You're welcome to your opinion of the parent, but all I have read is people trying to tell you that your opinion is short-sighted. No one has tried to tell you you can't hold that opinion, and, to add, if someone on the internet did try and tell you can't have that opinion, what does that matter?
Do you think the people opining on your opinion are trying to bitch-slap you because they think you're an annoying troll? Or do you think they perceive you and Josie as our internet brother and sister, couple-in-waiting, and are just trying to help you out, educate you a little? I'm telling you straight up that your opinion on the matter is flawed, because it lacks the experience necessary to really appreciate the situation. That's not a put-down, I'm saying that because I'm trying to pass along what I have learned in life. Before I was married and had kids, I would have had the exact same response as you, and now I see how, frankly, immature that response is.
I think in this instance, really, the older, experienced crowd is trying to "straighten you out" in a respectful manner, and you handled it poorly IMHO. But, even the latter is understandable, because you simply have no idea...yet.
When you have kids, especially that young, every waking moment is devoted to that child/those kids. Everything, every thought, every action. If there's something as innocuous as an open practice where you know you can take the kids, sit there and watch for a half-hour, and split when you want, you might take that opportunity thinking "what can go wrong?"
With the "what can go wrong" approach, you have to be realistic. Something can go wrong at any time. What can go wrong walking your kids around the loop at Delaware Park? What can go wrong crossing Main Street at a red light in the University District during a weekday afternoon? How about taking a plane trip to Florida to visit your relatives? One can't live life afraid of the variables, what does that teach the kids? The very notion that these people shouldn't have been at the open practice plays into the helicopter parent mentality.
Like the rest, I'm sharing my philosophy here, not trying to put you down.
