Toddler class rant

[Anonymous]

I totally get that some kids aren’t ready for structured, group activities. SO DON’T BRING THEM! Same with music class and library story time. Just don’t bring your child to classes. Go for unstructured play times at baby gyms and stay in the park for story time.

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure where you’re attending OP, but we’ve done classes through the Fairfax County rec centers and there’s a reasonable cap on how many kids can attend so it’s not overly crowded. There is a mix of instruction time and free play on some obstacles. I generally had good experiences with other parents teaching their kids to wait their turn, share, etc. Parent participation was required so no parents on phones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What were the teachers doing during all this?

My 4 year old is in a ballet class, and parents do not intervene. The teacher ably handles any horseplay, inattention, or other misbehavior. These things happen, since the kids are young (4-6), but the teacher immediately addresses it and keeps the class moving.

If your response is "But these are 2 year olds, of course the teacher can't manage all of their misbehavior at once," that's just more confirmation that the class is not age appropriate.

It sound like OP is doing a parent participation class. We used to call it Mommy-and-Me gymnastics. Parents are expected to be fully engaged and active in class.

Gymnastics classes for the 4 to 6 year old set are without parents.

She didn't say that it's a mommy and me class. And it doesn't sound like she expects all parents to participate, but only to step in when their child misbehaves.

Our daycare does "classes" regularly for this age group and it's all instructor-managed, with 1 instructor for every 6 or 7 kids. If the kids require 1-to-1 attention for the class to work, it's probably not age-appropriate.

In the mommy-and-me classes I have been to, the "class" demands on the kids were minimal and it was much more an opportunity for moms to socialize. Nobody was circuit training. It was more like "sit next to mommy and copy mommy doing something vaguely resembling yoga" or "sit on mommy's lap and clap."

[Anonymous]

OP, life is chaotic and very little is in your control. Think of it as an opportunity to teach your child how to let things roll off your back gracefully. Otherwise your child will be the one constantly nit picking and directing other kids. Do you want them to have no friends?

Kt’s one thing is a kid is hurting another kid or staying way too long on a piece of equipment and no one else gets to go. But you are getting way too wound up if every little thing that's not perfectly fair and orderly pushes your buttons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, life is chaotic and very little is in your control. Think of it as an opportunity to teach your child how to let things roll off your back gracefully. Otherwise your child will be the one constantly nit picking and directing other kids. Do you want them to have no friends?

Kt’s one thing is a kid is hurting another kid or staying way too long on a piece of equipment and no one else gets to go. But you are getting way too wound up if every little thing that's not perfectly fair and orderly pushes your buttons.

I definitely don't verbalize my frustration, and just try to coach my kid to be patient, wait for his turn etc.

But I realized yesterday that this class is early in the morning on a Sunday and so I always show up not having eaten breakfast. I think I will try waking up earlier to get some decent food in me this weekend so I'm in a better mood!

[Anonymous]

It is very clear that OP is not bothered by toddlers behavior but by the lack of parenting behavior and laziness of their parents. For all of you who say my kid struggles with this and I fear I will be judged, sure if you don't do anything! I will judge the heck out of parents who let their kids run amok and ruin everything for all the other kids, and you are on your phone, or looking lovingly at your he/she devil as they push, shove, scream, run around and make all the other kids miserable without you removing your kid. I get that kids are kids, but what is your excuse?

[Anonymous]

This bothers me with swimming lessons as well. My 5 year old was in a class of 4 boys. All but 1 little boy were able to sit, listen, perform drills. 1 little boy though would take of running (teacher had to get him for safety), try jumping in teh deep end etc. After 4 classes (of 6) i asked for a refund because i am not paying to watch my kid sit on teh side of the pool with his feet in the water.
The boys dad just sat on his phone and did nothing.

[Anonymous]

I am so glad I am not a helicopter parent.

[Anonymous]

My daughter was on the young side of the age range for a toddler tumbling class. I had no great expectations for her to become some sort of world class tumbler but i wanted her to have fun and move around. She was kind of all over the place in class and I felt *really* bad about it and apologized to the teacher. She said, "she's X months, right?" I said "exactly." She said, "she's exactly where she should be. Most of the kids in here are older, and a few months makes a huge difference at this age." i was so relieved, and she was right.

Like you, I hate it when parents are disconnected and letting their kids run wild. But some running wild is to be expected at certain ages, and it's worth questioning whether your expectations may be unrealistic at times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What were the teachers doing during all this?

My 4 year old is in a ballet class, and parents do not intervene. The teacher ably handles any horseplay, inattention, or other misbehavior. These things happen, since the kids are young (4-6), but the teacher immediately addresses it and keeps the class moving.

If your response is "But these are 2 year olds, of course the teacher can't manage all of their misbehavior at once," that's just more confirmation that the class is not age appropriate.

It sound like OP is doing a parent participation class. We used to call it Mommy-and-Me gymnastics. Parents are expected to be fully engaged and active in class.

Gymnastics classes for the 4 to 6 year old set are without parents.

This is the key question. It's unclear from the OP if it's a mommy and me class, in which case the parents are expected to intervene and help Larla and Larlo with the activities, or a very young solo-gymnastics class. If it's not explicitly a parent-participation class, then the OP needs to back off and let the teachers teach, even when some kids are going crazy. Having parents jump in when they aren't supposed to be involved doesn't help a situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This bothers me with swimming lessons as well. My 5 year old was in a class of 4 boys. All but 1 little boy were able to sit, listen, perform drills. 1 little boy though would take of running (teacher had to get him for safety), try jumping in teh deep end etc. After 4 classes (of 6) i asked for a refund because i am not paying to watch my kid sit on teh side of the pool with his feet in the water.
The boys dad just sat on his phone and did nothing.

FWIW, When I have intervened in those situations, I am told that I am a helicopter who is undercutting the teacher’s authority. Sometimes you can’t win!

[Anonymous]

I really like The Little gym because they had a nice balance of free play and directed activities. the setup that the Op describes does not sound like it's developmentally appropriate for 2 year olds