I just give up. Playground bitch mom.

[Deleted]

Woah. What an asshole. Glad you are moving soon. Hugs, swizz. I can't imagine anyone not wanting to be friendly with you.

[Deleted]

What a jerk. I talk to pretty much everyone at the playground. I'm sorry they're so rude.

[Deleted]

That sucks.

I feel you though. It took me almost 10 YEARS in this town to feel like I belong. And the "in crowd" here is still really cliquey. Like 30 year old women doing it HS style. I don't have time or energy for that jazz.

[pinotgrig]

That's was really rude of her. Sorry. I would have been thrilled that you took the initiative to start a conversation.

[waterchurch]

How rude! Where are her manners? Ugh.

[DarcyLongfellow]

I'm so sorry

There are other nice moms out there!! Even in the town you're in. I know you'll find them eventually!

[justjen]

You're planning to move back, right? That would give me comfort as I eye rolled the hell out of her.

[jeaniebueller]

I am sorry she was such a snot.

[dcn]

Wow what a bitch!

I feel you, when we lived in Alabama I had two years of experiences like that it was really hard. I had a better experience in Texas but we were in a bigger city, so maybe that is part of it.

[patbutcher]

Wow, you didn't deserve that. Sorry.

[Deleted]

Make friends with the abortion lady. She sounds interesting and less stuck up than the snobby playground bitch.

[carolinagirl831]

good thing youre moving soon?
it's hard to meet other normal moms! why can't we all live next to each other!

[imojoebunny]

Just saw that you are moving, but maybe for someone else or when you get to your new town...

Can you get people you like to go there? When I would meet a mom/dad I liked who lived close at story time, swim class, or what have you, we set up a Facebook page for our park, and I would write it down for him or her to follow. Some did, some didn't. Then when we were planning to go to the park, I would post on that page. Other people started using it to meet up too. Eventually, we got into a routine with about 10 families, and you could count on them being there at certain times, not all of them always, but a few at least. I also had good luck with meeting people at mommy and me type classes. We have a company here called Oh! Baby fitness that has adult fitness classes you can do with a baby/toddler, but a gym with childcare was a nice to have when my DD got older. DS refused to go, or rather, they refused to let me leave him.

Now, I can't find anyone at DS's school I actually like. There was one older lady who used to bring her grandson to the playground, I really liked, but she fell and can't care for him anymore. Now it is just a bunch of men and women who are very busy either being pretentious and self congratulatory, or unsure if they are allowed to breathe for fear of being improper.

[brooklyn]

Wtf! I'm impressed at your restraint in not punching her.

[robyn]

I'm so sorry she treated you that way. Know it's her, not you. She for some reason can't bring herself to be a decent person and must get off on treating others like shit because in her head she thinks it makes her better than everyone else. I hope you are able to connect with some awesome mom friends (or get the hell out of assholeville) very soon!

[catbus]

That is so crappy. Since becoming a parent I've noticed people make strange assumptions and judgments about other parents (duh). In my case, I've had strange/rude encounters with other moms, and I think I've pinpointed it to the fact that I look young and young moms are not the norm in Seattle. Strangely, people who've been cold to me initially seem to warm up when they get clues indicating I'm actually in my 30s (still "young mom" status in Seattle, but not as "bad" in their eyes as when they think I'm in my early/mid-20s.

Another friend has had similar experiences here, and also has a young face. Obviously we don't want to be friends with such superficial people anyway, but it would be nice to not be shunned based on a stupid assumption.

[Alyssa]

I hate going to the park sometimes.

I had one girl who looked to be about 12-13 years old who was playing by herself in the litttle kids part of the park. She was piling sand at the base of the little slide and telling the toddlers up above not to go down the slide. I watched this for a a couple minutes minutes while the girl was piling sand and making towers. One of the toddlers proceeded to sit down like they wanted to go down the slide. The girl's mother walks over and tell the toddler not to go down the slide.  I think, 'WTF?'

The bottom of the slide is not a place to build a sand castle and if she wants to do that, she can move aside.  So I went over and told her that and I said to let the children go down the slide.  She looked at me with a shocked look on her face and I repeated that the slide was for kids to go down and she could build her castle somewhere else.  I walked back off and watched my son and two other little kids go down the slide.

That's when her mother walked up to her and asked why she let the children go down the slide.  I couldn't believe that mother.  I gathered my son and went home.

