Parent bashing is not my thing...usually. I am one and I have had my kids in daycare so know what its like from the other side. I'm also human and contribute my fair share of empty headed moments to the universe. I really just need to off load as my lot have driven me nuts all week and this morning was the icing on the cake and I want to just offload and move on.
I have a mother who calls her kid names. I get it is supposed to be fun and affectionate in her eyes, and this doesn't really annoy like everything else. Kind of always leaves me speechless as she tickles her daughter under the chin and with a grin on her face calls her a weirdo lol It's almost daily that she calls her a name and honestly it's beyond ridiculous. The little girl is only 17 months but is starting to get very verbal mirroring a lot so great news is that weirdo may be word of the week with the kids in the coming weeks haha that should be interesting.
I have another parent who has started kindermusic on Wednesdays and asked if I could feed him an extra snack just before pick up as he wouldn't be having dinner till late and she would be cutting it fine getting to class. Well that's fine as he feeds himself and she provided the food...an apple and a yogurt. The yogurt was 3 weeks past the best by date. I gave him an alternative and told mum at pick up. She said they use those dates as a guide, which I totally get. I explained though that it was dairy and it wasn't just a little past the date but 3 weeks. She laughed and said no big deal, and I immediately said it's not okay when it's not my child. She said fair enough. I might add that this is the child who is assumed to have a dairy intolerance so he has soy cheese and lactose free milk and yogurts. There has definitely been a massive improvement but he does still have the occasional, say every week or so, massive loose bm and now perhaps I know why, if she has such a lax attitude towards best by dates. We are not talking about a few days, we are talking about 21! Head shake....
Then there are my AP parents...there son is 2 next week, she still breast feeds him a couple times a night to sooth him which she is completely honest about and co sleeps most of the time even though he is a good sleeper but they jump to sooth him at every little noise. They have many a BS excuse for doing this but I try not to get into conversations about it and leave them to parent as they wish. It's ironic then how they can't seem to get the basics sorted, like dad dressing his child in clean clothes that fit, on the right way round or fastening him up properly. They are just all over the place. Mom has made comments the last couple of weeks about how great her son is while making comments on other kids in front of their parents. Like when the 17 month old girl's dad picked up at the same time as she did and I commented on the day very briefly as there really wasn't anything to report but I did comment on how chatty she was getting. This mom immediately says to me, "she is just babbling though right? no real words?" I don't quite know how I should have handled this situation and felt awful for the girls dad but I just said she for sure babbles but she has a lot of words and you can definitely understand what she is saying. She made a similar comment about another little boy who is 2 weeks younger than her son who isn't a performing act so will not talk on demand in front of an audience of strangers. When he is at home he chats up a storm mom says and when he is here it's the same thing. This mom says wow "Bobby" doesn't have many words does he. Icing on the cake, her moronic husband on Monday comes in with the other little guys dad at drop off and tells him/us about something he read. Okay this guy has a masters in neuroscience so knows things, but lacks communication skills in my mind. He said, I read a study that boys with higher levels of testosterone speak earlier so that means your son is a little gayer than mine. I know he was joking and I actually said to him in a condescending tone "Seriously Dad!" and the other dad laughed but it was awkward and I really wanted to just tell this dad to get the hell out of my house.
The same families mom came in yesterday at pick up and I made the mistake of telling her how well her son could say the alphabet to which I just opened up the way for her to say how advanced her son was and she really was looking for loads of reinforcement that her kid is a mastermind. To top things off this morning, thank god it's Thursday (my Friday), Both the two year olds are dropped off today and these parents are chatting and come in continuing their conversation without so much as a hello or eye contact. I said hello twice but no they continued to chat. The moron dad didn't even undress his kid but chatted while I did it and then when I said to the kids say goodbye to daddy and they went off to the playroom, the dads stood there chatting. I opened the door and said to them, have a good day to which I got a you too as they left.
My 3 year old dcb is an ongoing problem as his dad is causing major problems in the families separation and using the kids as a tool to get at their mom resulting in a very disruptive 3 year old in daycare. Continuing talks with mum doesn't seem to be doing any good as she gives him so much attention for these sulks, and tantrums and when he is bad the guilt prevents her from disciplining him.
When did I pull the short straw or is it that it's just come to a head this week, who knows but oh my goodness what a bunch they are, some far worse than others.
