AIBU to think this mum was attention seeking?

[Sisinisawa]

I arrived early for the school run today so sat in the car waiting like everyone else.

Well, everyone except a mum, new to the school this year, who got out of her car, opened the boot, took out a hula hoop and started writhing around with it doing some form of exercise/dance. On the pavement.

I mean, WTAF?

Who does that?

What say you Mumsnet? Attention-seeking or mad as a box of frogs?

I have some ankle & knee exercises I'm supposed to do, but they're so bloody boring I don't do them, so I decided I should use the time waiting around at pick up to do them. They only involve standing on one foot or using the kerb to 'dip down' etc, basically nothing 'out there'. I just couldn't do it, I felt like far too much of an attention seeking twat. A hula hoop...I just couldn't. Not even if I was slim & fit.

🐸🐸🐸🐸

I absolutely can't stand adults being wacky and zany in order to draw as much attention to themselves as possible. Like when grown ups go down the slides in softplay and think they're being hilarious and everyone will think they're such a laugh. Why do they need so much validation from strangers?

Yeah becaue godforbid I should chase my child round soft play just for the fun of it.

God some of you on this thread sound like right pathetic, judgy, joyless pearl clutchers.

How dare anyone do anything vaguely different from the accepted british norm of sitting silently in your car trying to avoid eye contact, like good little middle class refined brits??

If someone is haveing a good time, what the fuck business is it of anyne elses??

Do you joyless twats think anyone having a laugh and a giggle in public is just "doing it for attention"??
Or is it just someone doing doing something you don't like that assume is attention seeking?

If someone jogs down the street in bright lycra hotpants, are they attention seeking or going for a jog??

And as for the mental healt posts.....you fools should be fucking ashamed of yourselves.

It says a lot about you, that anyone doing anything vaugely different from the norm is immediately asumed to be mentally ill, as opposed to just, you know, enjoying themselves.

I would make friends with her btw......she sounds like my kind of person!

I got accused of being mentally ill by some po-faced twat in a two piece suit once....
My crime??
Wearing hippy trousers, bright blue eyeliner and having a shaved head!

I bet that was one of you who thinks this womans mentally ill, wasn't it??

Cos god forbid anyone should deviate from the social norms.

The hula hooping people I know are really enthusiastic about it, and so I can totally imagine one of them doing it while waiting for something.

Eh, if that's what she likes, why not?

(I could probably do with some core exercise, but if I'm waiting for something, I'm much more likely to be sat on my arse reading fanfic on my phone, which is hardly more respectable, just not as conspicuous. )

I bet judgy mummy posted it all over fb so the other school mums could see! Should of got out and asked for a go! Or did judgy mummy to scared of the other stepford mums!

urgh.

It's OPs like these that make me remember why mumsnet leaves a sour taste in my mouth sometimes.

Classic mean girl behaviour. See something you think is weird - judge - talk about it to loads of people behind her back.

If you saw a child hula-hooping you'd smile (I hope) thinking how lovely it is to see someone playing/exercising/having fun. Can you not try and extend that to adults?

@lemonzest123 I also want to buy a hula hoop now! There's so many different ones on firetoys though - how do we know the difference / which one to get??

I can't believe two people on this thread are giving personal details of this woman and then implying she isn't sane!! 😡How absolutely despicable!

I think she sounds fun - I like people who dare to be a little different! But well done on posting about this woman - who has done NOTHING to you - in an attempt to invite people to laugh at her. It probably won't be long before someone tells her.

To be honest "attention seeking" wouldn't be my first thought. I am a unicycle enthusiast and used to ride it around the park. I'm sure some people would've thought I was "seeking attention" but to me I was just doing something I love. Other people's opinions wrt it didn't even make it into the decision-making process.

She was just using the time to for a bit of practise in. Hoopings pretty addictive once you get going. Good on her for not giving a stuff what other people think.

I can't believe two people on this thread are giving personal details of this woman and then implying she isn't sane!! 😡How absolutely despicable!

This.

OP you and others on this thread are classic fucking bullying, nasty, mean girl types.

What you are doing is the internet equivalent is standing in the corridor looking pointedly at your victim and laughing and talking behind your hand.

Hope you aren't teaching your kids that it's ok to laugh at people enjoying themselves and being different.

FFS. Bullies never grow up do they??

Really reminds me of the girls at school trying to get a rise out of me by having a pop at my goth stuff- it failed, becaue I loved the fact that being a goth wound them up so much they went out of their way to try and upset me.

