to wonder where the warm and fuzzy has gone?

[verBoden]

My five-year-old son had his first tennis lesson and it was a disaster. I had made a point of asking the teacher beforehand if it would be OK for him to join a group which was made up of kids who had been playing for a while, and was made to feel I was fussing. The class started with him shouting at the kids to run to the "Baseline!" "Service line!" "Service box!" My son didn't have a clue and, uncharacteristically, started to cry. Rather than help him, the teacher looked horrified and asked whose child he was. My son walked off the court and the teacher didn't make any effort to encourage him to stay on or talk to him afterwards. Isn't sport supposed to be fun? I feel as though I've missed the boat and that five is too old to be a beginner. It's not just with tennis, but with swimming, football, karate. The teacher was clearly an arse but the pressure to train up little ones seems so intense it scares me

mummyflood and screamingabdab, that's exactly how I read it too.

mummyflood is right. the courts are at the end of my road. it was the right class for his age group. it didn't feel like a big deal. i didn't expect them to be doing anymore than working on hand-eye co-ordination. In fact, they didn't do anything amazing. It was the tone of the class that freaked me out. I was left feeling that there was no room for absolute beginners. The more I asked around at school afterwards, the more I realised how many kids were already enrolled on a similar type class. It left me feeling that I'd somehow missed the boat and, if my son wanted to join any sort of class, it would take weeks of intensive swingball in the garden. but i know that's bollocks. i think it just backed up everything i already felt about pushing kids too young. the class could have been fun, but the parents might not have been as pleased with the end results. i was just cross that it might have put him off altogethre, and i felt partly to blame for signing him up.

*verboden8 Thanks for clarifying. I know exactly what you mean. And it puts me off too

verboden
tbh it depends on the class and anything that my DS wanted to do at that age I would go and watch a class with him to see what we both thought before enrolling.
If it was shouty and too formal we wouldn't go - if it looked like fun he tended to just join in anyway.

There is nothing wrong with activity clubs and classes. Peoples circumstances mean that sometimes this is a great thing for a child to do if the class is right and they want to.
For some of us plastic bats in the garden isn't a serious alternative.

shineon

I have no problem with mine being bored

The plastic bats line was about when DS1 was that age. Ds2 was in the middle of his regression into very very severe autism and I literally could not leave him alone for one second ( and actually that was both night and day).
Ds1 spent all his time after school/nursery on his own. I couldn't have his friends over and ( as he had a crazy brother he didn't get that many invites ). He was an active boy and it was making him sad.
he joined a couple of formal activities which he thoroughly enjoyed ( tennis, karate and swimming). he got a few hours with peers letting off steam - I was able to retreat to the car park and wrestle with DS2.

That was all I meant - that sometimes the obvious 'do it yourself' option is not possible