Do you ever want to stare another mom straight in the eye and ask, "REALLY?"?

No

Yes

With you 100%.

My kids are well and truly separated from me now so no, but I do get your point. Cotton wool kids. Hopefully those parents are in the minority and most are aware that there needs to be a balance in terms of being protective and letting our children grow and learn how to deal with the ups and downs of life.

What I have noticed is that there are a lot of 4 year olds who aren’t interesting in gym class/dance class/whatever class, but are in there because mommy is interesting saying “Clarabelle’s taking ballet.”

One thing I’ve learned from photo shoots with kids, and with my own kids, is when they get like that, go home. Nothing positive is going to happen.

On this note, I have to add that my children took all sorts of lessons throughout their lives. They generally took when they were interested, and we stopped when it became a struggle to get them to go or practice. What I noticed is that with dance and tennis, when they started back up, they were in the same class with the same students. Dropping out made no appreciable difference in skills acquisition; there was a two week reorientation process, and then they matched the skill level of the class. I guess what I’m saying is early childhood classes should be fun, and should be exposure to a sport or art. Both play a passable game of tennis and golf, both have fluid body movement and one continues to take dance classes as an adult—for flexibility and the love of movement. The other can listen to a score of a ballet, and instantly tell you the story from the music.

None of that is really attributable to early childhood classes.

Helicopter parenting us a real problem. I went to an employers siminar that told us to be prepared for mom to join them in the job interview.

I am just trying to imagine my step mother at one of my interviews, I would never have got a job. Far out. Craziness.

@BarnacleBill I sign my son up for multiple classes, maybe he doesn’t really like it..but how will he know if he doesn’t try? But, if they are obviously disinterested, then I wouldn’t continue.

I can’t understand helicopter parenting. It’s one thing keeping a child safe, but to just hover is unnecessary. I usually stay when my son does gymnastics, but only if I have his little brother..otherwise he’d have to crawl in a dirty hallway instead of a room. The coaches have told me they actually appreciate it that a parent is there instead of leaving the building (which you aren’t supposed to do, it’s not a very long class.)

Why does this bother you?

@perspicacious Because these parents are obviously co-dependant and they’re passing the co-dependancy on to their kids with that sort of behavior.

If the kid gets upset tell them they can either stay with their class, or you will take them home. But don’t, for cripe’s sake, follow the kid around because they’re so uptight with “Mommy I need you”. At some point, they have to grow up a little and learn that Mommy’s not always going to be there.

The kids who don’t learn this are the kids who end up living in their mother’s basement, at the age 40, playing games all day long, having Mommy make their dinner, and never getting a life. OR they wind up marrying a man who will spoil them and wipe their ass like Mommy does.

Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo was all about this topic.

Once my kids were three, I did not allow my kids into classes where parents were allowed in the area. In fact, I can’t remember any where the parents were “allowed on the mat”.

There was a mom in my daughter’s pre-school who was there just about every day. She never let her kid play with the other kids. I couldn’t figure out why she spent the money to have her kid in pre-school.

@WillWorkForChocolate But it’s none of your business. Raise your kids the way you want to.

@casheroo, it’s one thing to expose children to things, it’s quite another to make children take classes. Kids really don’t need classes, they need opportunities to do things. Classes have replaced playing outside. Most children’s play has become adult-directed lessons. The fact that my youngest could hit a pitched ball at age 3 or play scales on the piano at that age had nothing to do with classes, but with playing with older kids in the neighborhood, and watching her sister practice the piano. Her sister took piano lessons and cannot play. The youngest never took, and is self-taught.

I hear so many parents talk about putting young children into sports because “it might lead to a college scholarship.” The odds of getting a scholarship are greater if you have them take math classes. Children should be put into classes for things that they show aptitude for. A kid that kicks the ball around the yard with a lot of dexterity should be given the opportunity to play soccer. A child should not be put on a soccer team so they can learn to kick the ball.

I’m not a mum but I work with kids and their parents and I get that same urge from time to time. On the flip side of your example I notice that a lot of parents absentmindedly let their young children run around the building I work in and they seem not to worry about the stairs that they could fall down or the glass gates that could shut on little fingers. Our poor receptionists have to constantly remind parents that they should be watching their kids rather than gassing to the other mothers.

@Leanne1986 Yes, I see that too. UGH!

@perspicacious It IS my business, because it’s a mother’s duty to raise children to be decent adults. Kids who’ve had “bubble mommies” grow up into adults, and they are our future. Our society is already screwed up enough that it irritates me to see these mothers training their kids to be co-dependent whiners. Adults who had “bubble mommies” and the exact opposite “don’t give a shit mommies” as children, are the ones who are pulling society down today. It angers me to see these mothers perpetuating the cycle.