to wish that parents of toddlers didn't always seem to assume that older children don't matter when it comes to play grounds?

[GoreRenewed]

I took DD and a friend of hers, and DS#2 to a garden centre with a really nice playarea today. DD is 11 and sensible. DS has as much common sense as a bowl of rice-pudding so I decided the stay with him and let DD and her mate go on the zip-wire alone. I left them there with 2 younger children in front of them waiting to have a go. DS and I went off to do our own thing.

About 10mins later I went back and told them we needed to go. "But mum we haven't had a go yet" said DD. At this point there were about 5 LOs with various adults waiting with them. The girls were at the back whilst the parents hussled their kids to the front of the queue as if DD and her friend weren't there.

So I said very loudly " well I think it must be your turn now don't you?".
"Erm mum, we had to wait" a desperately embarrassed look from DD. Which earned me a hard stare and a tut from one mother

They were being polite and well-behaved and the parents weren't. Why would a parent decide that was OK? 11 yr olds are not adults and they should be treated with consideration too.

A zip wire is not an exclusively toddler thing.

Was quite cross as it happens. It isn't the first time I've seen it. "Big kids" shouldn't be there seems to be the attitude.

yanbu

Agreed!!

What's the cutoff age for playgrounds? If I am walking the dogs after dark and there are no kids in the playground in the local park I have been known to nip in and have a spin on the zip wire.

YANBU!

Some people can be very rude. YANBU

yes I love the zip wire too But I might have been lynched!

I go on the zip wire too! Why should little kids have all the fun?!

I have also seen this happen in queues also, even at DS's school (fund-raising event) where the 9/10 yrs old waited patiently whilst the adults pushed in to get served iyswim.

YANBU. You can be proud that your dd was being so polite though.

Very rude.

I also love a good zipwire. I would throw toddlers off to get my turn.

So you think that all parents of toddlers are rude and pushy and don't want to wait their turn? Sorry if that's your experience but maybe a bit of a generalisation?!
What the hell are toddlers doing on a zip wire anyway?

Something like a zip wire: YANBU.

However, sometimes older kids do play on stuff which is too small for them, which can be a bit annoying if it's busy.

YANBU, children that age seem to get left out by all ages, thought too old for parks and pushed in front of by adults in shop queues.

There's part of me that wonders if this is one factor in teens sometimes becoming antisocial.

I always try and make sure kids on their own get their turn because they are too polite to insist but I have seen them being 'overlooked'. Shocking behaviour and I'm not sure it's even that 'big' kids shouldn't be there, it's just that without a shepherding parent, they are invisible.

Well of course it's a generalisation.

It's an observation not a scientific study.It is my very unscientific conclusion about some parents of some toddlers.

YANBU at all, and how lovely that your DD was so polite. But I do also wish that parents of older kids would for instance ask them not to swing on the baby swings when they are perfectly able to go on the proper ones and not to hog the tiny slide when there's a huge one just over there. I know some kids might be scared of the bigger equipment but when you're nine or ten, maybe you just have to accept that the baby stuff isn't yours any more.

"t's just that without a shepherding parent, they are invisible."

yes. I thought that.

i agree, and find it very embarrassing when DD trails around the playground getting in the way of older kids. I always try and keep her out of the way.

zip wires?

if i only i could trust them not to let go!

Agree there horton. I guess that's the other side of the 'no parents present' coin. I don't think 11yr olds need constant supervision but then I trust my DD to be considerate and sensible.

YANBU

when we go to the farm our older kids all go for the zip-wire.

but i have noticed that they will bring it back up for little ones, help little ones on and start them off slowly and then help them off the other end. sometimes they spend so long helping little ones they dont get their goes. and i have to cajole them to take their turns before other big kids leap in.

You said always in your op that's what got me. I'd like to think all children were equal in any kind of playground as long as it's age appropriate. You obviously just came across some pfb types!! We're not all like that, honest!

Yes my older 2 do the mothering thing too. Shame they can't be bothered to it do with with their little brother . They seem to prefer beating him up and teasing him

I know they aren't. I was one once. In fact 3 times

i imagine id dd1 had a little brother she would probably be a little eveil to him at times lol.

dd1 has the added bonus of looking about 8yrs old and not 11. but dont tell i told you that. she hates being little. but it does get her a little leeway with some adults, who then think she is a very polite mature 8yr old. and not a pre-teen.

'amost 11yr old' she isnt 11 yet.

yanbu
it will get worse though
this is my experience with dd who is now 18
when she was tweenie and teenager loads of adults treat teens rudely depsite them being very polite