Childrens behaviour in parks

There are a couple of parks that Oli and I go to on a regular basis, and I have noticed that a lot of the children at one particular park seem to be really rough around the little kids.

Today Oli got kicked (yes KICKED) over by a girl of around 7 I would say. The whole time this girl was at the park, her mum was sitting on a bench talking on her cellphone. She never once looked to see what her child was doing. I was really peeved as this girl clearly saw that Oli was in her way, and kicked him to get out of her way. GRRRR.

So I guess my question is - do you say something to the child. Do you say something to the parent? I tend to growl at the child in question at the time (not too harshly and it depends on how old they are)....is this wrong?

If Oli is rough with another child, I always tell him to use his gentle hands, and if he is really rough then I take him over to the child and make him apologise (ok I apologise, but make Oli listen, and make him stroke their arm or something like that).

How do you handle it?

 

IMO seven year olds should know that they are to be gentle with little kids, especially ones Oli's age , Caitlyn would never dream or dare of doing that

I would tell the child off if her mother is too busy ignoring it to do so herself, and I would also have a word to the mum -ive dealt with this myself at C's school playground , I told a boy off that was bullying all the kids and he told his mother i had and she had the nerve to tell me off, I cant remember what I said, but it was good , heh .

Parents tend to look annoyed at me when Caitlyn goes down the slide and their kids are coming up it , which amuses me , im sorry I taught my daughter the right way to use a slide !

LOL Kelly, my kids are usually the ones climbing UP the slide, despite me telling them not to. They also have the rather obnoxious habit of stopping half way down those tunnel slides so all the kids get stuck behind them.

Aww cute, go Sienna!!

I'm not really a confrontational person (normally just seethe to myself lol) so i would just say to the child could they please be more careful around the little kids. If they were still being rough then I might grow some balls and say something to the parents (or give them the evils!).

Grrr its a pet peeve of mine when children climb up the slide and the parents just sit there and say nothing    I normally praise Ashleigh loudly for going DOWN the slide and not climbing up it when others are doing it and hope the parents hear me

No no, I only give evil looks when their kid is in the wrong and they are doing nothing about it    Ashleigh is always trying to climb up the slide too but I try and stop her!

ETA Sorry tried to stop this posting when I realised you were talking to the other Kelly not me But its taking at least 5 mins to get from one page to another and I wasn't quick enough! So please ignore this post lol!

Edited by KH25

SimSam, I often feel like I'm the playground police! I have no hesitation in telling kids off , who're old enough to know better. Nothing annoys me more than poorly supervised kids being rough in playgrounds.

Screw it, tell the kid off, tell them it's not acceptable that they treat a little kid like that, they are old enough to know they are doing something wrong & if their parent/caregiver doesn't care or isn't looking or whatever then you as an adult need to step in & supervise. If their adult then abuses you for telling their kid off or what ever obviously it's either usual behaviour for the child they might not have seen so either leave or tell them exactly what happened incase they didn't see it properly. Sometimes you need to pick your battles.

Alia got kicked on the toys at New World, I stood & watched noticed no parents & my usually very outgoing child was very unhappy & sullen, but still not moving off so when he kicked her again I said Oi, stop that right now, he looked at me and said Woops I said Alia do you want to come with me or stay, she chose to stay & I told DH (who looks like chopper & looks scary) to watch out of sight. Kid tried again so he told him off & we took Alia with us. And of course then took her frustration out on us

Now she is 5 & knows to say "stop that, I don't like it" yet in this situation with a kid she didn't know she couldnt'. She says she can do it at school.

I am also one to let her sort it out herself but when she is being obviously bullied then we need to step in.

Bizzy wrote: my kids have in the past climbed up the slide, and i believe in letting them experiment and if they wont move and get bowled over, then hopefully they will learn from that.

I should explain ,I don't have a problem with little kids going up slides, they are learning, I mean ones that are 7, 8,9 and are doing it just because.
What I don't understand is why the parents glare at ME , heck , im not the one going down the slide, thats my daughter , glare at her ! If I was to go down the slide , it would most likely break ....

caitlynsmygirl wrote: If I was to go down the slide , it would most likely break ....

bahaha! (the joys of being pg)

Ah, this is something that worries me a bit (kids being rough) because my 4 year old, despite being really tall, stocky and strong for his age, is a bit of a mouse...even his teacher (in a very affection manner) has named him her gentle giant. I am very proud of his gentle and easy going nature.

He doesn't tend to do anything if kids are being rough or kinda mean. However, a few months back we were at Lollipops playland, and he was happily playing in the 4 and under section (he was 3 at the time), when these two kids who seemed to be about 7-8 years old came in...acting like real nasty little so and so's (I know I shouldn't call kids nasty, but grr) to the smaller kids. They were told to get out of the under 4 area, but they soon came back. I wasn't going to take my son out, because he was having fun...but he was on the slide (admittedly being a bit slow, he tends to laugh and smile to himself and really 'savour' the moment at the top of the slide lol) and one of these kids climbed up the SIDE (not up the ladder or even the slide) and started trying to push my son out of the way, and attempted to stamp/jump on him. I was rushing over to sort it out, or at least pull him out of it, but my boy stood up and really pushed the kid away from him, and shouted "NO" at him.
Perhaps I should have told him not to push another kid over, but unfortunately all I could think of was "HA! Take THAT!". That particular child did not come back.
The kids parents were sitting drinking coffee, not bothering to keep an eye on anything. It was a staff member that originally tried to get the kids out of the under 4 area, not their parents.