Reply to Bringing your own toys to the playground-what's the etiquette?

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Reply to "Bringing your own toys to the playground-what's the etiquette?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Op here.  Bottom line (for me) is that I slug it out with my 18 month old all day, every day. Tbere is a lot of boundary setting and testing of said boundaries.  Our playground is a safe and fun place where he can run and I can relax a little bit as well.  It's not like I can sit around and text, and I'm still on him a little (use the stairs, don't walk up the slide!), but overall we mutually love playground time. I was annoyed because the pair brought an off-limits object to a place that is normally a place where I don't have to say "no" as frequently, and all of a sudden I have to go back into high toddler vigilance mode. [/quote]

First of all, yes it is annoying.  When you're the parent of an impulsive little toddler, with no sense of personal safety, lots of things you never noticed before suddenly become annoyances.  Like rocks just the right size to go into someone's mouth, or tree branches, or people who mow their lawns during nap time.

However, I think you're coming at this from a perspective of the mom of a young toddler who looks at that 3 year old as a "big kid".  The reality is that 3 year olds, in general, do far more boundary testing than 18 month olds.  Other than, perhaps 14, 3 is the height of boundary testing with parents.  And it's not just that you have to set more boundaries,  but they're harder to set, because 3 year old run faster, remember longer, and find fewer things exciting and distracting than 18 month olds.  And many of them don't nap either.

This parent came to the park for the same reason you did.  He wanted a chance to be with his kid in an environment where he could follow the kid's lead, enjoy their time together, and let his guard down because if it's like most 0 - 3 year old parks it is fenced.  You're essentially asking that he give you a break from limit setting by going into limit setting mode with his kid, saying "No, you can't tell that baby not to play with your toy.  No, you can't knock him down to get the toy.  No, you can't scream to get that toy back.  No, you can't get the frisbee we put away out of the backpack to play with it.  No, you can't throw wood chips as a substitute."

Why should the burden of limit setting be on the other parent?  [/quote]

+100000[/quote]

The "burden" of limit setting is the very definition 
of responsible parenting, at least until your kid is self-supporting.

[/quote]

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