Is this not bizarre mum behaviour?

[Calmascannotbe]

Ok - some minor details changed just to avoid completely outing anyone.

So for the past two years, like many schools, we have had a Whatsapp chat group for parents. This parent is the class rep and is on the whole pretty organised and helpful. However they will all too often use their kid as a pretence to post videos or photos of what they are randomly up to, e.g. 'oh here we are at some lovely place, X wanted me to post this to show all his/her friends'/'oh look what X is up to, X wanted you to show his/her friends'.

No one else does anything like this and fundamentally these appear to be stealth brag posts and there is little engagement or reciprocation - maybe a few token heart emojis. It's been going on for 18 months now and I know I should ignore it but I'd rather it didn't happen and I just think it's pretty poor behaviour. The Whatsapp group is for admin and keeping up to date with key events, parties etc. and whilst there is jovial chat/networking, these posts randomly appear and just put an awkward stop on any other discussion. One person recently alluded to it straight after a stealth brag post when they commented on the group if someone could summarise which birthday parties are upcoming as they have lost track with the non-school related posts.

The thing that really tipped it over the edge was that on a couple of occasions recently, this parent has randomly decided to coincide their daily activities with some of the school trips the kids in the class have been on and will creepily post pictures of the kids from a distance. AIBU to think this is really odd behaviour? If you have free time, why would you choose to spend it lingering in the shadows around a class trip your kid was on and then send blurry pictures of the kids from afar? Yes fair enough I should just ignore it, refrain from engaging as I am already doing and move on with my life but at the same time, is this not just mentally bizarre behaviour?!

32!!! That is mad - did no one SAY anything?!

Has anyone tried befriending her?

Oh Sh*t! I was stopped at our local traffic lights the other day for an extra long stop as there are roadworks, and my dc’s nursery group were just coming out of the park and waiting to cross the road. Gotta admit, I snapped a few photos and sent them to the nursery group - yikes, I hope I’m not “that mum” in waiting 🤣. Thanks for the intervention x

so weird, her child is clearly her whole identity now. The only thing to do is use it as a precautionary example of how not to mother - it's pitiful but harmless.

We had contact names and addresses for all the people in the year group for DS's year rec-6 so would have been before GDPR kicked in. It was really useful. We had it for Ds1's state school too.

I would much rather that than some classlist thing which could be hacked into.

Ours is like this. It was busy in reception and y1, then died down a bit and then was really useful in y5, "x school is not having a open day" "z school is having an open day tomorrow and we haven't been informed officially" Because very few go into school to pick up y5 and Y6 children it has been a good point of contact including reminders of the ever changing clothing requirements. Plus discussion about an end of school party!

It sounds like she wants to be the centre of attention. All you can do if ignore the shite she posts.

My DC's previous (private) school did that, up to dictating the naming convention for those groups (e.g school nane initialsclass nameparents group). They were buzzing with endless excitement over "look at our lovely boys" and "it would be great to see some family photos to foster closer ties ( not exact quote but along these lines)",and lots of uh-ohs over pretty much anything. I kept them mostly on mute

She’s bored, lonely and seeking connection

If the parent is photographing school trips, can you talk to the school about it?The parent should not be photographing kids without their parents permission.

Whattsap can be so irritating. I'm in groups I don't wish to be in yet I'm afraid to leave incase it looks rude. It's information overload.

Mute and archive so they don't disturb you, whenever you remember "clear chat" to free up memory on your phone :)

Yes I do actually have it on mute just so I'm not getting lot of notifications. To be honest, I am clearly just ignoring it as the only reason I posted on the thread, and the thing that tipped it over for me, was the coinciding of the school trip and the posting of the photo.

I don't know much about safeguarding and I'll admit, I just thought the whole following the trip was just downright annoying and an overbearing mum living too much of her life through her child and then needing attention on the Whatsapp Group but clearly the whole safeguarding point is a much more serious thing which needs addressing.