Toddlers first play group

The more I think of it, the more annoyed I get. So my daughter is enjoying her first play group. We've been waiting all week for this; I was just as excited as she was. The kids played a tower building game together, painted a few crafts and did a cute little obstacle course. Overall, it was a great experience for her. (Which is all that really matters, but I'd also like to rant 😌) There were 2 staff members running the activities. One young, the other older. The young one was very gentle, patient and everything you'd look for in a stranger communicating with your child. But the older one was just too much for me. Although she was gentle, she was too controlling when it came to the painting. If they said they were done, she kept pushing them to fill in all the blank spaces. If they chose to use only one color, she pushed them to use another color. At first, I didn't think much of it..UNTIL she started telling one little girl she should paint the SIDE of the damn popsicle stick! AND THEN my daughter got up because she said she was finished and she wanted to wash her hands...can you believe this woman picked up my daughters piece of art and started painting over it and filling in blank spaces! AS IF IT WASN'T ALREADY PERFECT! 🤨😤 My jaw literally dropped! I almost said something, I bit my tongue so hard 😅 because what the actual fuxk! Why would you do that? If I just dropped my daughter off and came back when she was done I would think she painted it all herself! Meanwhile, it's a whole unsolicited collaboration 😒 Who knows how many pieces of art were ruined at the hands of this vandal. 🤦🏾‍♀️ It's just weird to me that she'd do that. My daughter painted a beautiful bird house. She didn't ask for her lame touch ups😒 (I had to take a picture of this foolishness🙄)

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The older generations of mothers are wiiiiiild. I am a therapist and I see it so often.

@Jessica its definitely wild. No method to the madness. They need to be stopped! 😆

@Mama Mina it's very controlling and 1000% lacking in any amount of self awareness. It's not everyone, of course, but it is A LOT.

What the actual fuck?! I would have said something. I would not have let that slide at all

@Christina🤱🏼🍂☕️♈️ trust me it took everything in me to not breathe fire on her 🔥 I don't know if I could have said anything to her nicely. It would have come out exactly how I felt and I didn't want to scare those innocent little kids 😅

@Mama Mina I totally understand that 100%! I would have tried to keep it G as possible lol but I know as a former preschool teacher, I would never have done that to a sweet innocent and proud little girl or boy!

I would have said something, I would also have said something with the other kids

As a childminder myself this is disgustingly. And any mark making should be done by your little child. I would be saying something if you attend again…

I teach early years myself and unfortunately prioritising outcome (e.g. a pinterest-worthy piece of artwork) over process (children are developing/learning skills freely so their artwork doesn't look like anything) isn't uncommon. My pet peeve is when a child's hand/foot print is doodled all over by a teacher as the child has done and learned nothing, it makes me cringe! I think some practitioners do tend to focus on outcome over process though because they (wrongly) think parents won't treasure scribbles, blobs and unrecognisable pictures. If you were to attend again and the same thing happened, would it be easy for you to step in and (gently) say something to your child to shame the practitioner? "Oh my goodness, look at that lovely work! Are you finished? Let's go put it on the drying rack together!" Hopefully the practitioner would then get the hint and back off!

People like that stress me out. The same as people who tell kids they're playing with/using a toy wrong. Let the kids be and do what they wanna do in their little mind. I'd have deffo said something 😂

I’d be putting in a complaint to the head of the place/whoever owns the building or runs it.

If they had asked if I wanted to take it home I would have said “ no thanks because it’s not all of her own work and I’m not taking something home that my child didn’t do by themselves “

You better than me.. I would have snatched it out of her hands! This is a memory of your child’s accomplishment in this moment of their life! I would want to keep it exactly as my child did it so I can see her progress through different projects! I would leave a review and complain about this volunteer’s behavior. Maybe no one has said anything to her.

Honestly this is such a generational thing. The grandmas and ladies who are older that I see all act this way. It sounds ageist or something but truly it just is a cultural difference in how that generation thinks it's supposed to parent. It drives me absolutely crazy 😤

That’s frustrating! If you go again I would say something. It may also be worth sending a gentle email to the organization that runs it and letting them know. That’s what I would do anyway!

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