Not So Secret Journal

Now we’ve covered parenting the school edition (what do you mean you’ve not read it yet)

Here’s the link Parenting The School Edition.

Anyway, as I covered in the above post, parenting gets technical at times and these technicalities will come in the form of other parents and their kids.

Now as I have said before, some of these parents and their kids will be your saving grace, the sugar in your tea and some will be the downpour of torrential rain that you’ve been avoiding all day.

Now like school run parents you will get the good, the bad and the downright avoidable.

So, depending on your child, they will want to try everything, dip their toes into other things and avoid everything and stay at home, I have one of the stay-at-home ones.

The types of clubs that they will want to join will range from, the free after school clubs that they can do with their classmates. Now these clubs are an absolute god send for any parent, because one you know that they are safe in school and two they are with their mates, and they’re FREE, you can’t really say that about anything these days, this is why all the teachers should get a decent gift at the end of term for not only taking time out of their lives to run these clubs, but for putting up with your kid in their free time.

Then there’s the Dance Classes, these are generally run in the greater community by Dance teachers.  Now, I am still a dance mum, I am fiercely supportive of my child, but I am laid back too and don’t for one second compare my child’s progress to any other dancer’s journey.

But………… There are dance mums and dance schools out there who will tear your child down without a blink of an eye. Now I’m not tarring all dance mums and schools with the same brush, that would be harsh, and like kids and parents, no two people or dance schools are the same.

Dance schools have classes most nights and should your little one choose this as an after-school club, then please be warned it isn’t the cheapest hobby for little Millie to have, you will have to sell your soul to the devil, or start a foot account on only fans to pay the monthly fee’s, should little one decide she wants to do more than one class a week and don’t get me started on the remortgage for show costumes.

You will meet an array of different mums and sometimes dad’s whilst on your little ones dance journey. 

Theres the quiet mums, these will be the organised ones, who will have remembered everything and will quietly cheer little Molly on from the side of the stage, because she also offers help and advice to everyone.

There are the regular dance mums, these ladies are funny, loud and will get you through every single dance show and comp with just sheer wit and humour. They will always have supplies of treats for the kids and will know the fastest route out of every single show and comp.

Then there’s the comp mums, they are louder than loud, they will tear you down with just one look and beware they will always carry air horns. They truly are their kids biggest critic and God forbid little Alexa forgets part of the dance, because she will have her in one-2-one lessons for the rest of her days until she gets everything perfect, because god forbid that child was allowed to mess up.

Football was another club my little ones ventured into, now again every club is different, you will mainly deal with the manager, and his wife is normally on hand to help him put out the training cones and collect the weekly sub’s.  She’s also there because little tommy plays for the team.

Most teams have a designated child welfare officer, it’s normally a nominated parent who views the game as a whole and makes sure that there are no issues from parents on both sides of the pitch on match days. He or she will be responsible for making sure parents behave, and believe me some parents don’t know how to behave, and have started fighting before now (at an under 7’s game) they had to be reminded that they weren’t watching a premier league side and these kids aren’t getting paid.

Like dance, you will also come across parents who have a different outlook at their child’s progress in football.

Theres the dad’s whose kids play because, they played as a kid and enjoyed the game and they get to spend some dad and lad time with the little one. They’re there for the fun of the game and to help build social skills for his little one.

Theres the regular dads, who are like a little pack, you will see them with their flasks of hot tea on a Saturday morning, criticizing the manager quietly because little bobby hasn’t had any game time yet, but won’t really say anything because he can’t be arsed with the fuss.

Then there’s the super competitive dad, his son is normally the forward/striker of the team, he will brag that the team is only top of the league because of his kid, and he hates it when his kid is subbed for any reason, including his son’s head falling off. You can see him now in his matching tracksuit, walking up and down the line shouting abuse at his own kid, like he’s the manager of the team. He more than likely plays football manager on the PlayStation at home in a suit (because he takes it that seriously).

Martial arts was another club my little people joined, where do I even start on this one.

5 of the 6 of mine have all trained in a Taekwondo centre, and we do have 3 black belts, but for legal reasons I’m not allowed to mention the club or its members (joking).

Like the other two clubs I’ve mentioned, you will always have those parents who are either there for the fun of the sport and hoping the little one picks up a skill, to the extreme parent who not only thinks their child will be the next Jade Jones, only little Timmy has the co-ordination of a chicken and he’s only there because his mum has taken a shine to the instructor.

No matter what club your kid decides to join, you will always meet an assortment of parents and kids, from the laid back to the super competitive, just remember your there because your kid enjoys the activity, and like the school run parents, you’ll know which parents to avoid and like a moth to a flame your type of parents will find you.

Top parenting tip, let the kids be kids, because I know from experience, they aren’t kids for long and if you force little Janice to become the actress or dancer you always wanted to be she will hate you forever for forcing her to do something she hates, you can’t live your dreams through your child, so if you still want to be a dancer, actress or entertainer, go and do it yourself, it’s still acceptable for grown ups to join clubs, just make sure it’s a normal club (IYKYK)

See you soon x