My little one’s broken another child’s toy?

Remote control cars work indoors. But anyway there are other outdoor locations that aren’t parks, inside a small gated play park where other children are running around isn’t a good location for a remote control car, it’s a trip hazard aside from anything else. If the park had been empty fine, but once other people showed up they should have either put the cars away or moved to another location away from kids playing.

If you mean you personally wouldn’t differentiate then fair enough. If you are saying people in general don’t differentiate I can only think you wilfully ignore a lot of what you read on mumsnet and see in real life.

Ou knew your boys like to chase toy cars and you decided not to watch them when there was one about.

You took the wrong time to take a phone call. Next time wait until there’s nothing that needs supervision going on.

Yeah you say that but it’s a definite thing that when a mum is involved the judgements come in thick and fast and when a dad is involved there tends to be a large element who think they are just doing their best etc, I genuinely believe based on past threads that if a mum posted to say their kids toy got broken at park because another parent was on their phone that a large proportion of the responses would be critiquing her for taking it out vs almost universally saying it was all the other parents fault.

You need to replace the toy.
again another “mama” not parenting there “little ones” properly.
Im a mum and don’t want to be lumped in the entitled parenting group because I try hard to parent my kid and I’d be mortified if they book another kids toys.
pay up and be more vigilant next time

Why are you asking your sister what you should do? Make your own judgements. In the time it took to ring and speak to your sister the damage had been done.

If a ‘mum’ wants to take children to a park they should be supervising them properly, if they don’t want to thats fine, but it means not taking them to the park.

I take it the OP wouldn’t mind is she was continually chased in public, or the children were as long as they couldn’t quite be caught.

You are being very unreasonable. Until your update, I didn't realise you actually let your children chase this kids toy whilst you sat on the phone. Thats awful!

This poor kid has gone put with their dad to play with their toy, maybe in the only space big enough to freely do this and you were happy to allow your kids to run around their toy, spoiling their game and eventually break the toy because you didnt see how else you could manage their behaviour.

Yes you should pay for a replacement and entertain your own children at the park.

What would have happened if whilst you were on the phone getting "advice from your ds"
a dog bit one or both of your child/ren ?
Your child/rem got hurt?
Your child/ren hurt someone else's child?
Someone took your child/ren?
You are responsible for them, also why should the other parent wait till you can "afford" it? You child/ren didn't break it in installments! You pay him, you go with out.

Well mine is 3 now, but if he did this at 2 and I couldn't control him, I'd just move him elsewhere. I wouldn't expect other people not to take things to the park and usually it would be because they don't have the space at home FWIW 2 is actually a good age when they can start to learn to share and take turns, so it's not like a baby who can't understand at all

You might want to time your playground outings for times when it is likely to be quiet and issues like this are less likely to arise ( and you will be able to relax more). D's always did early visits because he couldn't cope with lots of other children there.

Being unable to manage both a 2 year old and a newborn in a playground means you probably shouldn’t take them both there. If you can’t manage nearly 4 yr old twins you also shouldn’t take them there, unless everyone else is supposed to accommodate you at their child’s expense - don’t bring a bucket and spade to the park in case other parents can’t manage their kids or, god forbid, have to remove their tantrumming kids to stop them grabbing them. It’s not even about toy cars because there are lots of other toys or equipment that are attractive to children.

If the dog owners were not watching their dog then absolutely they should pay…..

Well the other places within a five mile radius of her house are probably other playgrounds where you might also be, so what would that solve?

If it's a public place there is a chance that you and your kid might be there, so really you are saying that only children who have access to a private outdoor space large enough to play with a remote control car should be allowed to enjoy them.

Does anyone remember the thread where a dog bit the football?

So many dog owners explaining why they can't be possibly responsible for the damage and wouldn't pay anything, definitely not the price of that specific football?

It's funny how lower standards were expected from dog owners than parents.

