To think that swimming classes seem to be

[laptopdancer]

A place where the extremes of the most dreadful types of mother gather.

We have the helicopter mums, the shower hoggers, the passive aggressive, the downright rude, loud parenters and the "oh no, lets go over this way Jasmine, that lady is sitting there and taking up all the room, we dont do that now do we" types.

The school gate is nothing on this.

There's nothing like that in our pool. All the mums tend to keep to themselves, use cubicles and lockers considerately and sit quietly in the viewing area.

Actually, I'm probably the one they all talk about as I try to keep 6 month old DD2 entertained for the half hour session. But I try to do it quietly and unobtrusively!

We also have quite a few Dads that come in for the baby swimming sessions. They're very considerate too.

We dojnt have cubicles or lockers. Just one open changing room with 2 toilets.

I was incredibly luck I made friends with a lovely chatty Canadian lady at swimming.
We ignored the rest and with 5 kids between us took out a whole bench in the changing rooms

In my experience, the swimming mums were worse than the ballet mums. Ballet is all about helping less experienced mums put their daughters' hair in buns, "ooh I thought about reading that book, is it good?" and loveliness!

Swimming was exactly as you described!

There are dads at ballet, but no dads at swimming. Men free zones bring out the worst in (some) women and the 'mummies' are no different!

Swimming parents (and yes, lots of dads) aren't too bad at ours, apart from the shower hoggers (mums of course in our changing rooms but who knows, may be dads too in the others...though i doubt it).
Seems to be that the more competitive the sport gets, the worse the parents..and the older the child gets, the worse the parents. IMHO netball is the worst here, hockey (which DS plays) is more laid back. No experience of ballet!
Not sure if this is common, but at my DCs' school all parent helpers for sporting events need to read fair play charters for parents (obvious things like "don't swear at the ref" and "encourage the players, don't abuse them". These are only primary school kids!

My swimming classes are great.
Except that I am a helicopter parent.
My child is just about to turn 3 so she can't be left to get changed, but I hover far more than necessary even so.
This is because something in the water turns her into the child from hell. She can be delightful, sunny, co-operative and all the rest going in. She has a great time, we laugh a lot, she tells me she loves me, and then we get out. And somewhere on the way back to the changing room someone slips in and swaps my kid for a child who is difficult, obnoxious, stubborn and tantrums. I hold on tight to my own kid each week but the swap always happens.
So I am a helicopter parent in order to try to cut off each utterance/throwing fit before it happens. I like to catch the clothes before they hit the wet floor, and talk loudly to drown out the repeated 'No, Mummy. I don't like you. I don't like that little boy there. No, I not. You are a silly Mummy' etc.
So I also tell everyone how nice she is usually, because I went to the swimming class partly to try and make friends and am not going to manage it if my offspring continues to demonstrate the worst side of herself during the one time we could all chat. They will all avoid us if this carries on - I'm just begging them to see past it and maybe consider a playdate (for the kids) and a coffee (for us)!!

I used to love swimming lessons with DS1 because there was another mother there who, like me, was breastfeeding a grown man toddler and we could huddle together with our huge kids toddlers for comfort from the filthy looks from the other parents.

hmmm, i think out of that lot i am nearest to Helicopter
i think i might go to the same pool as SuePurblybiltbyElves, as I have to hover in the "seating area" spending the whole time trying to stop dd2 from throwing herself in.

Yanbu.

Although I judged all the other fussy parents for waiting with a towel as their dc's came out of the pool. I mean it's not that blardy cold after a swim, I used to make ds wait until we were in the changing room.

Then I went swimming the other week and realised it's freezing when you get out . So, now, I'm another fussy mum hovering with a towel so my poor darling doesn't catch a chill.

Our classes have gangs of silbing roaming free and doing colouring on the floor near the lockers, I'm forever stepping over small children and crayons.

I wouldn't know ours is a cushy number (for me), they're at the gym we're members at so ds goes in the creche (he's 2) dd has her lesson and I go on the treadmill for half an hour

Everyone at our class is really nice although DS is only 18 months so maybe the really competitive stuff comes later >> wonders if she's the one everyone else complains about

I don't have a kid yet, but if I had one I wouldn't be rushed in the shower by the other mums judging me

If there was a huge line I would dry quickly get dressed and go home and shower

Not moan on MN

And I say that as a child who swam for years

ugh, sounds dreadful.

i don't boast often but will now we have our own pool (used to be a swimming baths) in our building and we taught our daughter to swim (well, she taught herself) at 2 years old. she just chucks herself in and i can keep an eye as i swim. saved pounds and miserable trips lgging wet towels everywhere.

she got dunked from 7-8 weeks and went in the pool daily.