playground etiquette
Okay, so I think I am on the outer edge of today's accepted playground etiquette when it comes to talking to other people's kids about right and wrong. In my opinion ALL adults at the playground are responsible for keeping everyone safe. If I was helping Stella and someone had to tell Sophia to stop doing something that was unsafe or mean I would trust that the parent was right and I would talk to Sophia about what had been going on. When I am trying to deal with Sophia and Stella at the playground I, admittedly, do not have endless amounts of energy in reserve for niceties, especially if there is a situation that involves safety. If I was a better person I would ALWAYS have a reserve of energy for phrasing everything in a nice way, but sometimes I find it necessary to say something quickly, to the point, and directly - like "Don't push!"
It happened today with a 18-mo (?) old behind Stella, repeatedly, pushing her along because she wasn't fast enough on the stairs or at the top of the slide. I said "Don't push. Don't push!" and I got a tongue lashing from the mom WHO WAS ON HER CELL PHONE THE WHOLE TIME.
Normally I just try to avoid kids like that, but this was a VERY small playground and avoiding was not possible. I spoke up because I felt like that was my only option at the time. The first time he pushed I was able to move Stella out of the way quickly so I said nothing. It was the second time when I said something.
I left. I was so frustrated by the situation. Her kid was pushy! Obviously he learned it from her because SHE was pushy! grrrr. Makes me hate going to the playground. sigh
posted by Maia LeDoux @ 1:43 PM
7 Comments:
personally, i appreciate parents who aren't afraid to discipline my kids when they're doing something they're not supposed to be doing. that way it teaches them to respect and listen to other adults (not just the parents). i say you should continue to speak up if a child is misbehaving, especially if it affects the safety of your own children. some parents are weird and think that their child could never do *anything* wrong (i happen to come across one or two like that @ work).
lame, I agree 100% with prasti.
you shoulda gone over and sat next to her on her bench and started nudging her towards the edge. Then when she fell into the cedar chips, grabbed her cell phone, hung up on her chat pal and chucked the phone into the wading pool.
stuart
i like stuart's idea. i can just see that lady's face...maybe you could get sophia to toss the cell phone so the 3 of you can make a fast getaway.
I've seen similar behavior at the dog park (ha ha ha). Some owners just let their aggressive dogs pick on others without doing a thing, and in the case of the dogs I would hesitate to step in for fear of the dog getting aggressive on me.
I was in a magazine store once when this kid came over and head-butted me! He was about waist high on me, maybe 4 years old? His mom said something ridiculous like, "Oh, he does that sometimes."
Hopefully you don't feel like you were in the wrong at all! Some people have no sense of propriety.
I wish I was at the park with you Maia, just because.
I had a crazy incident once with a 4 year old picking on Gianna,and pushing her. G was 1 at the time and the kids dad was outside of the toddler park throwing a football with his older kids and didn't take any responsibility for his kids actions and tried to make me feel like, oh well thats life. It turns out I was friends with that kids preschool teacher so she had a sit down talk with the kid about it and told me how much of an ass that particular parent was.
thanks everybody; i keep telling my wife how great a mom she is but it helps to have everyone else weigh in on a. how great she is and b. how inconceivably self-centered, clueless, and downright stuuuuuupid some people are. I almost want to vote republican so we can get that breeding license thing passed :) jeff
you totally did the right thing........
that mother will have her own set of problems later in life if she sits and talks on her cell phone and lets her son run around pushing other kids.
if you need a pierced up death metal looking guy to hang around and scare the other parents (or children) next time let me know. matt is good to have around in such occasions.
Anna Adams
Post a Comment
<< Home