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Today I was teaching gymnastics and this toddler walked into class probably a dozen times and was already on the other side of the gym before her mother noticed. And this was consecutively, not like every 5 minutes. No, every time Mom came and removed her from the gym, she was in again.

It was one of my students' sisters, so I felt uncomfortable saying anything. But how much attention is Mom paying if the kid kept coming in over and over and over the second she was put back outside the gym? How do you not notice that your daughter has wandered off the second you bring her back?

I was literally one step away from putting a mat up in the opening so that the kid couldn't come in. It distracted the WHOLE class. I guess I just didn't want to make a scene. Although, I stopped smiling in understanding about the 5th time the girl came in, even though Mom kept laughing and saying, "she REALLY wants to do gymnastics!" Then I just started looking at her once and then ignoring her.

Wow, how unbelievably annoying and rude! That woman probably thinks her little darling is just so precious, how could anyone not find her antics adorable? That would make me SO angry.

That's just wrong. She was disrupting the class for the children whose parents PAID for them to have gymnastics lessons. I don't think you should have felt bad (nor do I think it would have been wrong) to tactfully tell her (or have your manager do it) that she needed to keep her out of the class because she was disrupting the lessons for the other children.

How annoying--another example of how we're supposed to think misbehavior is cute. And aside from the disruption, it could be dangerous for the child to keep wandering in--what if she accidentally got kicked in the head and knocked over by someone who was doing cartwheels/backflips, etc.?!

Is there a class for toddlers? Perhaps you could suggest the mom enroll the wanderlust kiddie in that, and keep her (him?) out of big sis's class, as it is too dangerous for littler ones....

Yeah! What if, for example, the class teacher were to accidentally backflip into the kiddo? Eh, teacher?

Absolutely. And then we all know who the first person to scream would be. Obviously, being a mother means you can no longer connect cause and effect.

This reminds me of that You-Tube vid where the kid gets dropkicked by the breakdancer in the mall. I must watch that again, it amuses me every time. Here's the link!BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

And if the child had been hurt, then mommy would've wanted satisfaction. I have seen some of my friends allow this kind of behavior. I honest to goodness think that they thought that people were enjoying the distraction!

Once I caught my sister in law sitting beside me at a church basketball game where her toddler had wandered out onto the court grinning! Grinning, I tell you! I could hear her thinking, "Looky, everybody SEES my baby now!" All I could think of was how badly that child could get hurt or cause one of the players to hurt themselves. I would stay at home before I would let my babies disrupt other peoples activities.

The most dangerous thing in the world is an entitled idiot who chooses to breed.

I would have told the "Aaaw, isn't that cute!" mom to get her roving safety hazard out of the gym. She was putting BOTH her children (and all the older child's classmates) in danger, as well as costing other parents money.

You better believe that next week if this happens I will be putting the mat up in the doorway so she can't get in.