Maybe I relate easier to dogs than people. I had a mothers group which was a bit of a saviour in those early years of mundaneness.
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Edwina March 15, 2012
Yesterday, I left my 8 month old daughter alone on the deck for a couple of minutes while I went downstairs to put a load of washing on. When I came back upstairs, she’d pushed the lid off the recycling bin, found an empty-ish cider bottle and was swigging the dregs and hiccuping.
The day before that, I saw her chewing on something, stuck my hand in her mouth and pulled out… a dried out dead gecko head, complete with eyeballs and vertebrae, she must have found under the couch.
So, yeah. Bubbler sounds fine to me.
