Confronting Parents Who Bully

Posted in Parenting on Sep 01, 2010 - 12:03 AM

Recently I wrote about an incident that occurred during my daughter's swim lesson that had me in tears. A mother openly bullied her child--who was perhaps three or four years old, no more--about her lack of discipline in the class.

It's a very light, introductory course into water that includes blowing bubbles and getting comfortable kicking, floating, etc. This mother, however, seemed to think her daughter was training for the Olympics, and proceeded to say some things that were so biting and hurtful that I actually cried. She also told the little girl, "You're here to learn, not to play!" To me, of course, this sentence is an oxymoron.

What do you do when such things occur?

The complete post about this experience is here. I would really love to know what a good response would have been. Ethically, I think I should have said something more--but what? However, I don't know if that would have been appropriate or not, either. I know that I get my feathers ruffled when other parents criticize me (especially for choosing to homeschool). Please feel free to leave any ideas and suggestions in the comments.

Tags for this entry:
parenting, bullying, parent involvement, parental concern

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