New playgroup and snobby grandparents

[2under3inkent]

So I took my 2 year old son to a new playgroup today. He straight away clicked with a similar age boy. There were footballs and trucks and both my son and this little boy were kicking the ball to each other and running after it, giggling. A few other mums commented on how cute they were and how gentle they were being for their age which we appreciated. Anyway, there were about 3 grandparents sat right at the back of the hall and all they were doing was moaning. They said the children should just sit on the floor, do colouring, use a train track or whatever. There were probably 15 kids at this group and around 10 were going from activity to activity running round and playing. But the fact they were constantly calling the kids "naughty, feral, bad, too excitable, too hyper" just made me uncomfortable.
Whats the point of going to a play group to not let children play?

How did you hear all that from where you were?

If you DID truly manage to hear any of that then they were just passing remarks

That's all.

And 'snobby'??? Really?

Ignore them.

I help run a toddler group, and your son behaved exactly as I would expect a two year old to behave. It sounds like he had a lovely time and made a new friend .

If this group of grandparents were moaning like this at my group, us volunteers would be secretly rolling out eyes at them...

Because when i took my son to the toilet i had to walk past them and as they were sat by it i can clearly hear them.

Yes thats how it felt. Sorry if you dont feel it is an appropriate word.

Yes I did hear it. Thats why it made me uncomfortable.

They were grandparents of the children playing or were just hanging out in the hall?

Grandparents of children in there

Who cares? Honestly I wouldn't give it a second of headspace.

So you heard a, what, 5 second snippet of their conversation?
Maybe they thought there'd be more organised activities rather than everyone running around.

Ah, just ignore it. People can be odd.

Just ignore them & don't let it put you off attending.

Jesus, there’s some right snippy people about. Both in the playgroup and on here. The two little boys were behaving as I’d expect them to behave, two year olds having fun. I’m a granny an old granny at that.

maybe they were kicking the ball where othertoddlers and babies were sitting playing , in which case i can understand they might have been intimidated

It doesn't sound snobby at all.

It sounds like they were either being unreasonable in their expectations of young children playing or the boys chasing the ball/each other was getting too boisterous for the room/other children.

Me either!

They were "constantly" calling the children names but you only heard them when you went to the toilet?

It's not new. There's always a few self declared perfect parents at playgroups. Anything different to their child's behaviour will be deemed poor behaviour, rather than variety!

Meh, who cares what they're talking about, crack on. If they hate it that much they won't come back. As long as your child isn't hurting or intimidating any others they can bugger off with their judgement.

Sounds like the children were having fun so that is what matters. I would ignore the moaning grannies. I am a granny myself and think they sound a bit unfriendly and as if they are there under sufferance.