Am I being precious or was this mum an arse?

[Coffeecreamers]

My DD 7 has poor motor skills, can't ride a bike to save her life and won't try many physical activities because she is embarrassed that she is not good at them. However, she is good at riding a scooter and think she has a sense of pride travelling to school on it because it is the one thing she can do.

Yesterday, she rode in as normal and going up a steep hill so was working harder than normal and I heard a little girl a couple of years below walking with her mum saying 'she is really not good at riding a scooter is she, mummy?' Her mum replied ' No, Tabitha you are MUCH better at riding your scooter than that her aren't you? and then continued to discuss why Tabitha was much better on the scooter than my dd. I just upped my pace because I couldn't bear dd to hear them and thankfully she didn't.

To be fair, the other mum would have had no idea my dd has problems as she looks completely average, was probably just building her own child's confidence and she wasn't saying it for my dd to hear but if my nt child had said that about anybody, I would have told them it wasn't nice and to be quiet. I would say it wasn't kind to tell others they are not so good at things whilst boasting how good you are. I felt like catching up with her after drop off and telling her she was a complete arsehole for saying that in earshot of my dd incase she heard but didn't obviously. I'm beginning to think I am precious. But both my kids are complete pushovers with other children too. Starting to think maybe we need to toughen up?

Arse. Arse. Arse.

What a pair of charmers.

Dozenth vote for Arse.
The correct answer to the child was somewhere between "Hmmm" and "Ah, But I wonder if you ever have as much fun as Coffee's Dd is having on her scooter."

Oh my god. She was an arsehole. I would never tell my daughter that even if she was better at something. I'd just say something along the lines of we're all different and better at different things. And life would be boring if we were all the same.

Yes, she was an arse. In that situation, had my child said that, I would have said 'actually, I think she is doing just fine, and I don't think you are being very kind to say that when she might hear you because you might upset her' or similar. A child of school age is plenty old enough to start thinking about the effects of their words on other people.

Voting for arse here. YY to the swishy haired scooter riding parents. I thought I was the only one who found that a bit wanky.

And that expains the sudden yet mysterious death of that lady in Tesco last who loudly tutted at the mother trying to placate her tantruming toddler, 'twas Coconutty.

death stare, definitely
or perhaps, a raised eyebrow

That other little girl is getting a terrible bringing up and is going to have some tricky years where she honestly doesn't know why no one likes her. I think your dd, whatever physical problems she may have, stands a much better chance of being happy and doing well (thanks to you)

You are allowed to ride the scooter home in the bog standard, fuck this no ones watching and it's pissing down manner. I will allow that one.

Anything else and you deserve a pothole.

Shes a dick of the highest order.
Tabitha will be too.

Arse arse arse. Sounds like a few mothers I know sadly. YANBU

Also, as so many people have said, people are good at different things. Other child and other mother, for example, are clearly really lacking in both empathy and kindness which are both v good things to have a hefty dollop of in your psyche. If your daughter had heard, it would have been a good time to praise her for being a kind and thoughtful person etc and telling her how important that is in life (much more important than being able to ride a scooter).

Big standard riding is totally acceptable. The one I see does proper hair swishing and always wears sunglasses and yoga trousers.

I hate the scooter-riding parents. One nearly mowed DD down the other day. Get off the fucking scooter. You are not five.

You done the right thing ignore her.

Probably best to ignore her but I wouldn't have been able to. What a twat.

Personally I might of been very tempted to pull Tabitha's Mummy over after drop off and very politely discussed my concerns about her lack of discretion, manners and basic kindness until she squirmed.

I might even have pulled out the "is it true, is it kind, is it necessary" line just to round the conversation off with a little condescension.

I have never seen a real life scooter riding parent!

I sometimes ride DS's scooter if he's eating an ice cream or something . It's not a kids one though to be fair, one of the racing ones.

An arsey twat lol x

The scooter-riding parent I see has her own fucking scooter. Seriously. The kids' ones get left at school. She is an arse. Although not as much of an arse as the woman with a giant bike trailer who likes to take up the entire pavement with it (she often isn't actually riding the bike, just pushing it VEEEERY SLOWLY).

Mum was an arse, and poor Tabitha is going to end up believing that the way to boost your own ego is to belittle others.

I can completely see the fun of getting a go on your kid's scooter when they aren't monopolising it, btw. It's just the mowing down, the self-conscious hair-swishing and the fact that the ones I see seem to have less pavement sense than many three year olds.

YADNBU but you should feel sorry for her child. Children with a parent like that (raise their children's esteem by putting others down) often grow up with a lot of issues.

That is great that your DD is good on her scooter. I have a dc with gross motor skills too and I know how much of a boost it can be when they have something they are good at. It would be good if your dd accidentally rammed the scooter at high speed into the woman's ankle