My baby boy is very poorly. It’s just a cold but it seems to have hit him pretty hard. We’ve had two very sleepless nights and today he has done little more than sleep and cry. He has hardly smiled all day and seems to want constant cuddles. Thank goodness for Calpol.

When the little one first started sniffling I was filled with rage. You see, I know exactly where this nasty virus came from.

On Monday morning I was stood in the playground waiting for my daughter’s classroom to open. The younger brother of another child in the same class was playing nearby. This little boy often talks to me in the morning and likes to peer into the buggy and have a play with baby J’s toys.

Now at this point I want to make it clear that I try very, very hard not to judge the way other people bring up their children. It has nothing to do with me and I certainly wouldn’t take kindly to other people judging the way I do things. Unless a parent is being obviously neglectful it’s none of my business really.

However, I see the mother of this young boy and his two siblings every morning and I’m always surprised by how little interest she shows in them. They honestly seem to just do whatever they want. Every now and then she screams some kind of instruction at them (‘Get off that’, ‘Stop it, ‘Get here now’ etc etc) but otherwise they’re pretty much left to their own devices. Okay… whatever… that’s how she does things… fine.

But on Monday morning her son had a streaming runny nose. I’m talking snot everywhere. He proceeded to lean into the buggy and chat to the baby as he usually does.

Then he started sneezing and coughing everywhere. He didn’t make any attempt to cover his mouth and his mother didn’t instruct him to. Not once. I felt very awkward. I really didn’t want him coughing and spluttering all over Jesse but his mother was stood right there. I’ve always felt that there are certain unwritten rules about what you can and can’t say to other people’s children (especially people you don’t know very well). I wasn’t sure if me telling the boy to cover his mouth would be crossing the line. Surely I shouldn’t participate in what I would consider an act of discipline when the mother was stood right beside him? Had he been alone then I wouldn’t have hesitated, but there she was and I felt it was her job.

But she stayed silent.

In the end I knelt down to the boys level and told him he should put his hand up when he coughs because he might get his germs on the baby.

He looked at me blankly.

The mother didn’t even blink.

And 24 hours later I have one very sick baby.

Loveaudreyxxx