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?!

I was a speech therapist. Unless the child was an absolute bar-steward I used to say that to all the parents.
Boast alert I used be a SALT but then trained as a teacher.
I used to say to pupils 'You're my favourite pupil called John' a la Bruce Forsyth. At parents' evening I would tell parents that I wished I had a class full of Fionas or whatever if their child was particularly lovely. I'm sure I might have sparked off some of this boastiness

I think it is lovely when people talk about their kids with pride. I don't see it as bragging and I don't see it as them raising themselves up above others. I think they have good news about their kid and they want to share it however big or small. Trying to cast my mind back to any bragging parents and all can think of is two different mums sharing some lovely news about their various children's (very impressive!) achievements. Not boasting, just some happy news!

Laughing at the earth mother shooting a baby out like a cannonball
This all reminds me of the grimly competitive toddler groups my DS and I attended years ago.
Previously very accomplished women constantly one upping each other on things like their toddler being the first to shit in a loo.
I love my DS, he's my world, but he couldn't join in cos he was a bit rubbish with his milestones (he was very prem and poorly at first.) I had to content myself with him happily shitting in nappies. But you know what, they were world beating shits-should have put THAT on FB, with the ubiquitous "feeling blessed"!😂

Actually, our parents' evening is a factual event, we have 5mins with the teacher who explains where they're at, no compliments, just objective facts. We are allowed to look at our child's workbooks and work on display and this is when I saw DD's tiger drawing. I actually don't think she was being patronised when they awarded a badge for Art at the end of the year. My DH is an Architect and he also went to art college, he thought it was technically really good and he has to draw for his job. He has it up on the wall as he read somewhere about the need to display your children's art for self esteem. We had a Christmas party, mostly some of his architect colleagues came along and the Tiger picture was remarked upon particularly as she was 7 at the time. I'm not sure the teachers bang on about how amazing your children are, I mean DD was not meeting the expected requirements at that age for maths and they were quite quick to tell us.

@SpaceOP

While a few of these are clearly weird batshit parents (the first tooth one made me laugh though), most just seem like normal parental pride, including the OP. Why shouldn't a parent post about child working on things online?

I assume you're sneering at "resilience" because clearly her son is too stupid to get anything else? Well, as a parent whose child has had to build resilience because it's true, he's never going to win the English, Maths or Science prize and everything is much harder for him, believe me, I've been pretty damn proud of him when the teachers tell me that his determination and resilience are impressive.

Personally, I don't put stuff like this up online, but I can easily imagine myself mentioning such things to people in passing if we're talking about the DC. Why is it not allowed to be proud?

I remember a friend from another country once telling me she finds sports day at her children's private school just so so weird. No one cheers the kids on and half the time they act like they aren't even watching. She said she is always the weird woman yelling for her children, her children's team, her children's friends, the child who's coming last but really trying etc. She can't get her head around this attitude that we shouldn't be celebrating the children's achievements, whether that's a win or just successfully completing the course.

It's because sports days are boring and full of OPKs.

@WhySoSensitive

Not a child but a 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. Apparently she specifically asked this woman to start birthing groups because she was so amazing. I still smell the bull even now.

Ah - this is what Trump would have been like had he decided to become a mother!

@1WildTeaParty that is so true!

There was a boy at my primary school, nice, pretty average, a bit shy, very very pushy mother. DM bumped into her last Christmas, asked after her son, 'oh he's doing ever so well for himself, working in tech you know how it is', then after asking after me 'oh very noble to work in the public sector, poor things are so underpaid' (I actually earn a very decent salary for the public sector, peanuts by MN standards of course) . About February time I saw her son working in Currys PC world near to where I live 😁

@ilovesushi

I think it is lovely when people talk about their kids with pride. I don't see it as bragging and I don't see it as them raising themselves up above others. I think they have good news about their kid and they want to share it however big or small. Trying to cast my mind back to any bragging parents and all can think of is two different mums sharing some lovely news about their various children's (very impressive!) achievements. Not boasting, just some happy news!

It doesn't bother me if people talk about their children and are pleased with their achievements, I am pleased with them. However it does depend how it is done and in what company. I remember at work people doing that and behind their backs, others accusing them of 'boasting' which was horrible. I used to say they were not boasting just sharing.

I almost never talked about mine. I just had one and he did some wonderful things, very talented but he also used to get into endless trouble at school for skiving, he was never going to do what he didn't want to do :-). It didn't matter, I thought he was great and so did my husband.

Son is 41 now and has had an extremely successful career so far. I tell him I respect his privacy and don't talk about him; he says, "Oh no, please do talk about me!" :-). You can't win.

Someone I know got her young child to do a video on FB slating Donal Trump, urging people not to vote for him and what a horror he is.

The video was captioned #Poppyforpresident! Which I thought ludicrous. And while I didn't disagree with the sentiment of the vid, small child knows nothing of politics she is 6, we are in the UK so why try and promote voting a certain way to a group of people mostly in the UK so can't vote for / against trump anyway. It was just an activity to get as many likes as possible and for mum and dad to blow their own trumpets.

My DS (teen)!would def choose sushi over pizza, not every time but for a takeaway he doesn’t always want pizza!!
We only have sushi once every few weeks as it’s ££££

Ikwym re boasting parents and I see it a lot more on FB than irl. I think it’s more boasting about ridiculous stuff than being proud of genuine achievements.

