mc13
Sapphire
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Post by mc13 on Aug 8, 2017 17:44:12 GMT -6
How do you handle overly aggressive kids at the playground when their care givers are nowhere nearby or don't care enough to stop their child from being too rough?
This afternoon, I had the girls at the big playground by myself. E and A were in the stroller and we basically follow R (2.5) around. There were multiple instances of kids being physically aggressive with R and I realized, I had no idea how to handle it other than removing her from the situation. But, what are you supposed do/say? I tried things like "Please don't push/pull/hit her. That is not nice and she does not like it." And these kids had no reaction to that. R has a decent vocabulary but can't really speak up for herself yet. One example...she was climbing up the tall rock wall (I'm 6' tall and couldn't reach her at the top) and this boy stood at the opening, stuck out his foot and repeatedly tried to kick her off the rock wall and blocked the opening for her to climb to the safe spot. We have come to this park at least once a week since moving here and have never experienced anything like this before. It wasn't even the same kid or group of kids.
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milano
Emerald
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Post by milano on Aug 8, 2017 17:55:39 GMT -6
Well. Shit. I would have had a really hard time not climbing up and strangling that child.
If they have no reaction to you saying what you said, unfortunately I think just leaving the park is your only option. Which is stupid and makes me mad. Was there someone there with them? How old was this rock wall asshole?
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mapleme
Amethyst
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Post by mapleme on Aug 8, 2017 17:57:38 GMT -6
Yikes! I'm very hands off with M in group play settings, but I'm also totally fine parenting another kid if their parent isn't doing their thing. That said, if the kid doesn't respond, I don't know what you can do besides move away because it's not like you can physically move the kid or take away privileges. I guess in the example above I would say something like, "Whoa! That is not ok. I will not let you hurt my kid. You need to find a safer activity like the slide or monkey bars." If he kept going I would gather my kids and say, "I'm sorry kiddo, we need to play somewhere that we can play safely." And try to tell the parent, if they are around. That stinks.
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mc13
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Post by mc13 on Aug 8, 2017 18:10:49 GMT -6
Well. Shit. I would have had a really hard time not climbing up and strangling that child. If they have no reaction to you saying what you said, unfortunately I think just leaving the park is your only option. Which is stupid and makes me mad. Was there someone there with them? How old was this rock wall asshole? He was older than R so maybe 4. It made me so angry but when I have all 3 girls, I feel so helpless when the kids aren't on my level. Like I didn't feel comfortable leaving the stroller to climb up on the structure. Thankfully, at a different point, when a little girl was trying to force R to hold her hand and hug/tackler her, a dad that was up there noticed R not liking it and stepped in to separate them for me. |
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mc13
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Post by mc13 on Aug 8, 2017 18:15:06 GMT -6
Yikes! I'm very hands off with M in group play settings, but I'm also totally fine parenting another kid if their parent isn't doing their thing. That said, if the kid doesn't respond, I don't know what you can do besides move away because it's not like you can physically move the kid or take away privileges. I guess in the example above I would say something like, "Whoa! That is not ok. I will not let you hurt my kid. You need to find a safer activity like the slide or monkey bars." If he kept going I would gather my kids and say, "I'm sorry kiddo, we need to play somewhere that we can play safely." And try to tell the parent, if they are around. That stinks. I try to be hands off too. Today was just a totally different feel of that playground than we've ever had before. I like your comment and how if it doesn't work, saying we'll move to play somewhere safe. That way, R won't feel like she did anything wrong. I'll definitely try that if there's a next time. |
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Post by ovenrack on Aug 8, 2017 18:19:46 GMT -6
My line is always, "I won't let you hurt her." If I can't physically reach, I remove the attacked child from the situation or I hold up my hands like I would if I were close enough.
I am super let-kids-figure-it-out on the playground, but yeah, sounds like it was being taken way too far. Not safe. I'm sorry that happened.
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stringy
Opal
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Post by stringy on Aug 8, 2017 18:25:35 GMT -6
Maybe there was a group visiting or something? But in this instance I'd def steer your kids elsewhere- since you can't physically reach her to help.
Kids suck.
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stringy
Opal
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Post by stringy on Aug 8, 2017 18:27:35 GMT -6
The other day I was swimming with M in a lake. A 4 year old came over and asked M if she wanted to play. M said no (typical). Girl pretty much stood there and talked to me/is the entire time.
Where are your parents? The beach was pretty empty and even if not. Here's your 4 yo alone in the water. You see me trying not to engage without asking her blatantly to leave her alone. Ugh.
Sorry to hijack.
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mc13
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Post by mc13 on Aug 8, 2017 18:51:51 GMT -6
The other day I was swimming with M in a lake. A 4 year old came over and asked M if she wanted to play. M said no (typical). Girl pretty much stood there and talked to me/is the entire time. Where are your parents? The beach was pretty empty and even if not. Here's your 4 yo alone in the water. You see me trying not to engage without asking her blatantly to leave her alone. Ugh. Sorry to hijack. Omg. So annoying and unsafe. |
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