I am SO not a big fan of these. However, it is a nice change when it is rainy and muddy (cold, snowy) outside. Plus it makes you interact with the parents because if you have boys, they WILL at some point play too rough. I do believe that you need to parent YOUR kids when you are out in public places like this as you would at home and sometimes even be a bit more strict.
BUT don't take your kids places if:
You are a fun hater
Want your child to be perfect
Want other children to be perfect
Want them to walk very slowly between play equipment
Have a fear of other kids coughing
Have little babies that you put on the ground to crawl and not watch them but get annoyed when an almost two year old accidentally trips over them and your crawler is fine.
We went to the play area today (vw not jc). There were six kids total. Half of them were mine. Two were with their gma and then a sports dad (he was watching sports something on his fancy phone) who had a crawler , maybe ten months old. Brayden and Nolan naturally play together and Brayden asked the little boy if he wanted to chase "me and Nolan." boy took off running and Brayden and Nolan followed. The gma got SO mad.
She kept yelling at the boy to stop running (as I tell my boys to run on the other side so to steer clear of the crawler. Gma kept the dirty looks coming my direction. Now I think there is a time and place for stepping in when your child or grandchild is in danger or being hurt. She hollered at the three of them and told them to sit down.
Moms out there.... What do u do?
I politely moved to the other side of the play area, told the boys to play with each other and explained that the other boy's gma didn't want him running.
Kids in this age 18 months-3 or 4 play by chasing and copying each other. I am pretty flexible when it comes to the kids when we have play dates. I try to let the kids work it out on their own whenever possible to teach them how to resolve problems. When someone is hurt or could be hurt or they are in danger, of course I step in.
I have been PLEASANTLY surprised how well my boys play with each other. I am a proud mama! Even prouder when strangers tell me how well-behaved they are!! :)
So... What are your thoughts on public play area etiquette?
The whole point of going someplace like that for me is to let Sophia blow off some energy. She knows to watch out for the crawlers, but at the same time, accidents happen. The only time I get upset is when kids that are very obviously too old to be there are running over the little kids.
ReplyDeleteI'm terribly annoyed by parents who are too busy on their phones to pay attention so sports dad would have grated on my nerves!