Reels of parents dancing for joy when kids go to school

[Caterpillarcakeforlife]

On Instagram & Fb.

I get it, I’m craving some space and time on my own now after a long summer. But I just find the really exaggerated reels on social media of the parents being so damn joyful to be getting rid of their kids and back to school a bit..uncomfortable/distasteful
Am I just a boring stick in the mud

It's obviously a joke. I find it more annoying the monologues some people post on how they will miss them as if the child is off to war. Some are happy they are back some are sad

One if my dcs is disabled and the battle to get his needs met us relentless. I hate the special needs world and the demands it makes on me.

M9st if my energy goes on fighting for DS and making sure DD diesnt miss out because im looking the other way.

I need this humour to get me through because if i dont laugh ill cry.

(My own needs are on the backburner constantly)

I feel sorry for some HE parents that they home educate because they can't bear to be parted from their children. I wonder how on earth they are going to cope when their children become independent adults?

@YOOHOOHEYITSME

we have our kids with us all years round
schools are not supposed to be for childcare purposes or to take your chid off your hands

Er, that’s nice but surely you understand most parents don’t have the luxury of being able to devote their entire calendar to educating their kids?

RicherThanYews · 05/09/2023 22:44

I would be delighted if just one other parent felt like me tbh, I am always crestfallen when my son goes back to school. He's a little smasher though and great company”

I always felt the same way and began planning for the next holiday.

I think you make some very good points. Children have zero choice about being born or who they have as parents. Parents are absolutely responsible for creating children, and owe them everything. Therefore, it's immature to complain about how much work children are. Parents should live with their choice gracefully and take responsibility. It is also a privilege to be a parent, responsible for the care of someone so vulnerable.

On the other hand, parents are often trying to hold down jobs and desperate for holiday child care. As others have said, the cost of living has made it difficult to pay for activities, never mind food and bills. Many employers are not sympathetic to your child being ill or a lack of child care, so parents have the added stress of maybe losing their job if they can't find someone to look after their child. And we don't have the village so much these days, so families struggle on with minimal support. With all these factors, it's understandable people see school as a lifeline. I think it's Ok for parents to privately feel this way - but not to publicly post it for the world to laugh at their children's expense.

I disagree it’s immature to complain about how much work children are. It’s normal and simply makes someone human.

If parents who feel that way only think it privately, we’d be left with the awful cheesy ones such as only having 18 christmases, the days are the long but the years are short etc which do nothing but make some parents who might be struggling feel like shit for not enjoying every single minute which is simply unrealistic anyway.

How hard it can be to be a parent shouldn’t be hidden away.

I feel this internally, but I wouldn't post a video on sm about it

Parents are absolutely responsible for creating children, and owe them everything. Therefore, it's immature to complain about how much work children are.

This reasoning is funnier than all the dancing at the school gates videos, even the Hugh Grant one.

Are we only allowed to make jokes about acts of God?

@SouthLondonMum22 Absolutely people should know parenting is hard. But once you have made the choice to have children, I don't think posting about how hard you find having your own children on sm is very adult. It's not the place, it's a poor example to set your children, and you have to take responsibility for your choice to have them- they never asked to be born into your home with you as parents! It's entirely on you.

Why are you offended by something that doesn't affect you? For some parents the summer holidays is a financial struggle plus-shock and horror- some children are desperate to be back at school. Get over yourself.

So we should never complain? Nothing wrong with letting off steam.

Truest words spoken, I hate social media

@ginandtonicwithlimes That's often one of the benefits of good friends and family. Better than posting about your non-consenting children on social media?

It doesn't have to be on or the other though. You can complain but you can also take responsibility for them.

I'm not sure how posting all over SM about wailing on your children's first day back at school, pretending that everything is perfect all of the time and claiming that you enjoy every minute is setting a better example for children? Especially since they are too young for SM anyway and the one's old enough for SM could also have some negative feelings such as embarrassment or know outright that mum wasn't enjoying every moment when they and their sibling fought for the 50th time that day.

Jfc, I had no idea people gave it this much headspace.

It's a joke. It's obviously relatable to a lot of people. If you're not one of them, you don't have to laugh. It isn't supposed to be seen by the kids, that's a fail if it is, but it's just meant to be a joke among the parents who find the long summer difficult to juggle.

If someone is parenting terribly and making their kids feel unloved and unwanted, I can absolutely guarantee there is far more going on than that Love Actually clip.

@SouthLondonMum22 I agree. I never post anything about my children on SM. I think it's a bad idea for many reasons.

@SouthLondonMum22 And those kind of posts are strange too! I wonder why people need public admiration for their parenting, or for their lives in general really.

I get that it's a joke, I just think it's a bit tasteless. I'm a teacher and find it sad that some parents don't want their children around. I also roll my eyes a bit because I manage 30 at a time.

But it's just a joke. Joking about it on SM doesn't mean that they never want their children around.

For me, it's not that I don't want my children around but that I need to juggle a lot during the holidays. Work and children. It's a challenge. It's a challenge being a lone full time working parent during term time, so even more so during the holidays. That's all.
I don't complain (well, maybe I pick up the phone and have a good old moan with my sister); I love my life and am very happy. Having a wry joke about it doesn't mean I don't enjoy being with my children.

Don't you breathe a sigh of relief at the end of term? I certainly see LOADS of reels and posts from teachers in the same vein.

As long as parents exist on SM pretending that their lives are perfect, there is always going to be the 'other side' who joke about drinking wine at bedtime, reasons why my kid cried today, dancing when the kids go back to school etc.

@SouthLondonMum22 Yes, I think I see what you are saying - it's sort of a backlash. I still feel it's wrong for the children to be the non consenting butt of public jokes, as much as I also think it's wrong to make them the public beneficiary of saintly parenting!

@CharlotteBog But talking it over with your sister seems fine, very different to broadcasting a public message?

@SouthLondonMum22 I did say that I get it's a joke, I just think it's in poor taste. Intending it as a joke doesn't guarantee the children wouldn't be hurt as a result. I had a step parent that made jokes at my expense, it's harmful.