To be unsettled by sight of mother/nanny stripping 4 year old girls in public?

[Sycamoretree]

Not sure if AIBU is the best place to post, but here goes. My DD (3) goes to baby ballet one afternoon a week. After her class, the 4 year olds go in. She's been going for 4 weeks now, and every week, withouth fail, there is a woman (mother or nanny, not sure) who strips two little girls (4ish) absolutely butt naked on a bench outside the church hall in order to get them ready for their glass. My heart leaps into my mouth every time. I suppose my objections are:

1. It's a bit nippy now, actually.
2. They are 4. Not 4 months. Why is she taking off their pants to do ballet? Why is she doing it when a gazzillion people are walking by. Specifically 7 year old school boys at it's 3.45 who are actually stopping to point and laugh. Why doesn't she wait until they're upstairs and chance them in the studio like everyone else?
3. Erm, that's it. They are literally standing head to toe naked in the street.

Am I over reacting. I get upset everytime I see it. I THINK she's a mum, this is just a hunch, because she's not really dressed in the practical way nannie's tend to be (i.e. she's in knee high boots with a bit of a heel, tights, skirt etc).

I'm actually hoping you all say IABU because then I can just try and relax about it.

I put dd1's leotard on with normal gera on over it and put her skirt/shoes on in corridor inside. Wouldn't do it outside no matter the weather Strange woman.

I wouldn't imagine she would have a car with her (this is West London) so she would have a nightmare finding a spot! Pretty much everyone just walks there.

I think I've decided that whilst I would never do this with DD, given the children themselves weren't crying or anything, or shivering and complaining about the cold (if they were, then I wouldn't have bothered posting in IABU, I would have just posted in Other/Chat STATING that it was unkind.) I should probably just swallow my instinctive disapproval and accept their not coming to any harm.

Of course, if she's still at it in December, it will be time to review my stance!

THEY'RE not coming to any harm!

Well, to be fair Hatrick, only one person has, and we'll let her off because we love EthanChristopher and she is but a babe herself.

7 year old boys will point and laugh. I remember my neighbour aged 6 calling my sister a "streaker", she was only 3!
Surely the ballet classes are held indoors and there must be some corner of a corridor or room where she could change the girls! If she doesn't have a car, that would surely be a better option than outside in the cold!
So no, YANBU.

Well, I love EthanChristopher and I'm not Royal!

I can't understand why children have to get changed at ballet at all, i get dd ready before we go, and she changes when she gets home. Nothing to do with her getting naked but its just a pain in the arse.

BUT i have no problem with nakedness in young children. I was on holiday recently and we were on the beach, we hadn't planned to end up on the beach so we didnt have DDs cossie, she wanted to play in the rock pools,she wanted to lay down in them and "swim" - she is three years old so i stripped her naked and she had the best time ever. Im not going to take that pleasure away from my child just because people might judge - she is 3 years old - get over it.

Becasue an after school ballet class would mean getting the child changed at school (possibly in the school playground) then her walking/getting a bus through town in a leotard all of which would be much colder than the short amount of time the children in the OP are out in the cold.

In the case of my dd she often ahs a snack on the way there too as its late when we get home and get tea, so her leotard would be filthy by the time we got to class.

YABU to attend "baby ballet"

And if there ARE 7 year olds "who are actually stopping to point and laugh" I REALLY hope that you gave them a piece of your mind about their behaviour, because that would make me absolutely seethe with rage

They're 4, changing on a bench outside is fine FGS
Repeat that lovely phrase I read earlier

Baby ballet sounds cuter then pre-syllabus ballet though doesn't it. Some schools call it creative movemtn, lots of fun pretending to be firies and having good and naughty toes. Dd loved it.

Well, is swimming in the sea the same thing? Hmm, not sure. On hols I would strip DD down naked on a beach, so possible I'm the worlds biggest hypocrite. Are the two locations comparable? Maybe they are.

But why is baby ballet unreasonable Morning? I think it's good for DD socially. It's also helping her concentration. Also, she has hyper mobility in all her limbs which means she's still falling over just about every 20 paces (well, small exaggeration but she is very much like a baby bambi) and something like this will help her physically (as does climing in the park etc. I agree, the baby prefix is a little twee, but that's the teacher's choice not mine.

If a kids 4 years old is it that big a deal if you can see their knickers through their leotard?. If I had no other choice would I get my child undressede outside and in those circumstances I would do my best to hide their bits from from public display.

Kids need to know that you can't publicly display your bits when you reach a certain age.

YANBU.They should have a right to relative privacy for such things, and the poor kids must be freezing.

yanbu
they need some privacy

That certain age being a lot older than 4 years old. Dd still displays her bits and she is 7. By junior school age I would expect some restraint.

i think changing them outsidem is odd

not sure what thought process would lead to this

deffinitely weird woman

island, yes, i thought that after i had posted. DDs ballet is on a saturday and she hasn't even started school yet. I would have said that the whole ballet thing for a three year old is pushy and pretentious, but my DD LOVES her ballet

I have always been uncomfortable with any aged kid being totally naked in public. To me, even on the beach.there is no need for it and I kind of find it strange. I have never let my children be naked in front of anyone, even when they were being potty trained.

I personally think it is strange behaviour

I think that's a bit odd, tbh. Why wouldn't you want your child to be seen naked, knockedgymnast?

Holy Shit! With all of the pedophiles and unbalanced people in society today, do you think for a MINUTE????!! i WOULD strip down my daughter OR son in public like that???!!! What kind of an idiot IS this woman!!!????

I can remember, many years ago, I allowed my little girl, my little boy, and my niece and nephew, in our FENCED back yard, in the COUNTRY, in Canada (low population) in a secluded area, to go skinny dipping in a wading pool in our yard, with me RIGHT THERE!!!! That is the one and only time ANY of my kids or charges have been like that....because it was safe, warm, and fun in the water for them.

Anyone who strips down a child as old as 4 in public should be warned by the police and made to read some accounts of childhood abduction and molestation.

That woman is an idiot.

Oh, the ballet is just a bit of fun - not pushy and pretentious at all - they don't take it seriously! But I didn't start this thread to ask people if ballet for a 3 year old is unreasonable, and I'm not interested if people think it is. My DD loves it and is having a nice life. She's not particularly good, but it's a hoot and it's hilarious when she comes home and runs around on "Debbie (sic) pointe".