To think it’s not ‘cruel’ to take DD to the gym at 7.30am

[Eastie77Returns]

I attend an early gym class every Saturday morning. I leave the house around 7am.

I leave DS and DD at home with DP. He takes DS to football practice around 9am and DD tags along but she has become increasingly unhappy about having to go. I therefore gave her 2 other choices: come to the gym with with me or stay at home alone for 10/15 minutes as I’m home from the gym by 9.15-am latest. This morning I asked her what she wanted to do (I gave her the options earlier in the week so she had time to consider). She began complaining loudly saying none of the options were good ones and she just wanted me to stay at home with her. I explained that I was not prepared to miss my class and in the end she decided to come with me. As we were leaving DP began muttering that’s it’s unfair and cruel to drag her to a gym at the crack of dawn when Saturday morning should be her down time.

If it makes any difference, it’s a David Lloyd gym. DD is a member and she enjoyed a breakfast in the restaurant area and read a book while I did my class. She played with another girl in the play area and the two of them have signed up for a taster kids class so she was fine. But I’ve now received a text from my dad saying he’s heard (obviously from DP) from that “poor DD is being dragged to a gym on Saturdays” so she can stay with him on Friday evenings if she prefers. Obviously I would be expected to drop off and pick her up. I said no.

AIBU to think this is a load of fuss about absolutely nothing?

Why, because I care about children not being ridiculed and frightened when they have normal, natural, logical innate fears?

How many 11 year olds are scared to be home alone?

No. On one side, the crazy one!!

Don't be so daft and stop making shit up!

The OP doesn't need you to "care" about her daughter anyway.

It's actually unsettling to think that you might be a teacher.

I'm still stuck on the "passing predator" comment. I do remember being afraid of certain things as a child, but being a snack to a passing predator was not one of them. I do think that one has probably evolved out of us.

Would you ever stop harping on about David Llloyd? You're coming across as deeply bitter and jealous.

Do you have some block in your understanding? This class is the only time the OP can do. Maybe you should get off the internet for a bit and spend some time with your poppets whose every whim must be catered for, and that abundance of hobbies and interests you claim to have?

If you have DC are they at the centre of everything at all times, even if it's to their parents' detriment?

I wouldn't be ridiculing but an 11 year old about to go to secondary school needs to be gently prepared for being more independent.
I guess I was lucky that my kids didn't mind being left while I nipped to the shops or whatever, as it starts to become a real hassle taking them everywhere.

It's important though for parents to be able to prioritise themselves sometimes, so if DD does not want to be left, then she does need to go with her mum (or with her dad).

Think they've got a slate loose and several more sliding tbh. Along with a couple of others!

Utter balls! You choose to be a parent, you compromise over what you want to do, not deny yourself everything! That is such a fucked up way of thinking!

You sound very angry, try a calming app and some chamomile tea hun.

I don't believe it's the only class she can do. The dd should be allowed a sleep in and her anxiety about being left should not be mocked by angry posters.

Ooh another green-eyed monster! It's eating some of you up isn't it that the OP can afford to go to David Lloyd? Pathetic.

The OP is fitting gym around her care needs for her children. Both DD and DP have choices that work.

Nah, just pissed off with the twisted, idiotic comments. Hun.

Nobody is mocking the OP's DD. More shit.

@sheoaouhra

no one is forcing an 11 year old to go the gym, she is choosing to, you seem to keep saying that op is dragging her there and that’s simply not true, she could go with her dad and brother or learn to cope on her own.. she’ll need to do that soon anyway.

This thread has been very entertaining. So many people with crazy ideas, namely about OP giving up her class. I really hope you continue with your yoga. I also suspect that DC will be desperate to spend next Saturday morning doing table tennis with her new friend.

"Massive cost" - would you actually listen to yourself!!? TG my kids have left school because I am safe in the knowledge you're not teaching them!

So dramatic and so wrong!

I wish my parents had instilled similar healthy habits in me at that age, OP
Next birthday/Xmas, give her Jackie Chan's autobiography! How he flourished in a truly spartan environment, sleeping on the floor of the gym, hours of daily practice, disobedience punishable by death, rummaging for food in the bins behind the stalls at the local circus. 😻

Why do you think anyone is jealous? It's a gym, we aren't talking about a fortnight in the Madlives. The 'DL' references have been repeated ad nauseam that's why it's funny not because anyone is jealous

She isn't fitting it in. She's forcing a 7am start on her dd on what should be a rest morning after school.

Unbelievable and totally blinkered. They astound more with every post. I need to sit on my hands. I've had a post deleted and I have no idea why, because I don't believe I have said anything that breaks guidelines. Anything I posted is mild compared to what I'd like to say!!

You keep right on with your class @Eastie77Returns and pay no heed to them!

Why do you need to keep harping on about it? And yes, you are clearly jealous because you are making such a big deal of it.

She's forcing a 7am start on her dd on what should be a rest morning after school.

There is no forcing. The OP has actually empowered her child to make a choice. The DD has agency in the situation.

Dripping from every pore!

'Nobody is mocking the OP's DD. More shit'

Comments like this throughout.

Lord have mercy on our souls.

@sheoaouhra please at least tell me you teach in the Adult Education sector and are not informing the minds of young children?

You asked earlier why I think you’re a bit unhinged. Comments like “For 99.999% of human history she risked becoming a snack to a passing predator if left alone” kind of explain why😂

Trying to think of who or what might try to eat DD when she’s left alone for 15 minutes. We have foxes in the garden but don’t think they count?

And you still haven’t shared your fitness regime tips? You keep saying that I don’t need the gym and if only I was more organised I could keep fit on my own as you do. What is your routine??