This is somehow my fault...

[Lady Snowdon]

DH and I had some of DH's family over for dinner on Monday night, including his sister, her husband and their two kids.  One of the kids, Julia, is about 2.5 years old and is potty training.  During the evening, when Julia had to go, I directed them to our downstairs bathroom.  All of a sudden, we hear some truly insane shrieking and crying coming from the bathroom.  Julia's mom (DH's sister) informed us that Julia had never seen a bar of soap before and had bitten into it thinking it was food, hence the shrieking and crying.  I do indeed have a set of bite marks in the soap, and am thinking about tossing it.  The way Julia's mom told us about the problem implied that I was at fault for not having liquid soap available, only bar soap. 

Is this something I should have anticipated when having people over?  Is this something I should be asking people with kids about in the future?  I've never heard of someone never seeing bar soap before, so I'm a little confused on if this is my problem, or just Julia's mom trying to deflect blame for her kid trying to eat my soap. 

[LeveeWoman]

DH and I had some of DH's family over for dinner on Monday night, including his sister, her husband and their two kids.  One of the kids, Julia, is about 2.5 years old and is potty training.  During the evening, when Julia had to go, I directed them to our downstairs bathroom.  All of a sudden, we hear some truly insane shrieking and crying coming from the bathroom.  Julia's mom (DH's sister) informed us that Julia had never seen a bar of soap before and had bitten into it thinking it was food, hence the shrieking and crying.  I do indeed have a set of bite marks in the soap, and am thinking about tossing it.  The way Julia's mom told us about the problem implied that I was at fault for not having liquid soap available, only bar soap. 

Is this something I should have anticipated when having people over?  Is this something I should be asking people with kids about in the future?  I've never heard of someone never seeing bar soap before, so I'm a little confused on if this is my problem, or just Julia's mom trying to deflect blame for her kid trying to eat my soap.

I wouldn't waste another second thinking about this nonsense.

[Redsoil]

Julia's mom is a twit.

[scotcat60]

Is this something I should have anticipated when having people over?  Is this something I should be asking people with kids about in the future?  I've never heard of someone never seeing bar soap before, so I'm a little confused on if this is my problem, or just Julia's mom trying to deflect blame for her kid trying to eat my soap.

I wouldn't waste another second thinking about this nonsense.

Nor would I. No home is 100% child proof. I had an aunt who used to move every ornament and pot plant, lock cupboards, push furniture against the wall, and still her grandson managed to yank the grille off the front of her gas fire. And another young cousin stuck her fingers in a bowl fo hot soup at a family wedding, in spite of having her mother sitting on one side of her , and her grandmother on the other. You can't think of everything.

[Roe]

Is this something I should have anticipated when having people over?  Is this something I should be asking people with kids about in the future?

Nope.

[iridaceae]

Julia's mom is a twit.

Years ago there was a fad for soaps in the shape of food. I was in a department store with a friend and we giggled when we saw an opened package with the soap lying out...with a bite mark out of it- it was shaped like a Twinkie. Someone got fooled!

Julia's mom is in "my pwecious pwecious daughter!" overdrive. She's being a twit.

[Syfygeek]

I'm floored by the thought that a 2.5 year old just randomly taking bites of something she's never seen before.

If her mother was standing there, presumably helping her get clothes back in place, washing hands, etc..why didn't she stop her, surely the mom has seen bar soap before?

[lowspark]

So a child ate something that they didn't know what it was, in your bathroom, while her mother was right there with her, and you're at fault because you keep (of all things!) soap in your bathroom? Really?

Agreed with PPs - don't give it another thought.

But you might want to hide the shampoo in case the kid gets thirsty on her next trip to the facilities. 

[Thipu1]

So a child ate something that they didn't know what it was, in your bathroom, while her mother was right there with her, and you're at fault because you keep (of all things!) soap in your bathroom? Really?

Agreed with PPs - don't give it another thought.

But you might want to hide the shampoo in case the kid gets thirsty on her next trip to the facilities. 

I was thinking the same thing. 

[peaches]

But you might want to hide the shampoo in case the kid gets thirsty on her next trip to the facilities. 

Thanks for a good laugh! 

This reminded me of when my granddaughter went through her soap-making phase. She did make soaps that looked like hamburgers. She also did fruits and candies.

But I'm assuming this wasn't the case with OP.

[Virg]

hes wrote:

"This reminded me of when my granddaughter went through her soap-making phase. She did make soaps that looked like hamburgers."

I don't mean to sidetrack, but that sounds well beyond cool.  I'd love to have something like that in the downstairs bathroom.  Anyway, no Lady Snowdon, you don't have to try to anticipate children eating your soap, so just wash your hands of the whole thing.

Virg

[DaDancingPsych]

I'm floored by the thought that a 2.5 year old just randomly taking bites of something she's never seen before.

If her mother was standing there, presumably helping her get clothes back in place, washing hands, etc..why didn't she stop her, surely the mom has seen bar soap before?

Personally, I don't blame mom for the bite. Accidents do happen even to the best of parents. Mom may have turned her back for just a second and that's when the bite happened. The problem is the mom's reaction. She should have APOLOGIZED to the OP; not blamed.

[bopper]

There is a tendency for humans to blame others when something goes wrong that they didn't think of.
As a mother of two, I say you didn't do anything wrong! 

[amylouky]

I'm curious as to whether the mom actually said something that cast blame on you, OP, or whether it was her tone? I can totally see myself explaining that my child bit the soap in a mildly scolding tone, aimed at my child, but I can see where it could be misunderstood.

[lowspark]

hes wrote:

"This reminded me of when my granddaughter went through her soap-making phase. She did make soaps that looked like hamburgers."

I don't mean to sidetrack, but that sounds well beyond cool.  I'd love to have something like that in the downstairs bathroom.  Anyway, no Lady Snowdon, you don't have to try to anticipate children eating your soap, so just wash your hands of the whole thing.

Virg

I see what you did there.

I'm floored by the thought that a 2.5 year old just randomly taking bites of something she's never seen before.

If her mother was standing there, presumably helping her get clothes back in place, washing hands, etc..why didn't she stop her, surely the mom has seen bar soap before?

Personally, I don't blame mom for the bite. Accidents do happen even to the best of parents. Mom may have turned her back for just a second and that's when the bite happened. The problem is the mom's reaction. She should have APOLOGIZED to the OP; not blamed.

I don't blame the mom either. Because, yeah, these things happen. I'm just saying that the mom has absolutely no grounds on which to blame the OP. If even the mother couldn't anticipate (and therefore stop) the child from attempting to eat a bar of soap, how in her wildest imagination could she have expected the OP to do so?