Silly things said when a new baby arrives, (like, oh dear, another mouth to feed).

grahamg

grahamg

Old codger
Location
South of Manchester, UK
I have to tell you this was actually said by my then mother in law, (a very decent woman, under five feet tall but a force to behold, who did wonders for my daughter too), but she did tell my then wife, at the arrival of our child, "Its another mouth to feed in the world :eek: !"

Have you heard similarly inane comments, or anything funny?

My daughter wasn't likely to go hungry by the way, which are the only circumstances in which you'd imagine anyone really greeting a new birth with the comment she foolishly made.
 

There are those who project parts of their own identity upon the child, like "he has his Uncle's eyes." Worse still are those who presume to chart the infant's future, saying things like "he's gonna be a ball player" as they gift a baseball glove. Give me a break! Let each child grow to be their own person...
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We drew, and still draw of off-colour comments related to having 6 children.

"Pregnant AGAIN, Marg"?
"Oh, that's ridiculous".
"More"?
"Well at least someone is having fun".
"You're going to be up to your elbows in diapers again".
"I couldn't do it".
"He/she doesn't have either of your looks, referring to dear husband and I".
"How many more are you guys going to have"?
"Just what this world needs, MORE people".

Towards the end many of the comments no longer registered with me. Had we not had children, there would have been those who would have said, I can't believe you guys didn't have kids, or, you guys didn't want kids, or, or, or...

I drew additional miscellaneous and off-colour comments when one of the kids wasn't toilet trained early, or still using a soother, or still sucking on a bottle, or still in a crib.

Had I been the poster mother of children who were out of diapers, off the bottle, and out of the crib by age one, I would have been accused of forcing my children to grow up too early and not allowing them to be babies.

If there's one thing I've learned, you can't please everyone, and while there were plenty of supportive, positive, and loving people who were overjoyed for us, there were those who I mentioned, and THEN there were those who were jealous and sour, like an old school friend of mine who tried and tried to have a baby but couldn't.

She allowed the whole pregnancy and baby issue to get in the way of our friendship and destroy it.
 
I also remember the 101 line of questioning...

Marg...

- Are you going to be a stay-at-home mom?
- Are you going to breastfeed?
- Are you going to use cloth diapers?
- Are you going to, are you going to, are you going to...
 
One story I heard and the teller swore it was true....
He overheard two women talking about a mutual friend who had just given birth....
"Did you hear that xxxxx has just had a little boy"
"Lovely, what's she going to call him?"
" 'Mark', but spelled with a 'c' " (Marc)
There was a short pause and then "You mean 'Cark' "?

It was almost as bad when I told M-i-L that we were calling our daughter Emily. She said "Where on earth did you get a name like that"?
 
I found immediate family to be the most supportive, offering their help with babysitting, etc, then came extended family, where subtle little things were repeated back to me (not so nice of things), and then acquaintances and neighbourhood moms were the worst, though for many years we had some Italian neighbours, and the Mrs., used to always be so excited for us.

She'd bring homemade Italian cookies and pastries and things over for me, vegetables off their garden, and she bought a baby gift for each and every one of my kids when they were born.
 
One of the worst I ever heard was my sister-in-law saying to a friend, "You aren't showing much and it's already 7 months. There must be something wrong with the baby." She then went into a long story about Failure to Thrive, which I always assumed referred to children already born. A few weeks later we were shopping and I saw an adorable baby blanket. I decided to buy it for our mutual friend, and sister-in-law said, "I'd wait if I were you. No sense wasting money on a baby that's probably not going to make it."

The baby was born absolutely perfect, after the mother agonized for 2 months over my sister-in-law's ignorant comments...
 
We don't have any religious beliefs and our children have not been baptised. This gave rise to the "They'll never thrive until they're baptised" etc. etc. I think that like our wedding, it would just have been an excuse for a party.

All three children are now fit, healthy adults.
 
Capt Lightning said:
One story I heard and the teller swore it was true....
He overheard two women talking about a mutual friend who had just given birth....
"Did you hear that xxxxx has just had a little boy"
"Lovely, what's she going to call him?"
" 'Mark', but spelled with a 'c' " (Marc)
There was a short pause and then "You mean 'Cark' "?
It was almost as bad when I told M-i-L that we were calling our daughter Emily. She said "Where on earth did you get a name like that"?
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My mother got a bit angry when her eldest sister rang to point out the names chosen for one of my mother's first grandchildren meant he would have the initials, "ARS", and she thought they might wish to change the Christian names or put them in a different order, (they didn't do this, and as they lived in Switzerland I guess the initials wouldn't have the unfortunate connotation anyway).

I do know though a lad in my year at school had Christian names "RC", and he did get tagged with that nickname or had his leg pulled about it. :mad:
 
gennie said:
Many people end up being rude when they are merely trying to be funny. It even happens on social forums.

While visiting a mother and new arrival in a multi-child family, I overheard "Someone should tell them what's causing it."
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My own father used to use that one to his advantage when questioned as to the reason why he'd had so many children, and it wasn't the most crude thing he'd say to disarm them, plus he always said when asked how many children he had, "Only seven!" ;)
 
Well I once read a thread about what would one say to new parents who had an ugly baby. Some of the suggestions were : "Oh my! What a bundle" or "How precious". "Oh isn't he/she sweet" if one couldn't bring oneself to lie and say the baby was beautiful or pretty. :LOL:
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Well I once read a thread about what would one say to new parents who had an ugly baby. Some of the suggestions were : "Oh my! What a bundle" or "How precious". "Oh isn't he/she sweet" if one couldn't bring oneself to lie and say the baby was beautiful or pretty. :LOL:
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ROFLMAO!

I actually remember visiting family account the birth of a new baby, and I kid you not, OneEyed, it truly was an ugly baby, but the funniest part of the story was when we all pilled back in the car to drive home.

As soon as all the doors of the car were shut and everyone was settled, mom turned to my dad and said, "now that has GOT to be the ugliest baby I have ever seen"!
 
Aunt Marg said:
ROFLMAO!
I actually remember visiting family account the birth of a new baby, and I kid you not, OneEyed, it truly was an ugly baby, but the funniest part of the story was when we all pilled back in the car to drive home.
As soon as all the doors of the car were shut and everyone was settled, mom turned to my dad and said, "now that has GOT to be the ugliest baby I have ever seen"!
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Surely there is no such thing?
Aren't all babies supposed to look the same, (my own child being the one exception)? :whistle:
 
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