But if I had been less confident in my choices, it might have had me scurrying back to topshop, and giving up on being different.

Grow up.

I always go down the slide at the park and softplay, I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks. I'm having fun with my child. People are so judgemental.. obviously feel inferior and bitter to be so snidey.

The OP did point out she was autistic, so I think calling her "mean girl" because she doesn't think about social situations the same was as others is pretty fucking disgraceful.

That said, the other poster who did recognise the hula instructor was just gleeful. Something tells me she told half he school about this tread already.

Sorry Trolls but I massively disagree.
I have friends who are autistic, they are perfectly capable of not judging someone for doing something a bit different.
Plus they would find it ever so slightly offensive that autism was being used as an excuse to have a dig.

Plus that and the many, many others who piled in with glee to have a pop at a woman they don't fucking know from Adam, just gives the whole thread a nasty bully vibe, and no mental health issue is an excuse for that.

@LanaKanesLeftNippleTassle, I agree, why on Earth would I go down the slide at soft play just to impress a group of strangers??? I have done it, but only to please my DDs.

Some people on mumsnet have the idea that parents only want to show off to strangers, quite frankly I have other things to worry about!

I can't hula hoop . My friend really upstaged me at a wedding recently. Oh and at another wedding we went on a bouncy castle. I hope people didn't think we were mentally ill

It's not something you see everyday is it? But no need for some of the judgemental reactions.

I do fun things with the dc sometimes but I am definitely not an attention seeker I can promise you, just not uptight

I really hope she's heard about this thread and is hula hooping like mad at pick up,having dyed her hair green and wearing flashing led lights.

Dear Hula Hooper School Run Mum

If you're reading this, or get to hear about it from anyone else, please know that there are a lot of us who are in awe of your confidence to fly in the face of convention, and be yourself.

Wish I had the guts, frankly.

More power to your elbow. (And whatever other body parts you choose to rotate your hoops off).

Going down the slide at soft play as an adult is bloody dangerous for all the 12 kg preschoolers using the equipment at the same time - it's one thing if it's a necessary evil to keep your own child safe or protect other kids from them, but it's self centered thoughtless idiocy if an adult does it for fun unless the place is empty.

That's the thing - there are ways and reasons for doing things and the situation and motivation make a difference to whether the individual is just doing their thing, not being a sheep, having fun without doing any harm or whether they are being a self centered / attention seeking thoughtless pain in the arse.

Hoola hooping on the pavement might be forcing people to step into the road and that makes it the behaviour of a twat. If it's doing no harm fine - but you'd have to be there and see the expression on her face and the subtleties of whether she's performing or exercising to know whether she's an exhibitionist or a free spirit.

For those of you saddened by the judgments, I was generously offered hooping advice and a free and for nothing hula hoop by a number of kind MNers up thread. Two sides to every coin and all that...

How dare anyone do anything vaguely different from the accepted british norm of sitting silently in your car trying to avoid eye contact, like good little middle class refined brits??

This. British people can be very joyless - as this thread so neatly demonstrates. Anyone who dares stands out gets slated or diagnosed with a MH problem!

Going down the slide at soft play as an adult is bloody dangerous for all the 12 kg preschoolers using the equipment at the same time - it's one thing if it's a necessary evil to keep your own child safe or protect other kids from them, but it's self centered thoughtless idiocy if an adult does it for fun unless the place is empty.

At my local soft play, there are areas specifically designated as adult friendly, and adults are encouraged to join their children.
It is not unusual to see mums and dads of all shapes and sizes attempting to squeeze through the "rollers" or wobbling their way across a rope bridge after small children shouting "hurry up mum, you're so slow!"
It gladdens my heart tbh!
There is also a seperate area for small children, and a masive area just for babies and toddlers.

Not all soft plays are the same

I'm glad I never had to squeeze through rollers or wobble across bridges at softplay.

This reminds me of when my daughter used to go swimming and one of the mums used to do full on yoga, mat and all, on the café floor.

Doing something so completely out of the ordinary that it is bound to only attract negative attention CAN be indicative of problems though. There was a man who lived near me when I was younger who used to dance in the street while the local teens laughed and shouted abuse at him and I happen to know he did have a mh condition.
From what the op has said since her op though I would imagine this lady was just drumming up business for her class and there will be a video of her school run hoola hooping uploaded on sm soon.