spin off- how much supervision do you do

[mothragirl]

at the playground? do you follow your kid/s around and tell them how good they're doing? do you sit on a bench and watch unless they fall? do you drop them off and go get your nails done?
i try to let dd play by herself at the playground as much as possible, although sometimes she wants me to play with her. i think that will change when her sibling is here. if she is okay i'm usually on a bench near by.

[Live~Laugh~Love]

Mine is 6 and I usually run around playing with him at the bigger parks. I may sit on a bench for a while if I can see him ok. I usually do keep an eye on him though.

[mamalisa]

Very little. I'll help dd get up on the base for the slide, because she won't cross the wobbly bridge alone. It's scary Otherwise I'm there for spotting for the monkey bars and helping ds get started on the swing and that's about it. I've always been like that though, I like to use park time to talk on the phone or hang out with dh without being bothered every 5 seconds.

[littleaugustbaby]

DD is 3.5. I usually sit on a bench or stand off to the side. She's big enough to play on her own, but she is always within earshot and within my sight. I don't like parents who hover, because I think that they make all of the kids nervous (the exception being really little ones who need help).

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

When they were younger, I was involved a lot more. Now that my youngest is 3, I usually sit and watch unless I am playing with them...I really love the sandbox! Though certain things, most people would think that I'm hovering over my 8 year old, but the PT wanted us to teach him how to pump on the swings and work on the monkey bars. So for awhile I was there cheering him on and giving him advice on how to do it. He does often need a bit more watching when the park is busy, because of his sensory issues. But now that he is older, not so much.

[Sharlla]

I watch from a distance. Usually there is a group of us women that go together and we have mama time while the kids play.

[ThreeBeans]

I play with them. They are young (2 and 1), the playground is quite big, and there are older children there who aren't properly supervised. I would definitely not sit by the sidelines...that would be asking for trouble in our situation.

[griffin2004]

Originally Posted by littleaugustbaby

DD is 3.5. I usually sit on a bench or stand off to the side. She's big enough to play on her own, but she is always within earshot and within my sight. I don't like parents who hover, because I think that they make all of the kids nervous (the exception being really little ones who need help).

As usual, I agree with LAB. I often stalk her posts just so I can quote her with an ITA!

My dd is 4.5 now, but I've always tried to let her be as independent at the playground as she wants to be and is able to be safely.

[lalaland42]

DD is 2 and I play with her at the playground but I follow her lead. If she didn't ask for me to play with her, I would stand there and watch. The only exception to this is DD has a tendency to try things older kids are doing that she is too young for, like climbing a ladder. I will help her with that or spot her the first few times she does it.

[geek_the_girl]

When she was younger I was more of a helicopter parent hovering everywhere terrified that she would fall. Now that shes older im more of a bench sitter and occasional spotter.

[Kaitnbugsmom]

our playground has a serious problem with teens and other too old for the playground {built for 3-9 year olds} all over it. The park patrol, cops, etc won't do anything about it and have told us parents it's our job to monitor the kids, keep them away from the teenagers, and make sure they dont' get ahold of anything the teens leave behind. : So I have to be a helicopter parent, as much as I'd rather hang out with my friends who have similar age kids..

[littleaugustbaby]

Originally Posted by griffin2004

As usual, I agree with LAB. I often stalk her posts just so I can quote her with an ITA!

*swoon*

[ThreeBeans]

For those who say they sit back, do you have trouble with older kids behaving inappropriately or have an open playground setup (i.e. no safe fenced in area?)

I'm seeing some disparaging of 'hover mothers' here I am probably the opposite of a hovermother, but I feel at our playground it is necessary.

[lisac77]

Originally Posted by ThreeBeans

For those who say they sit back, do you have trouble with older kids behaving inappropriately or have an open playground setup (i.e. no safe fenced in area?)

I'm seeing some disparaging of 'hover mothers' here I am probably the opposite of a hovermother, but I feel at our playground it is necessary.

We have open parks here -- huge ones, too. If I can see the whole play area from a bench, then I will sit and watch him play, but if I can't then I do follow him so that at least I know where he is! I just don't feel comfortable letting him roam around out of my sight when, as you said, there are older children who aren't careful (or who are mean and rude!) and I feel that he should be protected from that.

[Potty Diva]

Originally Posted by mothragirl

at the playground? do you follow your kid/s around and tell them how good they're doing? do you sit on a bench and watch unless they fall? do you drop them off and go get your nails done?
i try to let dd play by herself at the playground as much as possible, although sometimes she wants me to play with her. i think that will change when her sibling is here. if she is okay i'm usually on a bench near by.

Kailey usually wants me to play with her or push her on the swings when we first arrive at the park. After about ten minutes she goes off to find a friend to play with, but "I'm always watching Wzowski, always watching."(hint, hint, wink, wink to your sig).

[2Sweeties1Angel]

It depends on the child. My 6YO DS only wants me around to push him on the swings and for the most part he's off playing with friends. My 2YO DD wants me to play with her so I do.

I give the kids as much or as little space as they want.

[littleaugustbaby]

Originally Posted by ThreeBeans

For those who say they sit back, do you have trouble with older kids behaving inappropriately or have an open playground setup (i.e. no safe fenced in area?)

Most of the parks here are fenced, or large enough that DD would have to get a *really* good running start to make it to the parking lot/street before I could catch her. Our city has been really good about setting play areas well back away from the road. Except, of course, for the one park in walking distance to my house, which is right on a busy road, so we never go. :

Re: older kids, most of the bigger kids that we've seen at the park are pretty mindful of the little kids, so I don't mind. Even if they're playing rough or climbing things that they shouldn't, mostly they are really careful, and even helpful with the smaller kids. I don't have any problems telling them to knock it off if they are not being careful, though. Like the other day, there were 3 older boys skateboarding in the play area, which doesn't bother me, except they were not paying attention and almost took out a few little kids because of it.

[littleaugustbaby]

Oh, and a couple of times recently, we were at events where they had those bounce houses, and they had those giant slides, which DD has a really hard time climbing up by herself, and two different older boys helped her climb up and then go down the slide so that she wouldn't be scared.

[P-chan]

Originally Posted by mothragirl

do you follow your kid/s around

If there are other kids in the park, I stay relatively close to observe. If they're in the sandbox, I'm on the bench by the sandbox. If they're on the climbing structure, I'm on the bench by the climbing structure. If the playground is empty, I hang back, but stay in direct sight. I'm always on call to taste sand soup, bury feet in a big hole, or push on the swing.

Originally Posted by mothragirl

and tell them how good they're doing?

No. You can do one without the other.

As a toddler, my son was a hair-puller and a sand-eater, and I wanted to stay close to prevent/redirect those behaviors, so we could have as many successful park experiences as possible. Now that he's older, he sometimes plays with or close to older children who aren't supervised (but would benefit from it), so I prefer to keep an eye on what's going on, stepping in only for egregious stuff (such as throwing sand).

[littleaugustbaby]

Has anyone noticed that whenever you're pushing your kids on the swings, there's always that one fearless toddler who goes charging in front of the swings, causing every single mom pushing their kids on the swings to pull their kids back quickly so that they don't go flying into the toddler?

That's always one of those heart attack moments.