At the playground, today...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ooh, ooh, this one's so easy!!

1 y.o. shouldn't be going up the slide in the first place. that's the #1 rule of the playground and you ignore it at your own peril. as you found out.

I don't care so much about this story. But I do care about these rules?! I'm a FTM with an 8 mo old. We recently started going to the playground. And errr, I do let my kiddie sit on the slide (I hold her on there). I had no idea this was a no no. Are there are other rules? I did notice myself getting a couple of looks from a mom to a 2 year old when I had DD on the swing...in fact, she and the kid stood there glaring at us until we got off. Did I do something wrong?

Totally being serious: Please do share!! Thank you!!!

There are some "unspoken rules" which really are common sense/courtesy. When it comes to swings - if you see people waiting shorten how long you are swinging so they can have a turn.

With our kids if the playground is busy the rule for our family is "no climbing up slides". They have the same rule at school. If the playground is empty, they can try to climb up the slide if they want. They know the difference.

When our kids were in the standing/cruising stage I'd occasionally use the bottom of a slide as place for them to stand/cruise - but only if the playground was virtually empty and I'd move them if a kid was going to go down the slide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids are starving in Somalia, lady.

THIS!

[Anonymous]

Here's my pet peeve. Big playground, broken down into the "6-12" playstructures and the "up to 6" playstructures. Labelled. Tons of toddlers on the big one (which is fine), but the mother's who GLARE at my 7 yr old for **gasp** running around playing on it. He's reasonably careful, but seriously--maybe your toddler ought to be on the other side if it bothers you that much?

No, he doesn't play on the toddler structure.

[Anonymous]

mother of rowdy big kids here - yeah PP, moms of infants and toddlers who regard my active big kids as out of control monsters are pretty much my pet peeve.

[Anonymous]

OP here. There was a total of 3 slides and 2 children when this happened.

I wouldn't change a thing.

What a brat!

[Anonymous]

I don't ever let my son climb up the slide because if I let him do it sometimes, he'll want to do it all the time. And at our neighborhood playground, it's a big no no.. I guess it depends on your local playground culture, but this is pretty frowned upon to me.

[Anonymous]

Hmm, I let my DS climb up the slide all the time, provided no kid is waiting to come down, because his PT encouraged it. It promotes strength and coordination. It is GOOD for him and his motor skill development.

So if you see a kid climbing up a slide, before you immediately condemn, try to think, just maybe, his mom is letting him do it for a good reason.

Kids need to learn to share the equipment, be gentle with smaller kids, and learn to allow kids of varying needs to use it as well.

[Anonymous]

Someday your child will be older, too, OP. Then come back and tell us how you view this scenario.

[Anonymous]

So if you see a kid climbing up a slide, before you immediately condemn, try to think, just maybe, his mom is letting him do it for a good reason.

Well, is he doing this and prohibiting all the other kids from coming down? If so, I don't care if he's low-tone, that's no excuse. I have a low-tone / PT kid, so don't try to give me the walk a mile in my shoes/ my life is hard / SN momspeech.

If there are no other kids in sight, knock yourself out going up that slide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. There was a total of 3 slides and 2 children when this happened.

I wouldn't change a thing.

What a brat!

OP - this is one of those areas where you need a little humility. The chances of your precious little 1 yo doing some bratty things at 3 yo are pretty much 100%. Now, as the parent of both a 1 yo and a 3 yo (and 5 yo, but he has learned the rules of the playground), I can tell you that things change very quickly. But playgrounds really aren't for 1 yos. They just aren't. They really are for older kids to run around. So I don't think the 3 yo was a brat. I would have stepped in if it was my kid, but I'm super sensitive about these things. But OP - really, humility...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. There were 3 slides side by side. Each child was playing with a different slide and the 3yo changed slides when she saw the baby there.

And WHO said going up the slide is "against the rules"? This is a joke, right?

I'm with you OP. The 3 yo was already on a slide and ONLY SWITCHED SLIDES WHEN SHE SAW THE 1yo. PPs need to actually read the post
If some 3yo kicked me, I would immediately asked where her mother/caretaker was, and I have a 3yo. If my 3yo did that she would be in SO much trouble!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 1yo was climbing up the middle slide.

