to challenge anyone to better this example of the heights of pushy parenting?

[BonsoirAnna]

Yesterday I was chatting to another mother from DD's French-English bilingual school on the bus. She has two daughters, one in DD's year, who will soon be 5, and another one three years above, who is 7.

This mother told me that during the summer holidays her 7 year old, who has been having private Chinese lessons for the past year (in addition to having an American nanny to teach her English), is being sent to stay, alone, for a fortnight with a Chinese family in China in order to practise the language.

[chevre]

lunatic, poor child

[edam]

Bloody hell! Presumably she thinks her child will have a head start when China takes over as top dog nation? (Which Chinese language is the little girl learning? Would be ironic if she learnt Mandarin yet it turns out Cantonese becomes the international language.)

[cherryblossoms]

Oh, I think you are going to win with that one!

[ReneRusso]

racking my brains, but I can't beat this.

[BonsoirAnna]

I have no idea, edam. I was so when this mother told me her plans for her DD's summer, and didn't want to inadverdently be seen to judge, that I remained very silent!

[helsbels4]

Blimey! My dc's will be splashing around in a paddling pool, or going to the beach, or to the park..........

[brimfull]

OMG that is shocking!

[edam]

My best mate is British Chinese and refuses to send her children for Mandarin lessons due to hideous memories of being forced to go to Saturday school as a child herself. Don't think the teachers were terribly child-friendly...

Must pass on this story, think she'll be very amused!

[BoffinMum]

I would have loved to do something like this when I was a kid. Does that make me wierd?? I suppose I am a Boffin ...

[crokky]

Poor little girl!

[squeaver]

That is awful for the child (unless she thinks it's an opportunity to get away from her mother!) but hilarious.

[merryberry]

this came in our local parents email yesterday. nowhere near touches your story, but made me smile. It's about looking for a party entertainer

'We wouldlove to know if anyone out there has come across someone really goodand engaging. perhaps slightly 'different'? We were thinking aboutpossibly an indian or otherwise traditional storyteller who usesactions as well as words as a part of the entertainment.... '

For a second b'day

[edam]

Merryberry!

[BonsoirAnna]

Oh that's pretty good, merryberry though I suppose it doesn't have the undertones of child abuse that the Chinese homestay story does

[thedolly]

Any old Chinese family or friends/godparents?

[BonsoirAnna]

It's been set up through the father's work - he's a partner in a law firm so I imagine the family must be Chinese colleagues/counterparts. Like I said earlier, I didn't want to make further enquiries for fear of seeming to judge - which is a dangerous activity in RL .

[BoffinMum]

We have the Queen of Stories around here. Queen of Stories

God I am sounding wierd and far too wholesome.

[ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight]

Hideous. I went to stay with a french family when I was 13 (and a very independent 13 yo, had already spent a month away from my parents at age 9 in India and loved it) but 2 weeks with strangers who only speak a different language, even if you do speak that language, is very tough. I was very homesick and miserable. That poor 7 year old will be distraught. I have also been to China and it's a very different place to europe and takes some getting used to. Poor poor baby.

[BonsoirAnna]

The thing that really bothers me about this family is that the parent bully the children and they are teaching their children to bully people weaker than themselves. The children are very (too) well-behaved when in the presence of their parents, or of authoritarian teachers (and the parents always request authoritarian teachers) but they run absolute rings around their rather sweet but totally unarmed American nanny - I have witnessed their behaviour in the park or on the bus with the nanny many times.

[cornsilk]

That's awful. Poor kids.

[GhostOfPsychomum5]

oh that really is awful...........I have a nearly 7yr old, and as much as a 2wk break from him would be heavenly (if only cos I would be able to recharged my very run-raged batteries), the thought of him going alone to a foreign country to be able to learn another (third!) language seems horrifying!!

poor child

[bran]

I went away a lot as a child, but I was older than 7, and I asked to go. I think I was about 12 when I first did a French exchange, and I think I started going to Irish college (3 week stay in a boarding school type environment) that year too. The French exhange was more exhausting and 'strange' because it wasn't just a different language it was also fitting into another family and their funny little ways. I think it would be a very tough thing to do at aged 7.

[poshsinglemum]

Crazy- and horrid. Poor child. That mum needs to be sectioned.

[Reallytired]

I don't think its fair to describe making a seven year old learn Chinese as child abuse. If its a nice family then the seven year old might enjoy herself and make a little chinese friend. It is good to experience a different culture and see the world. I know that my seven year old would be jelous.

[BitOfFun]

Whatever floats your boat- presumably they think she'll enjoy herself and will be well-looked after.