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

They weren’t even inverted commas “ they were apostrophes

OP you weren't watching your children. Having twins is not an excuse not to parent them and at age 3 they can be told not to touch someone else's toy. It was lazy parenting. Aside from breaking the toy I imagine your children were being a nuisance as they were playing and you were the parent who was paying no attention.

I came away thinking we really shouldn’t have had to leave because of someone else’s bloody toy!

You didn’t have to leave because of someone else’s toy. You had to leave because you had a 2yr old who had a tantrum because you told them no. Perfectly normal behaviour but not someone else’s fault.

Is this a reverse?
If the answer to that is no then YABVU - you were on the phone, ignoring both of your children, you admit that you knew there were other children's toys that would definitely interest your children, and then they managed to break one of these toys! I hope you apologised profusely and offered to pay.
Also, why are your children referred to as 'little one' and the other as 'child'?

I miss the days when you could let a roar at someone else’s child If they misbehaved.

It's unwise that children are either not taught to break other children's toys or are not supervised by their parent when they are around other children's toys.
Yes, a child can break a toy anywhere, even at home, but they shouldn't have to worry that when taking a toy to a public place, it will be broken by another child

I sat down on a bench and called my sister. I often do this as at home it’s nearly impossible /due to my boys above mentioned hyperactivity/. I always call my sister to offload and get advice.

Your poor sister. How often do you call to offload? That's really unfair to her. Sometimes we have to solve our own problems in life. I have a family member who does this to me. It's exhausting and I'm doing my best to go low contact having realised every single conversation is all about them and their problems.

@ThePrologue because the other set of children could end up having their toys broken so it's wise not to bring something valuable to a playground.

Hyper kids need to be watched. Your mistake was being on the phone. The only time I take my phone out at the park is to take photos of my DS (also a hyper 4 year old). I can't stand parents who just let their kids loose without any care or concern that they might be bothering other people. I'd have offered to pay for the broken toy in this situation, not wait to be asked.

While I agree with the majority shouldn’t be on phone etc - I do wish parents wouldn’t bring things like that to parks and the like.

About a year ago my DS was very taken with a similar toy and we ended up having to leave the playground because he wouldn’t leave it alone and kept taking it off the other child (ds was only 2.) He’s now 3 and would mostly follow an instruction to leave it but last year just kept going back to it and having a tantrum when removed. I had a newborn at the time and it was stressful. I came away thinking we really shouldn’t have had to leave because of someone else’s bloody toy!

Same.

You allowed your kids to chase after the other children's toys. Poor little you couldn't stop them. Sorry but that's pathetic. Take them home if you can't control them, don't just shrug off your children's bad behaviour. You took it a step further and ignored them entirely while you yapped away on the phone until another parent was stood on front of you to let you know the damage they had caused.

My twins are 4.5. If I couldn't control their behaviour as they harassed other children trying to chase and jump on their toys, I wouldn't stand there like some useless muppet and declare there was nothing I could do and leave them to break other children's belongings, they'd be going home. Seriously. Horrendous parenting. Pay for the damage your children caused.

What a lot of sexist nonsense… as a mum I have far less patience to parents not paying attention to their DC nd being on my phone than my husband does. He will let things slide and fester afterwards where I know my kid has a right be be able to play with their toy without an unsupervised kid/s ruining it for them / me

Why should one set of children lose out on their plaything because of another set of uncontrolled kids?

YABU, the dad was judging you being on the phone instead of supervising your children. Not judging your 5yo for breaking the car.

You shouldn't have let them run after it, whether your thought it was "safe" or not.
And you should have offered to pay for the car yourself.

How do you know she is an amazing mum?

This actually happened to me at the park. My son had taken two toys a tractor and another car. This other boy had taken his tractor and we had said to my son it's okay to share etc. The other boy broke it (his dad was on his phone the whole time). My son was so upset, learnt my lesson to never let someone else have a shot of it at the park.

Next time bring a toy each for your sons? Might help you in the future. Don't stop going to the park, you need out for your sanity

Another parent, Mum or Dad, should be able to run remote cars at a park with the expectation that another parent won't let their kids chase them or interfere with their family. There's only one parent at issue here, the one who didn't parent.

Honestly you should have made them stop chasing it. They’re nearly 4! If they weren’t listening, you tell them it’s time to go home. They’ll either listen or learn a very important lesson. You should pay for it. It sounds like they broke it.
I’ve bought 3.5,2.5& a newborn to the park many times. Guess what? I managed to supervise even when newborn needed feeding, grumpy etc…. You just manage. I’ve seen childminders with 5 2-4 year olds and they manage to watch them all. Them being twins is not an excuse not to watch them or stop their poor behaviour (I.e. chasing it!). I’d have been judging you and told the boys off for chasing it and to leave it alone myself! But I’m not afraid of telling off other peoples children.

Get off your phone and watch your kids. Ffs
Pay for the damage.
And yes I am judging you. Very poor parenting.

I can’t help wondering if you’d get the same response if the other parent had been a mum. I feel like a mum would have been expected to be more prudent about where she chose to let the kid play with their remote control car by more posters.

You don’t know if the toy was a Christmas present or not but that didn’t make it into inverted commas. You were simply being a bit dismissive of him, weren’t you?

Less talking, more parenting next time.

So only children who are lucky enough to live in a house with a garden should be allowed to have remote control cars now?

I think you were both unreasonable. You should have been watching your 3 year olds and intervening to direct them not to chase the car but equally a public children’s play area is a stupid place to choose for trying out a child’s new remote control car and if the dad had any sense he’d have moved to a different location or put it away and said his child could play later.
@Blondeshavemorefun why it’s a stupid place is because in general you teach small kids at public play areas about taking turns and sharing the equipment so bringing something kids will likely be super interested in is creating a situation where you know there is a risk it could be broken. Even if OP were with the kids the toy could easily still have been broken by one child as she was helping the other get on/off play equipment or comforting one after a bump etc. Also because something wizzing about at floor level where other kids will be playing isn’t the safest. I find it hard to believe there are not lots of spaces outside to play with a car that are not the fenced play area designed for young kids to run around in and share the equipment. If there really are not where OP lives and the child with the car lives somewhere with no space then it wasn’t the most sensible gift in the first place.
The OP should stick with the kids in public and the dad should find a more sensible location to play with the kids expensive new toy.

I think it depends how it was broken. Tripped and accidentally fell on top of it while playing nicely. Nope you don’t pay it was an accident and these things happen with kids. Took it off its owner and threw it across the playground, yeah you should probably pay and have some words with your boy.