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A woman has sparked a debate online after admitting she is considering dropping her child from school after meeting some of the other parents whose children go to school.
The anonymous mother went to the UK parenting forum mumsnet to ask other people if she was a snob after disliking the way other parents behaved in the playground and worried about her kid playing with their kids.
While many other people thought she was being judgmental, plenty of others agreed with her and said they would have the same concerns if it was their child.
While explaining her predicament, the mother revealed that she was initially happy to send her child to community school because it has a mix of people and it doesn’t condition kids for exams as well as other institutions, making it less stressful is.
An anonymous UK mother has sparked an online debate after asking people if she’s a snob for wanting to take her child out of school because the other parents are ‘not like her’ (stock image)
But now, she says, she changes her mind, because the “drop-off and pick-up parents just aren’t like that.” [her] all the way’.
She wrote: ‘DC has just started sheltering in a ‘good’ (Ofsted) primary quite close to our house. There are some super competitive caucuses in our town because we’re in Kent and the 11+ is coming up no matter how small your kids are.
“We said before that it didn’t matter if DC actually went to these schools because they wouldn’t mix with a range of kids and be drilled for 11+, which is pretty stressful. So we chose what we thought was a happy community school for them.
An anonymous woman went to Mumsnet to ask people if they thought she was a snob for wanting to find a new school for her kids
“This is where I sound awful, and I know, but in your deepest hearts you might agree with me, so be patient. The parents at the drop off and pick up are just not like me at all. A father with a charming neck tattoo artist whirled through the playground on an electric scooter this morning as his child watched.
“All the other parents thought it was brilliant. Where did you get it etc etc? Neck tattoo man says ‘Alan, because he’s in jail, isn’t he?’ ‘Oh yes, I was wondering why he wasn’t there yesterday’ etc etc.
“A very brave receptionist came out and kindly asked him to stop riding around on his scooter, and after they went back in, he and this giant gang of parents swore on her. The day before, I was waiting by two women who compared the different ways they lie to the school about where the kids are when they sleep.
“DC seems happy enough, but I’m also a little upset that we haven’t had any communication about how they’ve settled in despite being there for three weeks now. Not so much a word.
“I KNOW I’m a snob for not wanting my kid to be so close to parents’ offspring, but a small part of me wants to pull DC back and put them in one of the other schools in the area where I a few parents certainly don’t know that driving around illegally on electric scooters.
‘Silently inform AIBU about other schools? I hate myself for feeling this way, by the way, so no matter how hard you scold me about my snobbery, you can’t beat my conscience.’
A significant number of commentators revealed that they too had moved their children or wanted to move from certain schools because of the other parents
A number of respondents felt the poster was reasonable for wanting to withdraw their child from school – some shared their stories of why they were writing off schools for their own children.
One said, “The parade of parents I saw walking to school with a little one eating a Gregg’s sausage roll (and a patty on the way home) was the reason mine never went to the local school.”
Another added: ‘I took DS out of such a school and also didn’t encourage any activity he wanted to do precisely because the parents were honestly the best. Some were scary. He was also bullied and the bully’s parents thought it was funny and DS just needs to get tougher.
“He’s now in a private school where most parents have professional careers and it’s night and day. I won’t even apologize for being a snob – I don’t really see us interacting with most old school parents, so I wouldn’t expect my kids to either.”
Meanwhile, another revealed that they had moved to prevent their child from attending a school they deemed “rough”.
They wrote: ‘It may be snobbish, but I moved to avoid something like that. Before my DC went to school, we lived in a city and I regularly ran into unsupervised young children cursing at me and damaging cars.
‘We found needles in the park toilets, adults leaving their rubbish all over the park, drunk people fighting outside when the pubs came out and much more.
“We moved because I didn’t want my DC growing up in that area and we were lucky we could afford it. It had never bothered me before, but when my 2 year old asked why that guy can’t get up or why those people don’t clean up their nest, I filled with despair.
“I get it, I know there are a lot of social inequalities behind all this behavior, but as a parent you want to protect your children as best you can.”
Meanwhile, many other respondents felt that the poster and other people in the thread were snobbish, while others felt that it can be positive for everyone to meet people from different backgrounds
However, some other posters rejected what they saw as a snobbish attitude towards other parents.
One wrote: ‘Wow, I’m shocked! Nobody defends the other mothers at school, the so-called chavs! These are still people. I thought through the Conservative Party bashing on MN that you were all left. Instead, you knock them off for what they eat, wear, so to speak.
“My ex-DH left when my DS was 9. Most of the mothers crossed the road as if I were infected and they had to keep their husbands away. The more ‘life experience’ mothers supported me and listened to me cry. My Rev’s friend had a father in prison. He was a sweet and nice boy to my ASD son.’
Another agreed, writing sarcastically, “Yeah, tattooed necks and eating Gregg’s sausage rolls. Where will this country go if nice people have to associate with people like her?
“They should be kept in cans where they cannot infect our children. It’s a slippery slope. One day it’s people eating pasties and the next you’re expected to talk to someone who makes less than £50k.’
And a third simply wrote: ‘You’re a snob and so are the people who comment on this post!
“But do what makes you feel good, of course.”