Competitive Parents

[Anonymous]

Without going into too much detail, my daughter is friends with a girl whose parents are super competitive. The mom is often shares stories about her kids accomplishments and most recently told me about her daughter winning a cross country competition. Of course I congratulated her and told her what a great runner her daughter is. My daughter is athletic, but does not run for a sport. A few days later, both girls competed in a 5K together and apparently my daughter won for her age group. The mom didn't congratulate her...just told both of us that her daughter didn't feel good that day and that's why she didn't win. Even the dad seemed angry toward me that day. It was very bizarre.

It is super awkward because the girls are both very sweet and good friends. I'm just venting here and not sure there is anything to be done except to recognize that it's an unfortunate situation.

[Anonymous]

Nope there’s nothing to do.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to being a parent in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I have a friend like this-- if my DS was reading by four, her DS was reading by two--if her DS didn't place top in an academic competition, there was always a rationale. If my DS was struggling in something, her DS "breezed through" (according to her).
I came to realize that she has social problems and is too highly invested in her DS's achievements. There are a lot of ups and downs in parenting...it made me feel bad for her (and her kid) that she was so emotionally attached to his accomplishments...and btw, her kid is very brilliant and charming, but also has some social problems that cause bumps in the road.

[Anonymous]

This area is infested with extremely overly-competitive parents like this. It is not like this in normal parts of the country.

[Anonymous]

This doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. They’re probably embarrassed that they’ve bragged about cross country and now your one direct observation is that their daughter isn’t omg amazing. I can’t imagine the girls run many 5ks together, so this is unlikely to come up again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I have a friend like this-- if my DS was reading by four, her DS was reading by two--if her DS didn't place top in an academic competition, there was always a rationale. If my DS was struggling in something, her DS "breezed through" (according to her).
I came to realize that she has social problems and is too highly invested in her DS's achievements. There are a lot of ups and downs in parenting...it made me feel bad for her (and her kid) that she was so emotionally attached to his accomplishments...and btw, her kid is very brilliant and charming, but also has some social problems that cause bumps in the road.

pp here-- btw, there is nothing to do about it. If a parent is completely insufferable or appears to be putting your child down while bolstering their child, then avoid the family...but I've found that nodding, smiling, being happy for the other kid when they "win" is fine. I'm pretty tolerant because I know it's from insecurity.

[Anonymous]

DD has literally witched a coach-dad ejected from a Under-11 girls soccer game, and also watched 2 parents nearly exchange fists at a volleyball game.

Lovely people around here. Just great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD has literally witched a coach-dad ejected from a Under-11 girls soccer game, and also watched 2 parents nearly exchange fists at a volleyball game.

Lovely people around here. Just great.

Let’s not pretend it’s just this area. Parents were getting kicked out of competitions 30 years ago when I was a kid in Chicago. It’s crappy, but not recent and not unique to DC

[Anonymous]

They sound toxic I would avoid them unless your kid loves this girl as a friend.

My DD started hanging out with a girl whose mom I have to say struck me as totally insane. She was emailing me all kinds of advice as to what I should be doing with my academically advanced daughter, like I was some kind of bozo without a clue. I had done all the things already and when this mother found out, she practically exploded.

I am not interested in the competition. I'd rather not speak to any of these kinds of parents, ever again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has literally witched a coach-dad ejected from a Under-11 girls soccer game, and also watched 2 parents nearly exchange fists at a volleyball game.

Lovely people around here. Just great.

Let’s not pretend it’s just this area. Parents were getting kicked out of competitions 30 years ago when I was a kid in Chicago. It’s crappy, but not recent and not unique to DC

- except they are so much more common here.

As in : the norm as opposed to the rare exception.

[Anonymous]

You really need to let this sort of thing roll off your back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You really need to let this sort of thing roll off your back.

OP here. Agree. My husband laughed out loud when I told him the story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really need to let this sort of thing roll off your back.

OP here. Agree. My husband laughed out loud when I told him the story.

You sound like a giddy show off. Were you containing yourself wanting to rub the win in her face? You don't need to worry about other's reactions, work on your own actions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really need to let this sort of thing roll off your back.

OP here. Agree. My husband laughed out loud when I told him the story.

You sound like a giddy show off. Were you containing yourself wanting to rub the win in her face? You don't need to worry about other's reactions, work on your own actions.

Wow. I am surprised it took this long for the angry troll to emerge. Go take your meds.