Yoga instructor stands up to an entitled mom, telling her she can't bring her 8-year-old son to adult-only classes when he's repeatedly disruptive: 'I love kids, but my class isn't the place for one'

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
May 11, 2026 5:00 PM EDT

Yoga is peaceful, but screaming, running, and iPad-wielding children are not. 

This yoga instructor was a purveyor of tranquility to her clients, but when a weekly 9 am class regular started dragging along a restless 8-year-old in tow, even the yoga instructor's inner peace wavered. After asking the mom once to consider childcare options or even the maternity class the studio hosted, the entitled mom insisted that she must bring her kid to class, in spite of the obvious disruption to every other yogi. However, this yoga instructor wasn't about to let one selfish mom ruin the class for everyone. 

Kids, unlike pets, are welcome almost anywhere, but in the few exempt, child-free domains, the sanctity of adult-only visitors must be abided by. Alas, when adults seek peace and serenity in the form of a powerful Vinyasa sculpt class, they expect to do so without the overbearing chattering of a kid's iPad rattling in the distance, and they also expect to balance in Tree Pose without fear of being toppled by a scampering child who treats the studio like a playground. 

Parents sometimes lose sight of how disruptive children are because they're surrounded by chaos at all times. 

However, yoga-going adults may go to class to escape the noise of their own family. Likewise, childfree yogis enjoy the sanctity of a low-stress existence, in and outside of class, so a rambunctious child tinkering around in the back of your favorite yoga class of the week is less than ideal. Either way, this mother's son was not welcome in the yoga class, regardless of her reasoning. 

Unfortunately, when they become parents, people need to make sacrifices for their children. Some parents sacrifice their Saturday mornings for soccer tournaments, and some parents sacrifice their favorite TV shows at night, but the joys of parenting often outweigh the loss of a once-loved hobby. However, this mom was not ready or willing to sacrifice her yoga class…. To the detriment of everyone else. 

Luckily for the 9 AM regulars, their emboldened yoga instructor wasn't as zen as she led on, confronting the mom and accepting the rageful online comment fallout to protect the sacredness of her adult-only yoga class. 

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  • AITA for telling a mother her son isn't welcome in my yoga studio's adult classes anymore?
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • My name is Rachael, 52 F, I own a small yoga studio in a college town in New Hampshire. We offer adult classes, prenatal, and a kids' class twice a week.
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • One of the rules that's been in place since I opened posted on the website and on the sign-in sheet is that adult classes are adults only.
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • Simple rule. It's a studio, not a gym, there's nowhere for a kid to go while a parent is on a mat.
    via goldie_butterflyyx
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  • A few months ago a woman started coming to my 9am power flow with her son, who was maybe 8. First time I figured was a one-off. She brought
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • him with his iPad and set him up on a folded blanket against the back wall. I spoke to her after class, explained the policy,
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • offered her the schedule for our kids' class and a flyer from the community center's drop-in childcare down the street. She said her son
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • can't be left with strangers" and that she "really needed this hour." I told her I hear her but the class isn't a suitable space for him.
    via goldie_butterflyyx
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  • She came back the next week. Same thing. iPad at full volume for three minutes before I had to go mute it. Then the class after that went sideways.
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • The boy was bored, fair, and started running laps at the back of the studio. Then he knocked over the rack of blocks. Then he was crying and slapping the window.
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • I stopped class and went over to the mom. She said "he just needs to move, please give him a minute." I said he can't stay in this class. She said "you can't do this he has needs."
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • Another student at the back said something sharp, I don't remember what, but it got ugly.
    via goldie_butterflyyx
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  • I told her she needed to leave and that going forward the 9am wasn't open to her if her son needed to be with her. I also for the record offered
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • to comp her a month of our kids' class for him AND a pass to our prenatal (she'd mentioned she was trying again). She said that was "insulting" and left.
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • She's been posting in the town Facebook group about how our studio isn't "inclusive" and "doesn't support
    via goldie_butterflyyx
  • families." Two of my regulars have said they're canceling over it. I love kids, I raised three. But my adult class isn't the place for one.
    via goldie_butterflyyx
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  • No_Benefit_5360 NTA, you offered her two other classes and comped them. "inclusive" doesn't mean every class has to fit every kid. the two regulars canceling would've found something to be mad about eventually.
    via No_Benefit_5360
  • HyperBites NTA. Two regulars may have cancelled, but plenty more would have cancelled if their session was every time interrupted by mayhem.
    via HyperBites
  • Spiritual_Cry3316 NTA. You were MORE than fair to her! Sorry you lost a couple of customers over this. My guess is you'd have lost even more if you hadn't addressed the situation and banned her.
    via Spiritual_Cry3316
  • Roosteroot Pretty sure if you started saying kids were welcome in the back with their loud iPads of your adult classes, most of the other adults would cancel their memberships.
    via Roosteroot
  • It would be one thing if she had approached you with her story ahead of time, asked if he could sit in the back, use headphones and if he didn't create any disturbance could she come? Maybe you could have worked something out.
    via Roosteroot
  • But the fact that she just showed up and expected you to accommodate her was wild. And with the volume of the iPad clearly detracting from the purpose of the class.
    via Roosteroot
  • I feel for her and not being able to leave her son with anyone, I really do. But there was a right way for her to handle this and a wrong way, and she chose the wrong way.
    via Roosteroot

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