I have 2 daughters – one is a little over 3 months old and the other is 11 years old. Quite a difference in age but I’m sure you’d find nothing weird or wrong with that.

So, we’ll often go out. Just for a walk or we’ll go to a nearby park. My old daughter loves to push her baby sister in the pram. Sometimes I’ll just be with her (my wife taking a chance to have a rest) or both myself and my wife will be.

Yesterday, we went to a nearby park. It was quite busy so my wife and I walked behind my older daughter, pushing the pram (otherwise we would have been taking up an unfair amount of path way). However, the visit was made very uncomfortable by the staring, pointing and whispering. Yes, many, many people we passed assumed my older daughter was the mother of our younger daughter (not realising that myself and my wife were with them). At one point one woman, quite loudly, proclaimed, “what is the world coming to?” Quite. What is the world coming to when people are so quick to judge and jump to massive conclusions.

It gets even worse if my wife isn’t with me, as they think my daughter and I are the parents. I’m just waiting for somebody to say something to our face.

I blame the likes of the Daily Mail for poisoning the minds of people into being so damn cynical about the world we live in. Where every situation must have a negative twist and the world is going to hell in a handcart.

Thanks to everyone for making something like a walk in a park an uncomfortable experience. But here’s a suggestion for next time – when you see something that you don’t like, think about what the other possibilities are before you get yourself angry and bothered. Play your own devils advocate. The chances are, your second thought might be the more accurate one.