The 3yo who was ready to go down the slide on the R side ran to the middle slide and said WATCH OUT and pretended to come down. 3yo's Grandma did nothing. 3yo grabbed as hard as she could the side of the slide and came down with rage.

Mom of 1yo quickly put her arm on the way to keep 3yo from kicking 1yo right on the face. Grandma frowned and walked away leaving 3yo behind.

3yo kicked 1yo's mom and made a face. 1yo's mom grabbed 1yo and went to the swing. 3yo followed them and tried to push 1yo out of the way to grab the infant swing.

It was the end of it, 1yo's mom said to the 3yo to go ask her grandma for help with the big girl's swing. Grandma grabbed 3yo by the arm and said "Let's just go home".

There. I feel better now. Thanks.

Your appropriate response when 3yo switched slides was to pick up your 1yo and move the 1yo to either of the other slides. While it is okay to climb on or up a slide, only when it isn't in use. Yes, the 3yo was obnoxious switching to the slide that your 1yo was on, but (s)he was still going the right way. People using the slides going down always have "right of way" to those playing or going up. So, you needed to move your 1yo to an unused slide to make way for someone to come down.

Whether you would do it again or not, it is your fault for using the equipment the wrong way. As a kid I often climbed up the wrong way, but I always knew that if an accident happened because of that, or if someone came down on top of me, it was my fault.

[Anonymous]

OP was using the slide the wrong way and for whatever reason, decided to make a stand against a little 3 yo (by not moving her little 1 yo and by sticking out her arm, block the 3 yo using the slide properly instead of just picking up and moving her kid).

And she was so pissed off about the behavior - FROM A THREE YEAR OLD - that she needed to vent about it online.

Way to be the adult OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ooh, ooh, this one's so easy!!

1 y.o. shouldn't be going up the slide in the first place. that's the #1 rule of the playground and you ignore it at your own peril. as you found out.

I don't care so much about this story. But I do care about these rules?! I'm a FTM with an 8 mo old. We recently started going to the playground. And errr, I do let my kiddie sit on the slide (I hold her on there). I had no idea this was a no no. Are there are other rules? I did notice myself getting a couple of looks from a mom to a 2 year old when I had DD on the swing...in fact, she and the kid stood there glaring at us until we got off. Did I do something wrong?

Totally being serious: Please do share!! Thank you!!!

There are some "unspoken rules" which really are common sense/courtesy. When it comes to swings - if you see people waiting shorten how long you are swinging so they can have a turn.

With our kids if the playground is busy the rule for our family is "no climbing up slides". They have the same rule at school. If the playground is empty, they can try to climb up the slide if they want. They know the difference.

When our kids were in the standing/cruising stage I'd occasionally use the bottom of a slide as place for them to stand/cruise - but only if the playground was virtually empty and I'd move them if a kid was going to go down the slide.

This has nothing to do with OP's situation. Common sense/courtesy are different for different situations, but when there are 3 kids and 3 slides I don't see any reason to prohibit your one-year-old from climbing up the bottom of the slide.

I know some parents might find it easier to impose a bright-line no-slide-bottom rule, but in the long run I think it makes more sense to teach your kids to be flexible and adapt their responses to the situation at hand. A strict rule might be easier to enforce for the moment, but it doesn't actually help your kid develop the skills to evaluate situations for himself in the future and respond in a courteous and safe way.

We also tend to go to a quiet playground that is sometimes virtually empty, and when my DS was small he got a ton of pleasure and exercise climbing on the bottom of the slide. I would hate to prohibit him from doing that if there's nobody else around to care. I always supervised closely and he learned pretty quickly that when an older kid showed up at the top he would be smart to get out of the way. Now that he is (at 3) an "older kid," he's pretty good about being respectful of the younger ones, on the slide or anywhere else. He does of course still need reminding sometimes, but to me that's just part of age-appropriate supervision. (Which the grandmother of the child OP is talking about clearly wanted no part of.)

[Anonymous]

This shot about playground rules is so fucking funny!!!!!