Reply to How do you deal with unruly older kids at the playground?

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Reply to "How do you deal with unruly older kids at the playground?"

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[quote=Anonymous]There's a balance here.  The older kids DO have priority to some extent on equipment made for them, but they also need to respect the younger kids and listen to adults who ask them to wait/step back/etc.

We dealt with this when my DS was about that age.  Honestly, I don't think most parks are made for kids this young, so some of the responsibility is on you.  You can let your kid use the equipment when there aren't others around, but I would take her off as soon as much older kids come into the picture.  Go ahead and let her finish what she's doing, of course, and they should respect this, but it isn't really fair to ask them to wait for 10 minutes while she slowly climbs up the stairs and then uses the slide repeatedly.

Many playgrounds have smaller structures for the little kids.  Seek out one of these.  Swings are great and safe for all ages because they are low-contact.  And there are often structures for ages 2-5, which are usually great.  Still challenging for a 16-month-old but not as dangerous.

However, older kids absolutely need to watch out for little kids and need to respect the requests of other adults there.  I have been in situations with kids who talked back and refused to listen when we told them that they needed to wait to go to the bottom of the slide (there were multiple 2-4 year olds at the bottom of the slide, and an 8-year-old who wanted to go down) -- on a structure designed for little kids, not big ones

It's totally reasonable to ask older kids to be careful and to wait.  Depending on age and experience (i.e. if they have little siblings), most will not realize they can't be that rough around little kids.  A four-year-old, for example, is likely to be self-absorbed in play and will really benefit from you saying, "Please wait a minute.  She's not as steady as you are."

I usually try to appeal to older kids' sense of experience by telling them how my LO wants to be like them but isn't as strong/big/balanced/etc. yet.  This usually works.  A lot of times groups of girls (sometimes boys) will "adopt" a little toddler and help out even.

If kids aren't listening to your requests, then it's appropriate to ask their parents to step in.  But in my experience, the ones who aren't listening are usually the ones whose parents aren't even there.  Sigh.[/quote]

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