Pushover

So I need to know what the hell is wrong with parents?????

At Jack's little play class, there are two girls who are both 2 and are big pushers. Not a class has gone by where he has not been pushed -- and I am talking two-handed to the ground -- by one of these little brats.

Today, the two pushers were having a celebrity deathmatch on one of the crawling towers during open play and I took that opportunity to speak quietly with the teacher. I asked if we could talk about the pushing and she said, “You mean (let's call them X and Z)?” Ding ding ding. I said I didn’t want to parent other people’s kids, and I didn’t want her to have to either, but that every class Jack has attended this session, he got pushed. She said she had already spoken with X's mom and Z's nanny about it, but would make an announcement in general about not pushing and watching your child.

Not even two minutes later, we’re putting the toys away and X gives Jack a two-handed push to the head. The mom was RIGHT THERE and says “Hey! You don’t push you big bully. Say excuse me.” Notice, not sorry, excuse me. WTF? So I don’t say anything, the kid does it again a second later. I pick Jack up and the mom says “Here he can play with it" and I say, “Just forget it.” She looks at Jack and says, “He’s fine.” Really? Thanks for the update.

So after class the teacher makes an announcement that she has noticed a lot of pushing today and that it’s really important to talk with your kids and let them know that it’s not OK to push at Bubbles (the name of the place we take the class) and that everyone should feel safe in this class.

X’s mom busts out, to the entire class, “Well, we’re all 2 years old here and that’s what 2-year-olds do. If you don’t want your kid pushed, then you shouldn’t come to class.”

I’m sorry, what???? The teacher says “Well this is a class about socialization and kids do sometimes push, but your kids need to know that pushing is not OK anywhere, not just at Bubbles.”

At that point class was over anyway, so I left. But hellooooo X’s mom: not all the kids are 2. They sang happy birthday to X today and she was 2. Jack is 16 months, so he’s a full 8 months younger than her. I think that’s a big difference at this age. And as I told Josh, I don’t want him learning to be defensive or aggressive from this class. He’s supposed to be learning to play and interacting with other kids.

Am I the only parent who would remove my child if he was a bully? And make him apologize? I am telling you, it starts like this at 2, and by the time they're in school, these are the parents who always blame the teacher for everything and think their child can do no wrong.