Loud parenting and grandparenting that goes on and on...

Frankly you just sound quite miserable and unkind.

You may have thought this of me a few weeks ago, I was trying to make my grandson's mind off feeling queasy on the bus. I'm sure a bit of noise is preferable to a vomiting child.

I actually quite like most children, not just my own, unlike a lot of people. I don't mind spending time with other people's kids and always volunteer for the school trips if I can.

I don't particularly like children (including my own) in confined spaces for long periods of time. But I tolerate them with a smile and am as kind, helpful and considerate to the parents as I can be. I'm the one sharing our snacks or offering baby wipes to clean up spills or retrieving a rogue toddler when the mum is dealing with the baby.

I don't think heaving an internal sigh makes me a bad person. I find the frenetic activity and noise that comes with entertaining kids in confined spaces noisy and overwhelming.

OK but the point was they were praising every tiny move in loud baby voices and shrieks, not the walking part.
This child was a confident walker, most people wouldn't shriek with delight every time your child takes a few steps if they've been walking for two months.
My own child didn't walk until nearly three, the first time she walked was very exciting, after a few days it becomes the norm.

@FiveLoadsFourLiftsThreeMeals er, no. There's also loads of research on parent-child talk at the toddler age that shows that things like repetition, sing-song tone and so on are helpful to language development.

This. Unfortunately talking to your kids in an irritating way is probably good for them.

As for the "Does it have to be so loud?" aspect, Brits tend to be relatively quiet in general. Have a normal conversation in a train carriage or on a plane and you'll probably get half the carriage giving you death stares and wishing you'd shut up. And people do tend to talk in an exaggerated way to young children - all that "horsey, horsey, new naw, nee naw" stuff - and small children are quite loud in their responses.

Weird! I bet you try to avoid them!

There's a couple who have two little boys at the same daycare as my son. Every single morning without fail both parents do the drop off and they sing the same annoying song the whole way from their car to the door! It's like a made up song which goes like 'gooooodbye Jimmy and gooodbye James, we love you so much, now go have fun.' Then when they get to the door they both shout 'goodbye, goodbye, we love you we love you' absolutely bonkers.. then if I happen to see them at pick up they are even worse! I'm only describing half of it but they are so loud and annoying!!

Oh dear, looks like I touched a nerve doesn't it? Don't get upset, you carry on shouting and I'll carry on laughing! At least you won't need a megaphone, but you'll probably end up with a sore throat!

Exactly this.

Nothing at all wrong with interacting with the child in public, finding ways to interest and entertain them, encourage them in activities etc. But for God sake don't forget you have a volume button.

It's perfectly possible to have an animated conversation with your child or even read them a story on a train or a bus without the whole carriage being able to hear. The child won't be any less stimulated because you didn't bellow at the top of your voice.

Well if it makes you a grumpy old woman I'll join you in grumpy old womanhood. All the over the top hooting and hollering that seems to come with parenting at the moment drives me batty.

My one year old is not walking yet so I would definitely shriek with delight if he walked through a tunnel!

@mycatsbestfriend DP and I talk to our cats in baby talk and they’re adult cats, not kittens. We know full well that they’ll ignore us no matter what we say or what voice we say it in. However, I’m now worried that the neighbours can hear us!

100% agree with you on this, OP.

Performative parenting is a scourge of the modern world.

And it's not parents chatting to their kids or having fun with them which is of course delightful, it's over the top talking, laughing, whooping loudly designed to get everyone around to stop & look.

Ime the same parents shove others out of the way with pushchairs and never stop their kids from running amok in cafes & restaurants.

My mother does this with my children and it annoys me. She wasn't like it as a parent, she had a normal level of interaction then. But now she just cannot leave them to quietly play and do their thing, she absolutely must be involved. Constant questions, talking 'what colour is that? Can you find the blue car? Where's the blue car? I wonder if you know which one is the yellow car? Gosh you got the yellow car! What a clever boy! The yellow car!' etc etc and it's exhausting to listen to. My son is used to some interaction from me but I was under the impression that it's good to let children develop their own play and not constantly interfere.

I wouldn’t call it performance grandparents when they are doing it in their own back garden. To be honest it’s better than many GP you see referenced on here who can’t be bothered or on phones instead of interacting. But yes I can imagine as a neighbour it’s pretty annoying

This comment wins.

We were at a park recently and 2 parents with their one year old were both using loud, high pitched baby voices with over the top encouragement. Both parents shrieked with delight and praised the toddler for simply walking through a tunnel.

It was actually quite sweet but really annoying to listen to.

Definitely a me problem and probably because DD2 (6) doesn't respond at all, she ignores anyone who talks to her like this.