DD (3.6) has been attending a Musical Theatre class on a Saturday for about 2 months. The first time we went I was a bit surprised that parents were asked to leave immediately, and not even allowed to wait inside the building, but DD seemed fine with it, so I left her there and she seemed to enjoy herself.
All was fine until last week, she got really upset and started crying when it was time for me to leave. The teacher picked her up and whisked her into the class, I waited until she came back out, she said that DD had stopped crying and was happy and settled so I could leave. Afterwards, DD said that she was sad because she missed me but she did enjoy it.
Today, we were walking towards the hall for the class and I could see DD was getting a bit anxious. Before we even got through the door, DD was crying and begging me not to leave, so I reassured her and told her she didn't have to go anymore. We went inside and I handed in her notice plus the fee, apologised and told the teacher that DD had decided she didn't want to come anymore.
The teacher was clearly annoyed with me, told me that DD had only cried for a few minutes last week, then was fine, and that I needed to give her a chance and that she'd be fine once the class started. She also said that 'clingy' children usually 'play up' when their parents are there, but are fine when the parents have left. She obviously thought I was being very PFB and was overreacting. I was upset with the way she spoke to me, so I just said "DD is not clingy, nor is she playing up. I am not going to force her to do something that she does not enjoy" and walked away.
Did I do the right thing? Should I have handled it differently? Tried to persuade DD to give it another go? She honestly isn't a clingly child, she has never once cried when being left at nursery.