To ask what’s the most toe curling OTT boast/showing off you’ve heard from a parent about their child?

[Rainbowb]

Just seen a FB post from a mum friend boasting about her 9yo daughter doing online dance and gym sessions via zoom and practising for her 11 plus complete with picture of said child sat at her desk and smiling for the camera. Hope the child gets time to chill out now and then! Mum obviously needs us all to believe her daughter is a high achiever! It was so cringy though and I wondered if anyone else out there was biting their lip at stuff like this?!

[SunshineCake]

I would argue brains aren't always genetic. My mother isn't very bright and I have no clue about my father whereas I did alright at school and my dc are doing well.

[Twinkie01]

Love threads like this. My boasting about my kids is summed up with me saying I've managed to raise pretty normal kids.

None of my kids ate anything exciting or not beige till they were about 12 and when I mentioned how excited I was that DC ate a satsuma one at age 3 I was told it was disgusting because it was dipped in ketchup and salad cream!!! Got 2 fruits and eggs in that concoction bitch so what if Ophelia eats kale pesto.

I love the pictures of the kids with star of the week certificates (it's done on rotation), the parents who say they've been to parents evening and they're so proud of their kids achieving this that and the other, we all get told that as it's basically what the point of parents evening is 🙄 and the ones that are special, kind, super duper etc etc, all of us think that of our kids and it says more about what's lacking in them as people rather than their children.

[SunbeamShadow]

@HallieKnight

I'm confused. You think parents should keep their kid a secret and never talk to them in public?

Here have my very first

[CaraDuneRedux]

think? thing! FFS, fat fingers.

(I shall not be boasting about my superior literacy skills in the Christmas round-robin, clearly.)

[SpaceOP]

I remember once a friend was boasting to another friend about having to move her dd from her current school as she was an over achiever and was bored with the work as it didn’t challenge her.

You'd hate me then. DH and I are seriously considering moving DD at some point as the school she's at is brilliant, but not very academically focussed. I generally only discuss this with very good friends who would know I am not making snide statements about other children, and in fact, I'm extremely happy with their current school as it has been truly wonderful for my DS who would have struggled in a very academic environment. It's not boasting when I discuss it. In fact, it's a stress. Because I don't actually want to move her. She is happy. The school is so good with the children. But I also don't want her to suffer long term because she is more academic than her brother. My sister thinks I should have moved her already. My MIL thinks it's ridiculous to even consider it. And I know that whatever we decide it's not going to be perfect so I have to work out what the best option is based on the pros and cons of each. So you might think it's me putting down the other children but I assure you, I'm not.

[bibliomania]

I save my boasting about DD for DD's grandparents, who are pleasingly ready to agree with me about her utter wondrousness.

[Reborn2020]

lboogy Fri 13-Nov-20 13:47:26
Sounds like a bit of a bitter post tbh. Some parents put in a lot of work into developing their kids and are proud when they see the hard work paying off. Sorry that upsets you.


oh my!

[Disco91]

@GlummyMcGlummerson

Last year my DD's school had an after school session where parents could come and see the work their child had done, paintings, projects etc. In the middle of looking at some of DD's art, a dad who I will call PoshWanker (very showy offy type who name drops because he's worked with very minor celebs in the past) said VERY loudly and in an exaggerated accent "Oh Jennifer, just look at this work book. Your hand writing has improved exponentially since last term. absolutely superb, bravo." Then patted her on the head 🤣 my inner cheeks nearly bled with biting, trying not to laugh.

This sounds quite nice actually... a parent taking an interest in child’s work, noticing and appreciating they have improved since last year and just complimenting and encouraging the child on said improvement 🤷‍♀️

[HallieKnight]

You know kids are all different, just like adults. Some like pizza, some like sushi. Some ace their GCSEs at 5 some scrape a pass at 18. All should be celebrated.

You shouldn't hate on a child for being different to your own

[Thorgod]

Self isolation day 10 with two under three and this has made me cry with laughter. THANK YOU

[Thorgod]

[quote Gancanny]@SpaceOP to balance out the day when we saw the raccoon DD shouted that it was a "FUCKS" (fox) so I had the precocious Marmoset child reading out the habitat and conservation details and the miniature Begbie jumping up and down screaming "FUCKS FUCKS FUCKS!"[/quote]
Self isolation day 10 with two under three and this has made me cry with laughter. THANK YOU grin

[StarlightIntheNight]

One mom used to brag about her daughters ability all the time...and the girl is friends with my dd. She wrote my dd a note a couple years ago and drew a picture...which were scribbles and very bad handwriting....which was shocking to me with the amount of bragging done about this dc.

The bragging has stopped and my dc is still good friends with the dc.

