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Views on this playground situation?

29 replies

HappySummerFun · 18/07/2026 18:46

So no big confrontation here, but I'm interested to see what other people think about this playground situation and how the parents dealt with it.

9yo boy goes over to a piece of play equipment and starts playing on it fairly robustly. At this point, he's the only child on it. A 5yo girl from another family comes and joins him and the two of them are playing together just fine, in the same way, for a few moments. Then her 6yo brother comes along and starts playing with it, but is scared and unhappy with the way the other two are playing so starts shrieking.

The mum of the 9yo is watching from nearby and shouts to her child, "tone it down a bit, sweetie, that boy's a bit scared". 9yo starts playing a bit more gently, but 6yo is still unhappy and shrieking.

The mum of the 5 and 6yo comes across and says sharply to the 9yo "you need to stop playing like that, he's only 6 and they're much smaller than you".

The 9yo's mum then gets up and says to her son, "I know you were playing on it first, it was your turn and they interrupted you playing, but the most important thing is that everyone is safe and not upset, so why don't you come off for now, we'll do something else, and you can have another turn later when hopefully you'll be able to play without anyone getting upset." She gives him a hug and goes with him to play somewhere else.

Would you think that anyone should have behaved differently in this scenario?

OP posts:
usererror99 · 18/07/2026 19:03

The mum of the 9 year old handled it perfectly

olympicsrock · 18/07/2026 18:56

The mum of the younger children was wrong to speak to the 9 year old. She should have taken her children off it , or asked 9 year old nicely if it was possible for him to play more gently .

Mum of 9 year old was diplomatic and diffused the situation

somanychristmaslights · 18/07/2026 18:53

Clearly you’re the mum of the 9yo? A bit passive aggressive, but the girl was also on it so not sure why the 9yo got the brunt of the parent moaning.

ShetlandishMum · 18/07/2026 18:48

I had removed my shrieking 6yo and let the other two play.