WIBU to have entered in to a Loud Parenting stand-off at the library?

[welliesandpyjamas]

I think I know I WBU. In fact, I have brought shame on MN by stooping to these levels rather than just smirking and ignoring. I apologise.

I arrived early with DS2 to library rhymetime and was sitting reading quietly in the corner. Other mum comes in and announces to the whole place to her toddler that they will now sit and read. Cue LOUD reading of and over the top expressions and actions to the disinterested child. Very LOUD and ARTICULATED. And for some reason, I decided to out-loud-parent her and do the same, but going up one, by reading the bilingual books

In my defence, I did very quickly get a grip and stop.

She didn't, though. Went on for another 15 minutes and then was the loudest singer with the biggest actions during Rhymetime. Her dc did I mention his name was Zebediah? was more interested in making piles of books and picking his nose.

Arf at out louding bilingually!

nickel I also used to sing that to DS in German. DH and I can both speak German, but there was no excuse I do not do that in public though.

Actually nickel, I did have a sort of excuse. I did it after watching ted talk So keep it up I say!

I go to a yummy mummy cafe now and then (the coffee costs about £4 and you can get a cake for a fiver if you are lucky and it's all made out of lentils and organic dung beetles). Anyway, they do loud parents ALL THE FLIPPING TIME.

I find slow applause very effective.

and teaching the DC to say 'mummy what's wrong with that lady she's SO LOUD'.

yy whomoved - I know of many such places. And I like your DDs response

Bugger this ted talk I attached "this" to the URL.

Love this thread. I go to rhyme time because I feel like dd should get to see other infants, but I do feel a little self conscious about how erm middle class is the only description I can come up with the whole thing is - lots of parents singing nursery rhymes to largely uninterested babies.

But the library does have a great coffee shop that sells cake so it is worth it.

And the parents are all actually really lovely, I just think that as a group we could come across as a bit hilarious.

oooh, i need to learn it in german too - that would make more sense as i did German much much longer than french.
that's my job for tomorrow.
i know all the words except shoulders....

Rhyme time is great. They do "different versions" of songs. So I sing dead loud until we get to the different part and then I am like "lalalalalal" quietly hoping no one noticed. When I see someone else doing it I give them that knowing look across the circle and have an internal snigger to myself about having a fellow "lala"-er in the group.

I mean, did you know that you can row your boat not only to crocodiles, but polar bears and lions too? I can never sing "Row row row your boat gently to the riverrr" without going dead Scottish either, Rab C would be proud.

I was brainwashed by a term or so of baby sign classes with DS1 (biggest waste of money ever - I've learnt far more BSL watching Something Special!) and now I'm incapable of singing Miss Polly Had a Dolly without doing the signs for 'door', 'doctor', 'write', 'morning', etc. I bet the other parents at that particular gathering are all behind their hands at me, but it's involuntary.

Oh, and we sing the feminist, NHS version too - Miss Polly's GP is a she and she does NOT come back in the morning with her bill, bill, bill, oh no.

Schulter :)

i do know some fab songs in German.

Es war einmal ein Känguruh is the best

Reshape - baby signing is based on American Sign Language, so no wonder

I clearly need to expand my repertoire in time for DS2 next month :o

I have some nice books in German that I read to him though, like "Der Hase mit der roten Nase" and "Der Katzentatzentanz". I think they're both by Helme Heine.

Oh and "Weißt du eigentlich, wie lieb ich dich hab?" - "Guess how much I love you" :)

Ahem

Something special is Makaton, not BSL, or ASL

I can do Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in Japanese

I used to babysit a lot for a little girl who used Makaton, especially when singing etc. The problem was, every time I spoke to/ sang any rhymes with any others that age I automatically put the signs in. Fortunately never in public, although perhaps I should have done, and charged extra

I have just remembered my other PP failure on that day out

On the way down Whitehall (before the shoving each other over bit), going past the horses in the sentry boxes on Horse Guards I start droning on about the Life Guards / Blues and Royals etc

Cue DS2

DS2 - "What happens if the horse needs a poo?"
Me - "err they just poo where they stand"
DS2 - " Yes, look at the big poo the horse has done..."

We're not cut out for this PP business at all.

Oh dear. I live in Germany and do all my explainy things in English. I hope no-one thinks I'm a ponce. But if I talked to her in German they'd think I was a thicky thicko, so it's lose-lose.

oh no, i have just realised I must come across as a complete public parenting nightmare.

Does it make it any better if it's all because my toddler has the attention span of a flea and occasionally the singing / signing / high pitched Super Interested Voice sometimes drags him back from the brink of tantrums?

And we do sign everything, but he has severe speech delay and his primary communication is through makaton so thats ok right?

oh pants i'm One of Those Mothers already.

Impycelyn

It doesn't matter if you are speaking French . There were a couple chatting with their kids on the train a few months ago and were flitting between English and French. It was lovely
But they weren't doing it with flags and whistles and a big poster saying 'look, look - were are doing german next! '

Michaela - nah, you're fine. I can spot a tantrum-avoidance strategy at 50 paces. DS1 was a championship-class tantrummer

A different language is absolutely fine -as long as it is a normal,quiet speaking voice. Anything is OK if it isn't done loudly to proclaim 'look at me-I am a wonderful parent'!

Oh god, Ive got one of these LP mums in DD's swim class. If its not bad enough trying to get DD dry and changed when she's wriggling around like a little eel & crawling in all the wet, never mind get my boobs & fanjo dry before heading back out into the freezing cold I have to listen to "pratty anna" as she is fondly known between my friend and I prattling on about bloody bollocks to her kid. FFS woman just get changed silently. There is no need to comment on everything! Or to say the same thing over and over again but in a different way! I am too angry thinking about ti now to even think of an example. But just putting on this kids coat and shoes seems to need an unbelievable amount of loud commentary.

I was in starbucks once with a dad who was talking to his daughter in the loudest voice possible about how trains dont have guards, they have conductors, he then proceeded to write conductor on a napkin and spell it out for his DD - who looked about 18 months and so uninterested and ran off. He ran after her shouting 'Flossie, I am teaching you how to spell, you do want to learn how to spell dont you'

I nearly choked on my coffee.

And then the dc goes to school, and ostentatious parent loses a bit of control and become a gigantic anxious perfectionistic unrealistic pain in the arse to the school .......