How did I do today?

[PurplePidjin]

Went to a nearly new sale. There was a Baby Ballet stand, all covered in pink balloons and sparkles and pretty tutus

I had ds in the sling, smiled at the lady handing out leaflets..

"Oh, do you just have the one boy?"

"Yes, although surely there's no reason he can't learn to dance, surely?" says I. "Or are boys not allowed at your classes?"

Cue much back tracking, gesturing at the 2 sad looking blue balloons in the massive bunch of pink ones, etc.

OK, so there's no way on this planet ds is doing Baby Ballet - his name's already down for proper classes run by a trained teacher when he reaches 3 (he's 18m) rather than some money-making twinkle toes fairy princess bollocks run by someone who once watched Strictly. But I wasn't about to tell her that.

I guess I'm about to start encountering this kind of thing. Any tips on how to deal with it politely in future?

PS ds will totally rock a pink sparkly tutu if he so chooses. Says DP.

Nice.

You went to a fayre and cared not for the stalls?you've booked proper classes?
So you used your credit card and you sourced proper classes.good for you
What tips are you seeking how to exercise your individual consumer choice

Out of interest what's a proper class

Nice one. We had two ballet classes to choose from for DD where we are, both with well qualified teachers. We chose the one that had girls' and boys' uniforms available - not a mention of boys at all anywhere in the other class.

Scottish I did lots of other things while I was there, this was just a snapshot of a few moments of time where I was at a bit of a loss for a polite way to handle things, especially as it's a situation I'm likely to be in many times in the future. Which is why I posted, a little advice would be very much appreciated.

FWIW, my mum takes classes as an adult and her teacher also runs children's classes, so there will be place available for ds through that. The teacher has trained for many years, including much professional experience. to be able to teach correctly. The people who run franchises like Baby Ballet have no formal training. I would prefer to support the former rather than the latter. I'm a professional musician and run a class locally doing baby singing - I have the same issue with Jo Jingles, Music Bugs et al, ie that playing a CD while doing actions is not the same thing as a leader who actually has some subject knowledge. My OP was the short version of all that blether ^ :o

You dont need mn to advise you with a response,im sure you'll think of something?
Theres a dearth of shite classes for weans out there.yoga,ballet,music,drama
Its a middle class rite of passage.attend some classes,spend money,coo at how stimulating it is

OP I fear that there will be more to come. If the boy sits nicely to do something he is interested in then you get "Oooo! Isn't it good of him to sit so nicely! How unusual for a boy!". If he should run about and be active you get "Oooo! Boys are so active aren't they!". Of course girls get the same sort of bonkers comments too. Practise eye-rolling.

p.s. I never had any time for all this running about making a racket and giving you a headache and pretending it's some sort of musical education business either, but then what do I know? Luckily my children hated them too when they were small, so we didn't inflict that on each other. Now they run about making a racket and giving me a headache, but nobody pretends it's educational.

Actually, Scottish, from the posts I've seen of yours on here I'd be fascinated at how you'd react. But then I like this kind of theoretical debate :) FWIW I haven't taken him to any of the classes apart from the one I run - and mine is a good couple of quid cheaper than the others, is child led as far as possible, and drop in rather than "Pay £50 up front and if you miss it, tough" like the rest it's also massively under subscribed so I think I'm probably doing something wrong

Oh crikey, the number of people that give me the look when I say ds likes reading, crayoning and stickers! Really? Is it so odd that he might have preferences among the many activities on offer? The fact that he goes Vrrm with his toy cars raises nary and eyebrow, but getting excited at pretty flowers is somehow verboten

While I appreciate your point about pink and tutus etc, I am a little dismayed that you would enrol your child in classes that he is unable to express an interest in. let alone that you would want to ensure they are "proper". it all sounds a little overbearing.,..

Why not just see what he wants to do when he is capable of telling you. it sounds like the poor child is already under huge pressure with your mum and you involved in these classes.

He won't know if he likes it until he tries, surely? He hated baby massage when we did the free taster at the Children's Centre so I never bothered with that. He loves singing, and I'm a musician, so I started a baby music class which he adores. I live opposite a park and take him to kick a ball around several times a week, if at 3 when he's verbal he wants to do football I'll find a class for that for him. If he hates ballet, I won't take him. Properly taught, ballet will help him with balance and coordination. He's a bit young for more traditional "boy" stuff like martial arts, however if that's what he wants to do in the future then the ballet stuff will be a good grounding.

Hardly "under pressure" to give a child the chance to try the hobbies his parents and grandparents enjoy is it?