Just to clear up I called my ds after I believed that it was safe for my boys to run after the cars as they were too fast for them to catch.
Still annoying for the man and his son, no?? You should have gone and firmly told them not to play with the cars. If he intervened and said it’s ok then they could have stayed. Immediate consequence if they didn’t listen - leave the park. You could have done this if you were not on the phone.

I was actually asking ds if I should go back home because of this.
What do you mean ‘asking’? * *

I think I’d just not go there again because of they’re too interested in anything which moves and/or unusual.
seems disproportionate to avoid the park forever due to one incident. This could happen in any park. FWIW I hate people bringing toys to the playground section of the park but it’s still you that’s in the wrong here.

If I wanted dc not to chase the toy car, the only solution would have been to go back home.
Well you should have gone home sadly if you could not tell them not to do it.

It definitely feels safer in an open place where there’s enough room for dc to run around then at home in a confined space.
Not at this age in my opinion.

I’m not spending excessive amount of time on my phone but very often my children are the only people I talk to for days. In a tense situation I thought someone’s advice who is close to me. This is tough but you need to make time in other ways. Do the twins have a dad? You clearly need a break.

I see parents/guardians much more on the phone in the playground. doesn’t make it ok!!!

I’ll try to find the ‘dad’ and pay them once I manage to save up the money. I am sure he’s over it if you even see him again - he was probably just really annoyed at seeing you on your phone and not controlling your children and wanted to let you know. I would have done the same but not expected the money really.

The thing I can't get my head around is OPs assumption that it was ok for her kids to interfere with this man's play time with his dc.

Imagine the scenario where you have taken your child to the park with a couple of remote controlled cars and are enjoying teaching your child how to use them, race them etc.. all great. Then your fun is ruined by a couple of boisterous 3 year old chasing the cars.

Now your playing is interrupted from racing with your child to spending your time trying to keep your cars away from these annoying kids who are being left to interfere - whilst mum sits on the phone. and thinks it's fine because 'because the cars are too fast' !

WRONG Op.
You should have been clear from the start. It is a park. You come across remote control dad with his DC -and because you know they like to chase cars (how do you know that ? Have they been allowed to do it before ?) you carry on walking with the boys to another area whilst telling your boys they are not permitted to go 'over there' and must leave that parent and his DC to their activity .

You follow this with a consequence for disobeying your instructions. They are nearly 4 not toddlers so can easily understand.. 'if you do x then y will happen'

I simply fail to understand why you felt it acceptable for your boys to impose themselves in the middle of this man's activity with his kids rather than going to another area of the park ?

My kid couldn’t at the time: he was two.

I took him away. But there are times when I might have been feeding DD or just look somewhere else for a moment. I don’t believe the only place in a five mile radius to you is one enclosed playground which to be honest is supposed to be for the equipment to be played on not charging after cars.

It is possible to be inconsiderate and impact on others enjoyment in more than one way. One way is doing what OP did; the other way is taking the bloody things out in the first place (see also scooters in shops …)

Because she thought - oh good, this will keep them busy and tire them out, I’ll sit down because I deserve a break and call my sister, and leave parenting my hyper twins to this random man.

You knew that they would be interested in the cars. You know that they are high energy. You knew that the cars may be damaged if your children got hold of them. Yet, you still chose to chat on the phone instead of watching your own children closely. I understand the need to speak to adults when you have been with the children all day, but your judgement was poor in choosing that time to do it.

It is not unreasonable for the other parent to expect you to pay for the car.

I don’t disagree with that @MillyMollyMandHey . But if you take an expensive toy out you can’t guarantee that other children will be respectful or that their adults will be decent.

It’s why I wouldn’t let mine take an expensive or sentimental item to nursery either.

Yeah, my son takes his remote control car to the park as that's the only place to properly use it. If your kid can't control themselves that's on you @shallweorderpizza I've heard it all now 🙄

Use this experience as an opportunity to teach your boys what went wrong and how to behave. Having hyper kids is not an excuse to allow them to run riot in your life. Yes you should pay for broken toy. Take some responsibility in your life.