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

IME these types of parents are pushy, competitive types who think their toddlers are really advanced and need to go first to show that.

They also like to broadcast this in a loud voice.

They actually can't imagine a time when their dcs will be older.

yanbu
I hate the way people with small children think older children/teens are always trouble

YANBU
A mother of a toddler told my DS and his friend to 'grow up' in a playground-they were both 6 yrs old at the time!!! They were running around and going down the slide fast. They weren't stopping the toddler from doing anything-it just meant that they rushed past at intervals. If a 6 yr old can't run in a playground where can they run?! I usually ignore but felt forced to say -politely-that they were just treating the playground as it was intended.(It wasn't a special toddlers part).

YANBU

Tweens often share a park I visit with the DC (6 and 4 ). The zip wire was broken/nicked 6 months ago and has yet to be replaced.....

The tweens like the giant cup shaped thing you sit/lie in and swing on and also the swings. They are lovely about taking turns and never pushy. I treat them the same as anyone else waiting - ie I wouldn't let the DC stay on for longer if a tween or a toddler were waiting.

The only thing that I'm not keen on is when older ones pile onto the roundabout when DD (4) is on it and make it go too fast for a little one and she cries and has to get off. . This has happened a couple of times but with a different group of tweens.

It isn't that long since my big children were little, cute and vulnerable just all the other tiddlers. But they also have been socialised over the intervening years so they also realise it isn't OK to barge in or jump the queue

The waitress in Prezzo told me I had lovely children today.

Hmm....do you think I may be overthinking this?

YANBU! This drives me bonkers!

My DD is very tall for her age and has been given 'looks' for playing on equipment when toddlers were waiting, even though she had waited too and it was her turn!

Very bad form IMO.

We never had problems with teens when mine were young. They had a much older brother and were used to his friends and they just used to toddle up to use equipment that the teens were sitting on and they always moved and let them on. They just look intimidating half the time when they really aren't.

YANBU.

When DS was a teeny toddler I do remember being constantly apprehensive about the 5 and 6 yo charging about, but now I am often gobsmacked at the indulgent way parents of toddlers allow them - encourage them - to sabotage things that are aimed at older children.
At the NHM or Science Museum older children can be really studying something complicated but are pushed aside by parents of toddlers who just want to clamber around. We visited Herstmonceux Science Park which has big outdoor experiments - DS was trying to do them, but younger children kept interrupting and taking the equipment away to use for other purposes, or climbing on the structures mid experiment as if it was a playground rather than a science demonstration and putting a stop to it - and the parents were just indulgently encouraging them. It all became a bit of a waste for the older children.

I think it does suggest that parents like these have a lack of imagination - they can't comprehend that their toddler will become an older child and (gasp) then a teenager. Or maybe they are just massively self-interested.

Much like some people are prejudiced against old people

I think that's it jamie. They can't imagine their tiny little child being a hulking great semi-adult!

Found this on my old thread. 3 years on totally understand where op is coming from!!