@Goldenbear

Oh yes and my DD likes sushi another one where people think you are showing off. My DD hates beige food but I was the same. DD's friend's Mum remarked on how it sounds a bit like you are showing off as her DD only has plain taste. We know each other well so it was in s jokey way. My DD loves sweet stuff though, probably has far too much compared to others so that's not exactly something I would be proud of.

My DS once had a hissy fit because my MIL took him to McDonald’s. I told her beforehand he doesn’t like it.

Unfortunately I wasn’t clear enough to tell her he’d quite happily eat KFC or Burger King. Other people at McDonald’s probably thought he was a snobby brat though.

@Greysofa

Someone I have had to unfollow on Facebook was guilty of so many of these. Child is the cleverest, kindest child going and he comes out with so many adult ideas and phrases that you just wonder where they come from 🤔 I really felt for this child though, as the most unflattering pictures of them have been posted. Look how much X had grown etc. When all that can be seen is, sadly, an extremely obese child who will look back in years to come with horror at the pictures of them all over the internet. Don’t get me wrong, I post occasionally about my child, but only with their agreement and hopefully nothing that will come back to shame them in years to come.

The child wasn't Dudley Dursley, was he?

@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.

Brilliant!

I don't see anything wrong with other parents wanting to share their proud moments. Sure, some of them could be a bit off the scale. But I wouldn't automatically think they must be made up stories nor there must be some nasty messages in there. Why do you have to be so twisted? It just displays your own insecurity or unhappiness. Or you must be truly bored with life and have nothing else to occupy your mind other than picking every imperfection of others.

Why is it so difficult to take it as you read or hear, and just be happy for them? Or you can choose not to react and just keep minding your own business if you didn't feel related to whatever other parents announced. We all have a moment, small or great. Some people choose to keep it private, some people want all the world to know. No need to react so negatively to others expressing their joy, unless you are feeling a bit weak and can't handle it, then you should face to your own problem instead of directing your bitterness towards others.

My only reservation would be the risk of revealing too much of kids' privacy. So yeah, proud parents should be careful what to say, how much to reveal and where and to whom. But otherwise, I really think it's not something you should be complained about with such passion and even worse sneer at it?

I don't mind parents bragging about their children's achievements however big or small.

However I did used to get annoyed by parents of the lead trouble maker in DD's class. Every parents evening they would dutifully post about what a wonderful, hardworking and brilliant young man he was. Odd, given that they were spoken to at least once a week regarding his nasty, and often bullying behaviour. He used racist slurs and targeted girls to hurt on a regular basis. Yet if you only saw his mother's Facebook posts you'd think he was an intelligent angel.

Is it a boast if it’s true though?

My daughter is as smart as they come, first class law degree, passed her Lpc with distinction and is a trainee commercial lawyer with one of the biggest law firms globally. She is also the nicest person I’ve ever met in my life. She literally doesn’t have a bad bone in her body.

Is this boastful or just truthful?

Cos if it’s boasting, colour me boasted, I’ll be singing that girls praises for ever more. Is it truthful. Yup one hundred percent.

I think it’s different if you’re bullshitting. But if it’s actually factual then crack on.

Bluntness100

Yes, it is boasting if it’s true. Don’t get me wrong, you can mention how proud you are of your daughter and I probably wouldn’t mind at all... a couple of times. The line into boasting is a fluid one.

@Stinkywizzleteets

What are parents allowed to say on their social media accounts about their kids? Just curious...

Why do they need to say anything?

Then I shall boast till my proud heart is content 😃

@Bluntness100

Is it a boast if it’s true though?

My daughter is as smart as they come, first class law degree, passed her Lpc with distinction and is a trainee commercial lawyer with one of the biggest law firms globally. She is also the nicest person I’ve ever met in my life. She literally doesn’t have a bad bone in her body.

Is this boastful or just truthful?

Cos if it’s boasting, colour me boasted, I’ll be singing that girls praises for ever more. Is it truthful. Yup one hundred percent.

I think it’s different if you’re bullshitting. But if it’s actually factual then crack on.

Bluntness - that is boast worthy to be fair!

I don't think most of these posts are on that scale. Its usually ordinary Ollie* being made out to be the next Stephen Hawking, when other parents know that's not true.

*apologies to any parents of Ollie's out there - its not personal I just liked the alliteration of it!

Parent watching my and friends 1 year olds both crying and reaching out their hands towards a plate of biscuits (because they'd been told they weren't allowed another one.)

"Oh, little Johnny doesn't even know what biscuits are! He's never wanted to even taste sugar, he just instinctively knows it's bad for him."

@LustigLustig

Parent watching my and friends 1 year olds both crying and reaching out their hands towards a plate of biscuits (because they'd been told they weren't allowed another one.)

"Oh, little Johnny doesn't even know what biscuits are! He's never wanted to even taste sugar, he just instinctively knows it's bad for him."

Ahhshahahahahahahaha. What. A. Bellend.

Thank you Labrador 😃

I’m Facebook friends with a (really lovely) woman who posts pictures every single day of all the extremely wholesome & creative activities her & her kids have done. BUT she only takes photos of the back of the kids heads.

Sooooo you don’t want us to see what Fifi & Trixibelle look like but you just HAVE to tell us about how you created a treasure hunt, went on a bike ride, handmade Halloween decorations & baked a cake that day