Adult telling 12 year olds to leave playground

[Wrenbird27]

This happened to my friends daughter. She was with her friends and an older man (~65ish) approached them and told them they were too old to be in the playground. He demanded that they leave before they broke equipment 'with their weight'. He was very persistent and a few of the girls were upset.

The playground was very quiet at the time - just a few other kids.

None of the parents of the 12 year olds were close by - a few of the girls phoned their Mums who arrived quickly but he was gone by then. He didn't have a child himself which the girls noted and thought was odd.

My friend says her daughter won't go there anymore. I think this is a pity as it was a safe area (I thought!) for them to hang out. If there had been more children in the playground they would have moved to the side but the girls said nobody was waiting to go on equipment. The equipment is very sturdy - I've seen adults sitting on swings in there before!

What should they have done?

What an extraordinary claim. Do you have any sources or links to any research suggesting that we can draw such solid conclusions about the future of our young people based on what they choose to spend a sunny afternoon doing?

Good playgrounds encourage a variety of different types of open-ended play. They enhance it, they don't limit it. The kids in our playground use the equipment in many, many different ways to play a variety of imaginative games.

There's plenty of research, on how well children who are sports focused do.

How come you don't know this is the question? Let alone the idea that it's 'extraordinary'.

Spending some time sat on a roundabout at the park does not prevent that child from being involved in sports. Many children, of all ages, go to the park, sit down in a variety of places in and outdoors, watch TV, make TikTok videos, play musical instruments, do homework, and do sports.

If you want a debate about whether children should do sport, then that's a completely different thread.

That's far from the norm from the way 12 year olds use playgrounds.

Do you spend a lot of time watching 12 yos at parks? 😕

No, but I spend a lot of time keeping my children away from street kids.

By that logic, old people or those without kids should have lower council rate to be exempted from paying these shared resources as they or their families never use.

What the man did was a bit odd but I must admit I do hate it when kids over 10 in groups hang out in parks. They’re rarely using the equipment but more piled up on it gossiping! My daughter finds it intimidating and avoids that area and I find it quite awkward too. Last time I saw this was a group of 8 approx 12 year old girls draped over a seesaw, it wasn’t moving they were just sat on it talking..

How terrifying for your daughter. I hope she has recovered from the trauma of seeing 8 older children sitting on a seesaw talking.

Very intelligent response🙄

You don’t think groups of teenagers can be intimating?

What about groups of men?

Or do you think it’s unreasonable for any vulnerable groups to feel intimated by less vulnerable groups?

You misread - I said intimidating not terrifying. Very different words and meanings.

They weren't doing anything intimidating. It's not their fault that you and your daughter and needlessly intimidated by their presence. They have a right to sit on the seesaw, they are doing no harm whatsoever. She can play on the swings or the roundabout, the same way she would if children her own age were using the seesaw.

Yes but only if the equipment is designed for all ages, atleast cover 12 years old, which we don't know here given OP didnt come to explain after her first post.

It happens when posters are in hurry to give their smart-ass answers.

Groups of men, just like groups of teenagers and tweens, are permitted to exist in society and be wherever they want to be, and no, I am not intimidated by seeing other humans socialising and neither is my daughter.

Yes, they CAN be intimidating. Sitting on a seesaw having a chat is not how they would go about that.

You think so?

It's one based on past experience and not as unlikely as you seem to believe.

They are siting on children’s play equipment, not using it, but making it so that children who want to use it cannot. The fact they’re so much older and clearly not interested in being aware that small children want to use the equipment is clear of their attitude.
It IS intimidating for small children and to be fair, many adults. Stop pretending to not know this.

I said "seeing 8 older children sitting on a seesaw talking". I did not mistakenly think the older children were 8. It happens to you when you're in a hurry to give a smart-ass answer.

What a ridiculous assertion. If you're afraid of 12 yo girls, you're the problem, not them.

People like you are the problem. Not people who are cautious of groups of teenagers who are blocking small children from play equipment.

I agree I made a mistake, I apologise for that. But I did find it rude that you are mocking of a small child being intimidated by older kids and saying you hope she has recovered that trauma.

It was a rotten reply. You’re right.

Mocking not mocking off