playground ettiquete

[madhurima]

Yesterday we were at a public soft playyard
when a young boy pushed my daughter (3.5 yrs) off a high (4+ feet) landing (made for safe jumping) while she was waiting for the bottom to clear for her self-initiated jump. She was in tears because it scared her! (broke my heart)
My husband had just arrived on the scene and saw the incident and of course was furious (how dare he!) but with all of our notions of protection neither of us quite knew how to model this with the other child. By the way no other parent intervention though dh said he heard the guy go up to the child and tell him that he was doing a great job! (Part of me is hoping that he didn't see the interaction and would never say that if he had)
What do you say or do in that situation?

Once she calmed down she wanted to give it another try, to show dh she could jump!

[earthmama369]

In this kind of situation I have no problem parenting other people's children if I'm "first on scene." I would get the boy's attention and tell him that pushing anyone off a platform like that is not safe and it's important to take turns. I'd then watchdog the next few rounds (at least), and verbally coach my child through a safe jump, just so he would get a clear idea of what safe and courteous behavior is for that piece of equipment. If he tried it again, I would go up there and physically stand between her and him while she got ready to jump. (Can you tell I've been in this kind of situation before?)

[TripMom]

Totally agree with PP. As parent first on scene - or only parent responding - I'd instruct the kids that it is not OK to "push" as someone could get hurt.

[kazmir]

I agree with earthmama, I have been there to and spoken directly to the child who has done the dangerous or aggressive behavior. In a motherly way of course . Unfortunately, my DD is a little aggressive as well and took a while for her to learn to take turns and wait when she was that age. Every reinforcement helps at this age.

[TiredX2]

Agreeing with the PPs.

I hae no issue w/other parents "parenting" my children in that situation (if they are reasonable & respectful) and do the same.

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

In addition to what others have said, if this happened repeatedly and I could tell which adult was the child's parent, I would ask the parent to supervise a bit more closely because of what was happening. I've been known to say, "I really need your help. Your son keeps pushing my daughter and its not safe. Could you come and watch for a bit?" or whatever.