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Even parents opposed to Sats tests will not want them to be scrapped by schools at such short notice, says the co-founder of a parents' website.Head teachers have voted for a boycott of next month's tests in England.
But Siobhan Freegard of Netmums says it would be wrong to send such a confused message to children - to make them revise and then scrap the tests.
Heads' union leader Mick Brookes says he is still open to last-minute negotiations with ministers.
Last week, the National Association of Head Teachers and National Union of Teachers voted in support of a boycott - with details of any action set to be announced on Wednesday.
The tests are scheduled to be taken by hundreds of thousands of 11-year-olds (Year 6 pupils) from May 10th.
'Door is open'
The NAHT's general secretary, Mr Brookes, says he is still "happy to talk at any time" to ministers and that the "door is open" to negotiations before a boycott goes ahead.
Head teachers are also offering to go to ACAS arbitration, he says.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families also emphasised that "our door is open" to further discussions.
Netmums co-founder, Ms Freegard, said that parents would be concerned at the idea of children preparing for a test which never takes place.
"It's like putting them in a race, getting them ready, showing them the finishing post and then calling it off... It's pulling the rug from under them," she says.
Ms Freegard says she believes heads and teachers are "responsible professionals" and that many parents will share their concerns about the negative impact of the tests on the last year of primary school.
But she says that setting aside their views on Sats, parents will be unhappy at the prospect of pupils being stopped from taking the tests at such a late stage.
The prospect of a boycott has divided opinion - both among teachers and parents.
Another parents' website, Mumsnet, says that parents using the website have been broadly supportive of the boycott going ahead.
While another teachers' union, the NASUWT, is opposed to the boycott.
'Mastermind scenario'
Siobhan Freegard says she would be sympathetic to a compromise idea, which is being floated, that pupils could go ahead with the tests, but they would not be sent off for external marking.
Instead schools would mark the test papers of other local schools, without these results being available for league tables.
Mr Brookes says that if the boycott went ahead, this proposal for schools marking each others' paper would be an option likely to be considered.
He also recognised that there would be concerns about cancelling the tests after children had been revising - describing it as the "Mastermind scenario, I've started so I'll finish".
But he says the timing of the ballot and any announcement to take action were governed by industrial relations legislation, which requires action to be taken within a month of a ballot.
And Mr Brookes repeated his union's opposition to the Sats test system, saying he was not against the principle of testing, but was opposed to how the results were used.
The DCSF spokeswoman said ministers were still open to discussions.
"As Vernon Coaker said last week we need to keep talking about the future of testing and accountability - and to not let children and parents down. So our door is open - ministers and officials have been talking to NAHT throughout."
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