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][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't think understanding that their actions have consequences that is going to hurt them - it's that they for once, in a high density city - should be allowed to play to MOVE and your toddler is seriously cramping their ability to do that.

And it WILL hurt them if I hover over them their entire lives saying "be careful. Stop that! Watch the baby!" Every 30 seconds. Please, take your toddler elsewhere if you can, my kids need the space, and the freedom,[b] way more than yours does.[/b] [/quote]

Oh good grief! I agree with you in general, but why did you have to add this jab in at the end? No no no, nobody's kid needs space and freedom any more than any other kid, despite the age difference. [/quote]

NP here. As someone who has taught both ages, and parented both ages, and who currently is not teaching or parenting either,  I agree with the top poster.  Not that her Johnny needs the space more than a your Mary, but that a 7 year old needs space and freedom on the playground more than a 19 month old.

That year between their first and second birthday kids need to do a lot of exploration of their environment, but they can meet that need almost anywhere.  Climbing up and down a short set of stairs, running up and down the hallway, figuring out how to manage their bodies to carry something big like a laundry basket, or heavy like a medicine ball, riding a ride on toy even in a small space, pushing their own stroller . . . . all of these experiences meet their needs for movement, challenge and exploration.  They also have basically all day meet those needs, whether they're with a nanny or a parent or in daycare, people rarely make their 19 month olds sit still for hours.

7 year olds have the exact same need for freedom, challenge, and for sustained exercise, but the range of things that challenge them is much less, so the places where they can do the kind of sustained running and exercise where they're lifting their body weight over and over again, is very limited.  Plus the time they have to move freely and meet their own needs is limited too, because of so many hours sitting still in school.

The way I see it, parents of toddlers wouldn't let their kids use equipment designed for other age groups in a way that prevents them from being used as designed.  Or at least they shouldn't, and if they did they wouldn't argue that it was OK.  If you were letting your 19 month old play on the wheelchair ramp and an elderly person needed the ramp for the purpose it was designed for you'd move the toddler (I hope).  If they were enjoying standing on the changing table to survey the world, and another parent came with an infant you'd move them.  If they were standing in front of the automatic door at a store, making it open and close, and you wanted to walk through you'd get them out of their way.  All of those things are things I let my toddler do, because they're the kinds of things a toddler likes to do, but as soon as someone else needed the equipment we stopped and moved out of the way.  In this case, the OP has the same responsibility.  [/quote]

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