Am I overreacting to this?................

[becaroo]

We recently attended a family wedding. I was first on the dance floor throwing some shapes (as usual) and indeed stayed there most of the night.

There was lots of people with young kids there...age range from about 6 months to teenagers.

My ds was tucked up in bed asleep by 9.30pm so that I and my dh could go and hit the dancefloor. (FIL babysat, bless him - he's not a dancer!)

Anyway, towards the end of the evening, I became aware that one of the mums dancing with her young baby (about 8 months I would say) and was completely drunk...she was swaying back and forth and on two occasions looked like she was going to fall over and drop the baby. In the end my MIL and I offered to take the baby so she could go and sit down.

My questions are:

a) Were we right to interfere?

b) What the hell did she think she was doing???

c) Why am I so upset/angry about this...its not my child and not my business really.

I was really surprised that so many very young children were allowed to stay awake till the early hours of the morning....am I being unreasonable?

[fannyannie]

a) yes you were right to interfere

b) gawd only knows - I guess if she was drunk she didn't know what she was doing

c) because you knew that a baby was at risk of being hurt - and it's human nature to want to protect them

Last comment - I don't think it hurts once in a while to let them stay up late.

[kittywits]

I would say that being drunk in charge of a baby or child is not on. You have to be able to be responsible for them and if you're drunk you can't be.
It looks crappy too. I would think the mother would look 'common' sorry to use the term but I can't think of any other.

[MumOfSlytherinsMonsters]

We have let ours stay up late at family occasions before now. they have a sleep in the afternoon and i am always fully prepared to leave early if they need us to. I take their comfort toys and the buggy if they are needed. However, i don't drink so my situation is very different.

[LoveAngel]

a) Yes it was probably a very good thing that you intervened
b) She was pissed. people act like dickheads when they're pissed.
c) ditto to what fannyannie said

Don't agree about kids staying up late - why not for big family events? My 2 yr old wouldn;'t hack it, but I have fond memories of being 6 or 7 and dancing the night away at family do's, probably high on E numbers and fizzy orange :-)

[chopchopbusybusy]

No problem with them staying up late occasionally as long as they are happy. Obviously being pissed in charge of your babay is another matter.

[fannyannie]

mind you with regards to her being drunk - perhaps she did what I did when DS1 was about 18 months old - I had hardly had ANYTHING to dirnk since I fell pg with him and foolishly thought I would be able to have 2 or 3 glasses of wine without any trouble at a friends house with DH (pre DS1 I drank a LOT and could still stand up and hold a conversation ) - anyhow, firstly did't notice the glasses were rather large and secondly it turned out my body couldn't cope with 3 large glasses of wine when it hadn't had to deal with alcohol for such a long time - I threw up and DH had to help me get back to the car which was only just outside the front door

The wierd thing was I didn't feel myself getting to that stage so it was a bit of shock when I discovered how tipsy I was

[Tortington]

yes
fuck knows silly bitch
bcuase you are a decent human being

[LittleLupin]

a) yes

b) maybe it was her first drink since pre-Baby and she accidentally got lashed? (trying to be charitable)

c) I would have been too

But as to staying up late... my friend's little girl was a real night owl, actually she still is (at 14 months) and it fits in with their lifestyle so why not? And I agree that with most children the occasional late night will not hurt.

[becaroo]

Thanks for the replies....It felt really wierd being in that position...I was very uncomfortable interfering but I would not have been able to go to live with myself had anything had happened.

With regard to the staying up thing...I remember staying up very late at family do's when I was about 7/8 but these kids were only months old and the lights and noise were a bit full on. Having said that, they all seemed happy enough!

Have to say my reaction to this situation has made me feel really middle aged !!