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

OP’s kids are almost four - they should absolutely know not to chase someone else’s toy at this age. If they don’t because of other issues, she doesn’t get to sit down and switch off, she has to supervise them and parent!

This was your responsibility because you knew they were chasing the cars. Even if the car was going fast it obviously would slow down when stopping. If you couldn't trust them not to chase the cars and couldn't manage both them then you needed to leave.

I have a child with asd who can have unpredictable behaviour it's my responsibility to assess his environment and ensure it's suitable and he can manage.

But I will say if you bring a toy like a remote control car out in public there is a risk that it will get damaged.

However you absolutely should not have been on a phone call during that time.

It wasn't a quiet moment to make a phone call to your sister. Your toddlers were in a park and running around unwatched long enough to damage another child's toy. Yes you should have paid and yes I would have judged you because you chose to chat on the phone whilst your toddlers were running around a public area and damaged other children's toys. I appreciate it's difficult having young kids. At one point I had a disabled 7 year old, a toddler and baby. It was relentless but it's part and parcel of parenting. You need to make your calls when your kids are in bed until they are old enough to be able to run around a park unsupervised which is a few years of.

Sitting on your phone while your twins run riot with other kid"s toys isn't great. I can understand if you feel the dad was questioning your parenting.

I am one of a twin, I get it, we were hard work and sometimes a nightmare. You need to be watching them, not being distracted by your phone.

You need to bring the kids to the park to burn off energy. What you don't need is your kids to be running around after toys that do not belong to them. They were chasing after this other kid's remote control car like a cat chases a light on the floor by the sounds of it.

Can I suggest a different type of activity for your boys that will tire them out - such as swimming lessons. Yes they are still very young but if they are in the pool there really isn't anything there that they can break, they can splash around and they will eventually become competent swimmers.

Do your boys follow instruction well or not at all? By that I mean if you were to say to them "We're going to go to the park now. You are not allowed to play with any toys that you don't bring yourself." If they bring a toy and play with it in the park, that's fine. They aren't allowed to play with any toys that are not theirs. So chasing cars is not something that they are allowed to do because Mummy and Daddy say so.

You do need to be paying more attention as you have two at the same age so they are likely to be like a tag team together and up to all sorts of mischief!

So, according to you, only children with large private gardens should be allowed to play with remote control cars?

Regardless if they broke it or not, it would have been very annoying for the other boy and his dad to have your kids chasing their car. Everyone should be able to enjoy the park. If I had been the parent of the other boy tbh I would have asked you to come and parent your children or asked them myself to leave the car alone. I don't quite know what you want to get out of this thread?

If you know your twins chase those cars why didn't you tell the dad?

Why didn't you move your twins away?

I have a 7 and 3 yr old. I’d sit on a bench and let my 7 yr old play but no way my 3 yo. I’m there standing nearby ready to help him if he needs etc.

If you didn’t see the car get broken you mustn’t have been paying full attention? I know it must be hard with twins running in two directions hence why making a phone call isn’t the wisest choice right now at their age.

You’re right that they shouldn’t have brought precious toys to the park. If we had an RC car and some kids were chasing it though, I’d be annoyed too. And then for it to be broken (probably by one of your kids stepping on it while chasing…)… I wouldn’t approach you about it though. Also sitting on the phone while your kids are at the park is a big no no round here.

Why did you let your children chase the cars? That must have been so annoying for the dad and his son. You thought - perfect, they’re annoying someone else so I’ll sit on my bum and ring my sister. In reality, you should have been looking after your children. Of course he was judging you - you let your children disrupt their game and then sat on your phone. You should be judging your own parenting skills and reconsidering how you will behave in the future. You just keep repeating - oh they were chasing the cars as if that’s okay.

Of course you should pay, and control your boys, FFS.

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.

What? You allowed your sons to continue chasing the cars because they were too fast for them to catch? Don't you think that would still have ruined the fun for the other boy? Eg I wouldn't let my child run after a ball that some children were playing football with, just because I know she won't be able to catch it - it's still ruining the game.
What a ridiculous thing to allow them to do.

Yabu. I have 4 year old DTs and know its difficult to watch both (especially in playgrounds) but he’s completely right to ask for you to pay and to be annoyed you were on the phone not watching them.

The problem here isn't other kids taking toys to the park (which is perfectly normal) it's other people failing to parent their own kids.

Anywhere not full of other children I’d say. Not en enclosed playground, certainly. Because I took my son away but as the OP shows not all parents will do that and some won’t be sympathetic if their child does break it.

Or someone else’s balance bike, ball, bucket and spade, ice cream … sorry @shallweorderpizza, it’s nobody else’s fault that you have a toddler that you have to control.

Where else are children supposed to play with remote control cars?

If you're referring to OPs phone a 'the bloody toy' then I agree. 😬

Normal behaviour but it wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for someone else’s bloody toy!

Nah, OP would still be VU (if this isn't a reverse).

I will never understand why people come on here to ask strangers whether they are being unreasonable, then proceed to get defensive and start listing all the reasons they aren't being unreasonable when they don't like the responses. If you ask for people's judgement, you will get just that.

So what if the toy was a ball to kick about? Not allowed to bring that either because it inconveniences you because you can’t control your child?

Why were you on the phone to your sister when you were in a playground with 4 year old twin boys? You should have been supervising them. I would have stood around like a policeman. Is the some sort of new parenting technic to let them discover play? Stop making excuses and step up to the mark. They are your children, you are in charge and put that b**y phone away and focus on your children.