[EcoCustard]

I know a few boasters of their children’s achievements. Many are maths geniuses, enigmas, football greats yada, yada, yada. One of dc2’s school friends is a genius and an enigma according to his dad, ( he actually said this) capable of writing long stories, complex maths at 5. His mum paints an entirely different picture and often moans about his unwillingness to do anything and how concerned she is about him being behind at school. I love listening to parental boasting, and am happy to remain silent on my dc‘s unless it’s to DH.

[Sequoiadendrongiganteum]

It's a balance though isn't it. I was brought up to believe it isn't nice to boast. My parents never said anything nice about me to anyone, and never praised me. When I graduated top of my year at uni I really really hoped they'd say they were proud of me. I wanted that so much. I got 'we knew you'd get that'.

Not surprisingly I have cripplingly low self esteem and can't take a compliment. I always make a dumb comment doing myself down in response.

My DH on the other hand really believes in himself. He had the opposite upbringing. His parents were very proud of him and probably annoyed a lot of people by saying so.

I am teaching my dcs to be proud of their achievements, and to say 'thank you' if someone compliments them. I want them to be confident, to believe in themselves, and to have the self awareness to know when it is appropriate to talk about their successes, and when it might not be.

[CaraDuneRedux]

to balance out the day when we saw the raccoon DD shouted that it was a "FUCKS" (fox) so I had the precocious Marmoset child reading out the habitat and conservation details and the miniature Begbie jumping up and down screaming "FUCKS FUCKS FUCKS!"

That reminds me of the day DS and I were in a toy shop, and he picked up a dinosaur and said very loudly "triceratops". However, before I could preen over his excellent dinosaur recognition skills, he then picked up a toy sheep and said, equally loudly, "cow."

What's that line about stopped clocks being right twice a day?

[calamityjam]

I literally moved house because of one of these parents. I knew her through school but disliked her and we didn't speak. Years later bumped into her on post natal ward. She moved across the street from me a few months later and I had to listen to all this shite and competitive parenting bollocks for 9 years. Her child was fantastic at everything and mine was painted as the cheerleading side kick. All in her head. Anyway after her parents bought a house opposite mine and she got a job at the kids school, I upped sticks and moved to the other side of town to get a bit of fucking breathing space.

[FKATondelayo]

I often loudly compliment my kids (in public) if I think they have done a good thing. I also shout at them in public if I think they are being dicks.

I didn't get much praise as a kid so I try and compensate. But equally I don't want them to be entitled twats who expect a reward for showing up.

It's a balance.

[MsTSwift]

Dh parents are the opposite neither went to university both left school at 16 and don’t think even now they really appreciate how well dh has done! The best they can say is “he’s never given us any trouble” he was a county sportsman worked his arse off and got to Cambridge to read law from quite a shit comp! They should flipping boast!

[N0tthe0nlyfruit]

DSs BFs Mother is utterly obnoxious. Actually, so is the son. Proclaims his knowledge about everything and is rude, picky, demanding and sneery. The Mother actually said "my little geniuses" to me, in a "oh, what I have to put up with as a Mother of gifted children" kind of way. Anything her children do is exceptional. Ugh

[Morred]

Sometimes it's not just the parents - my nephew (aged 3) won a prize at pre-school and proudly told me it was 'being the best at it all'

His mum doesn't know what it's actually for either but sadly hasn't used his explanation to boast to all her friends.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

My sister regularly goes in about how her PFB is on 'the 50th centile ', which if I'm not mistaken, means she is entirely average. It's as if this delicate balancing act is achieved through only an incredibly high standard of parenting

[Camomila]

we were worried at first about her Russian being behind because her English is great, but she's really caught up.
That doesn't sound like a boast, that sounds like someone trying to bring DC up bilingual
My baby just looks at me when I speak English, but I think understands Italian.

Ancientgran That's really great, sounds like her parents really encouraged her/recognised her potential.

[bibliomania]

That's brilliant, thenewaverage.

[attillathenun]

Had a girl in my year at school whose parents used to take out newspaper articles in the local paper about her achievements. She got no minor faults in her driving test and passed first time and they took out half a page about it

There’s a guy at our work who we regularly take the piss out of for his boastings about his children. They are destined to discover a cure for cancer/win all the gold medals/ be the first people to walk on Mars. Equally he boasts about his own life in the same way. Guess I must just be jealous that I don’t live an exceptional life that everyone wants to hear about 😂

[honeylulu]

woman in one of my birth groups, said that the midwife with nearly 40 years experience had never seen such an incredibly powerful woman give birth in such a powerful way before

I'm imagining her firing the baby out of her fanjo like a cannonball - KABOOM!!!