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'm so random and zany, me."

Even if she was attention seeking, I honestly don't understand why you care so much. Or at all.

Ok, so the most exciting thing on this thread was Kitty confirming it was the same person the OP was talking about and it hasn't been mentioned since!!! I was expecting funny stories.

I decided to get a hula hoop, It was delivered yesterday, I left it hanging on the dining chair and went upstairs to clean the bath. I came down and the dog had chewed it into three pieces before I had even tried it.

I don't care!
I thought it would amuse people and lead to a thread of "weird stuff I've seen on the school run",
I pitched it badly because I always get this stuff wrong and now it's gone all nasty and I feel bad.

"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."

That's your friends. Or are you seriously suggesting autism isn't a spectrum condition and because your friends are perfectly capable of something, all people who have autism will also be capable of it?

I'm autistic. I find most autistic people to be very caring and non judgmental but easily confused by other people because we're trying to work out what the rules are to the games that everyone else seems to be playing.

However....

Some neurotypical people can be mean and judgmental, cynical, negative and generally not very nice people. So asking them for their opinions on life can give you very skewed info.

I work in mental health - and have had my own issues - so know a bit about it. Wacky behaviour on its own doesn't indicate anything very much. And who's to say what is wacky anyway? There is actually no rule book for being a human. We're all just muddling through. I prefer the company of the people who don't really care what others think of them and hula hoop in public than the ones who sit on the sidelines condemning those that do because it doesn't meet their own definition of normal.

Here's to the wacky ones

'How dare you be so judgmental on the internet! You're all boring, awful people!' - said some very judgmental people on the internet.

Personally I think if you deliberately attract attention towards yourself by doing something unusual in a public place then you can expect people to find it noteworthy and discuss it with their friends. To me, it's a bit like those people who get sanctimonious about the weirdos who go on X Factor and get upset about us discussing them. They put themselves in the spotlight! So did hula mum.

Oh and I play the cello. Should I do that on the pavement and expect no raised eyebrows too? Good time to practise and all...

Could you concentrate enough to play on the pavement? Could you carry your cello and some sort of stool safely to the pavement? Would you want to expose your cello to potential damage (weather, dropping it) by playing outdoors? I don't think it compares to hula hooping TBH. BTW a boy in our school practises guitar on the playground before the bell goes every morning...

You could try it though - most people love street musicians, maybe you could make some money

Don't worry OP - I just thought you were having a muse on a somewhat unusual sight. (And if you don't want to draw attention you surely wouldn't hula hoop, so the opposite is quite likely to be true)

But this is MN. which exists in an alternative reality.

In real life if you see someone doing a hula hoop routine on the pavement, it is comment worthy, or mildly amusing.

On MN if you are not hula hooping wildly up and down the road to the point of orgasm you are mean, judgemental and dull.

Bet she's fit though!

Do those people shouting 'mean girls' about OP and other posters never find anything remotely cringeworthy? My initial instinct would probably be to think 'attention seeking'. The same as if someone started doing back flips down the street past all the school run cars. Good for her for being 'different' or advertising her business, people can do what they want but there is a definite cringe factor.

Why is someone doing what they like, and doing no harm to anyone else, something to cringe at? So what if some people don't conform?

Well said tygr 🙂 🍷

It just is, feeling uncomfortable or cringing is a normal thing to feel about lots of scenarios. Do you never cringe at anything at all? I cringe at black drawn-on eyebrows and fake nails with hideous nail art. Those people are going about their daily life doing what they want and I am sometimes inwardly cringing. I'm sure people do it to me too.

There are a lot of wholesome people on this thread who must never have cringed

Sisinisawa I have seen many strange things (I live in a city known for it's pride in being a bit "out there") and a lot of it makes me smile. There were the people dressed up as cupid who were giving out heart-shaped biscuits on valentine's day so that "everyone could feel loved". There was the woman in a pink ballet outfit doing what I assume was very good ballet exercises at the subway station which had a handrail at what looked like the perfect height for a barre. There are buskers singing original songs that don't always sound like songs(!) and people dressed up on roller skates. There are people that drive the streets in cars decked out like carnival floats. There are men and women dressed as Wonder Woman going on works day trips to the beach. There are older ladies with walking their cats (who look equally old) in cat carriers covered in streamers. Sometimes there are people juggling in the park or unicycling to the supermarket.

It makes me smile and is one of the main reasons I love this city. So I appreciate you wanting to hear things like that and I hope you get some pleasure from hearing about these. I'm sorry your thread didn't go the way you hoped and people took your OP the wrong way (as I did when I first read it). I see that it was just a quick choice of words to get something started that didn't go quite the way you intended. Don't feel bad about it, you set people straight. It happens on the Internet too much, sadly, but then we get to hear from more people than we ever would if we couldn't reach out online.

I'll tell you what made me cringe:

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

That - the like everyone else is what this thread hinges on.

Hilarious! I wish someone would do this at ours! I can't believe that some MNs don't love your post!

I'd be mildly amused by it, purely because I find hula hooping mesmerising. As for thinking she's mentally ill, no way. It's just another form of exercise, I wouldn't bat an eye lid if a school run mum jogged past me so hardly going to get weirded out if they hula hoop, excersise is exercise surely it's all good?!

On a health kick and getting in some excersise while she can? Don't be so blooming judgy.

Also to the poster who suggested mental health issues... really? I just.... wow!

I've just bought a hula hoop. Thanks for reminding me to OP!

Great post, BoomBoomsCousin.

Both paragraphs, including the comments to OP.

Ohtoblazes - really, it makes you cringe that most people have realised it kind of makes sense to wait in the car? Are they all sheep, who are scared to get out and hula hoop (rather than finding it warmer and more comfortable to sit for a few minutes)?