[bcarp30]

What a B. I don't inderstand what people gain by acting like that. And that her daughter and yours are the only 2 girls is ridiculous. No wonder her daughter acts the way she does.

[6fsn]

On the plus side, you didn't waste time finding out she was a bitch.

[simpsongal]

I hate people (present company excluded).

[Deleted]

Ugh! I would be so thrilled to have someone chat with me at the playground. I sort of met a mom who is 100% new to the country and we chatted for a few minutes. I am kicking myself for not offering my phone #. She seemed really nice and her son was moving this color wheel since my DS loved seeing it move, so he seemed like a really nice ltitle boy. Hope to see her again.

[mrssandro]

I want to assume it's the town or just a run of bad luck.

I don't want to give a bad rap to Texas. I have never run into very rude parents in the park. But I am socially awkward and avoid people when I am out in public. I will be nice and say hello and chat during play dates but not new people in the park.

[mrssandro]

Sept 28, 2015 13:42:46 GMT -5 swizz said:

Sept 28, 2015 13:38:29 GMT -5 mrssandro said:

I want to assume it's the town or just a run of bad luck.

I don't want to give a bad rap to Texas. I have never run into very rude parents in the park. But I am socially awkward and avoid people when I am out in public. I will be nice and say hello and chat during play dates but not new people in the park.

And I by no means expect people to become my BFF instantly or even want to chat, but when someone engages you in mild chit chat and appears to have something in common with or know your child, not acting like they have the plague seems only the decent thing to do. IMO.

This really has little to do with my particular town other than it seems to happen OFTEN here. I can only start to assume it's something about me that's off putting.

It is strange that people aren't very warm in your town. Don't get me wrong. I just don't want you leaving Texas thinking all small towns are like that.  

[CloudBee]

Sept 28, 2015 13:38:29 GMT -5 mrssandro said:

I want to assume it's the town or just a run of bad luck.

I don't want to give a bad rap to Texas. I have never run into very rude parents in the park. But I am socially awkward and avoid people when I am out in public. I will be nice and say hello and chat during play dates but not new people in the park.

Their daughters are in the same preschool class. Of 7. There are only 2 girls.

swizz I'm sorry she was so harsh.

I've had similar experiences as catbus. I look really young, so other moms tend not to give me the time of day, or talk down to me before getting to know me.

I hope you link up with a good circle once you move back home.

[rex]

i'm sorry that happened to you swizz. she did not need to be such a bitch! isn't eating rocks like a toddler rite of passage? lol

i get the same thing as catbus. i look SUPER young and either no one talks to me, or talks to me as if i'm 16. it's irritating.

you'll be leaving soon! hopefully you have a good group in DC, or it will at least be easier for you.

[glinda]

Ugh, I hate that. My city is like 4x the size of yours but it seems like every time we go to the park DS1 sees someone we know and the other mom (or dad) and I will chit chat while the kids play. It's not even about being like "oh let's be best friends!!" So much as not being RUDE, lady!

But, your experience doesn't really surprise me in small town east tx, I'm telling you people are bizarro in some of these places. I am glad ours is bigger, but there are still a LOT of cliques around here.

How frustrating. Hopefully you all won't be there too much longer.

[rex]

Sept 28, 2015 13:54:23 GMT -5 swizz said:

Sept 28, 2015 13:50:05 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

Their daughters are in the same preschool class. Of 7. There are only 2 girls.

swizz I'm sorry she was so harsh.

I've had similar experiences as catbus. I look really young, so other moms tend not to give me the time of day, or talk down to me before getting to know me.

I hope you link up with a good circle once you move back home.

It totally made me feel over invested in her schooling, lol. Like, is it weird that I know her child's name and recognize her?! I know about half the boys too (from drop off and pick up, someone is usually yelling their name and the names are all on the wall in the room on a bulletin board).

I'm good with names and faces and I never know what's a "normal" amount to remember this stuff and what might come off as weird and stalkerish, lol.

i don't think it's stalkerish. i think normal people would be so happy you remembered their daughter's name and were trying to make a connection. it would make me happy! i love when people like my kid and want their kid to interact with her. 

[CloudBee]

You're totally normal!

[humpforfree]

Um wtf. I hate people in general, and this is a good representation of why.

[aspentosh]

You're awesome-sauce and she's a bitch. KOKO.

I, for one, would have appreciated the effort you put into starting a conversation. That is hard.