at the beach today listening to SO MUCH over-parenting

[GretchenWiener]

So there I am, lying with eyes shut with several families around. really nice day and lots of happy playing by lovely kids.

but OMG - parents give your kids a sodding break. Endless instructions issued, everything micromanaged to the Nth degree. Kids told the same thing three times in about two minutes when they are obviously doing something else first (all surf board related).
I really felt for them.

When I read how to talk ( the book) it said that we all do it. Today it seemed super true. Do you over instruct or question?

I laughed to myself a few times at the beach yesterday I have to admit - there was a dad with two boys getting annoyed cos they weren't digging the moat to his specifications, the mum who's toddler kept wandering off whilst she lay with her eyes closed sunbathing then leaping up screaming "Where's Lexie? Lexieeeeeeeeeeeeee", the mum near me with young teenagers who were bored and fully clothed and obviously determined not to enjoy themselves and let her sun bathe for an hour... the mums who hurtled a good few hundred yards down the beach when they saw the life guard running to where their kids (aged between 7 and 12 I guessed) were swimming.... scraped ribs I undersood in the end, they were swimming and the tide was going out and it got a bit shallow..

All in a days people watching.... going again tomorrow! can't wait.

Oh I know what you mean. We once had a whole holiday ruined by poor Lucy's parents. For some reason they used to come every day and sit right near us on an almost deserted beach

Luuuucy come here
Luuuucy put that down
Luuuucy go and get that spade
Steve she won't get the spade, tell her to get the spade
Luuuucy get the spade

About 25 secs silence then......

Luuuucy get in this tent you need a sleep
Luuuucy go to sleep
Luuuucy close your eyes and go to sleep
Steve she's not going to sleep, she's going to ruin tonight, come and tell her to got to sleep.

On and fricking on, day after bloody day.

We still talk about poor Lucy

hahah at Lucy - we once had a mobile home in France next to Katie and her family - ENDLESS Nagging at poor 15 year old Katie.
When it became clear it was their last night we SO SO wanted to leave a note saying " katie - its them not you"

POor Katie

Oh poor Katie. There's a lot of them about I fear.

You should have done - poor Katie.

Oh we were sat next to a pair of performance parents on the ferry to the Isle of Wight. Young boy was barely old enough to be out of nappies, wasn't asking any questions other than asking for "bic bic and juice" but was told all about hovercrafts, how they work, who invented them and how fast they travel and then made me laugh when they told him some ridiculous statistic about France, pretty sure the little one wasn't past counting to ten so 1 in 2500 would have been absolutely meaningless

i LOVE loud parenting
Am off to playa again tomorrow so will keep my eyes out

I despise that article toast. I think she sounds like a judgmental bitch.

"Katie - its them not you". Ha ha

I love to witness 'swimming lesson' by alpha dad who has just stepped off the plane and in empire-building mode.

"C'mon mylo it's just a bit of water, don 't cry (aware people are watching) c'mon mylo jump in for daddy, c'mon don't be a scardy cat Mylo , jump in, look ( splash, splash , kid starts bawling ) oh mylo stop bring such a baby , honestly mylo, for gods sake Jenny he doesn't want to do anything with me" cue dad stropping off while bemused mum applies anoth layer of factor 100 sun cream to mylos little face (the only part of his body exposed to the sun)

'stop being such a baby' ALWAYS WORKS to motivate kids

This thread is starting to sound a bit mean. We've all been that parent, sometimes because we're tired, or we've been having the same conversation for a week, or because we're on holiday and either (1) want everything to be perfect and happy for every moment just like in our rose tinted memories of childhood or (2) just want everyone to play nicely for one bloody minute so mum can enjoy her daiquiri. It's always good to hear others doing it to remind us not to, but spending your holidays judging other people's parenting and then discussing it on Mn doesn't sound like a good break.

oh fgs
just hide the thread then

Oh it's funny, especially Lucy, Katie and Mylo. I want more stories like that

oh ok. SOrry for snapping. I just am exhausted by being told what we can and cant think on mn today

My SIL does this. To an 18 month old.

WATCH THE NETTLES

WATCH THE NETTLES

THEY ARE STINGY OUCH OUCH LOOK OUCH

STINGY

DONT TOUCH THEM

just move him, you know? MOVE HIM.

It hurts my head.

on every holiday there is ONE kid though. In Turkey last year it was William who was really horrible challenging.
When one family came back to our place after doing the second week elsewhere they said ' did you meet a kid called William'?

we all sighed knowingly

Me too. That's probably one of the most Po Faced posts I have read in some considerable time. I'm not surprised you're irritated.

They should learn to communicate through the medium of dance, it's quieter.

one of our group SAW Katie after just hearing her talked at.

they rushed back " I SAW KATIE BUYING CHIPS"

we ARE adults, I am ashamed to say.

Love this. Dh does it with precious Ds ( who is DC 3 by the way) and it was so nice to take Ds to the beach with me today and just let him be! No constant be careful, you're going to fall, that weed is slippy, mind you dont fall, be careful etc etc.
I think I said " when you fall in I'm not coming to get you " and that was it. Ds had a great time scrabbling about on the rocks and didn't fall in anything! ( should point out he is 12 and therefore capable of extricating himself from a rockpool had he fallen in)

My favourite one was at a parent and child dancing class (yes it was as wanky as it sounds and no, we never went back)

There was girl about 18 months old, basically non-verbal, drooling and chewing her shoe. She got handed a red ribbon to play with.

Daddy: Petal, red is the colour of good luck in which country?
Petal: drooool
Daddy: That's right, China, clever girl!
Petal: drool....

she might need that fact one day

But Custard wanting "everything to be perfect" is where people go wrong. Most things are never perfect so lower your expectations is my advice.

Also, if mum or dad just kept their mouths closed for 5 minutes and gave their child and everyone else a break, I bet they would find their child will actually behave very well and there's no need to be on their backs very minute of the day.

Just let them be.

I don't but my neighbour almost ruined my day today but her constant bitching at her DD to do this do that this way that way we live in a block of flats so shared garden 3 kids out my 2 running crazy me thinking we don't often get paddling pool days in Scotland so what if they are over excited and not behaving 100% neighbour gave her child time out 4 times in 3 hours for imo being a kid and getting excited.

Makes me sad let them be kids for goodness sake they splash the whole place who cares its just us anyway!!!!!

I think we have all met heard loud parenting.

I still remember being on holiday when about 8/9 so 28+ years ago. And there was a boy who we were convince was called 'Don't do that TIMOTHY' because that's all we heard for 2 weeks.