to let my son spend HIS turn on the slide climbing up it instead of going down it?

[lookingforwards]

Just had this happen again at play area (softplay this time) but its happened so many times over the last yr since DS could walk. He's a climber and thinks slides are for climbing. He waits his turn, then goes to the bottom and starts scrambling up it. After a suitable interval I get h im off and he waits again till the last child after him has had a go at which point I let him at the slide again for a scramble. He only gets about 1 minute if its busy but unlimited if there's noone else there. I lift him off if there's someone waiting at the top who has clambered up and wants to come down and then he can scramble again while they are climbing back up. He is 18 mths.

The problem starts when some other parent lifts their child/baby striahgt up to the top and then looks at me impatiently or says straight out 'can you take him off please?'.

Well I think a go spent climbing is as valid as a go spent coming down but the rest of the baby playground world apparently goes by a different etiquette where slides are for coming down and anyone climbing up is a pain and their parent needs to have it pointed out to them that their son is breaking all the unwritten rules.

So go on then AIBU, what's the verdict?

But it is sooo much fun climbing up !

Have always allowed mine to climb up (develops some important skills you see :o ) but always explaining that priority passage on a slide is for those going down.
So if there was anyone else around (unless they're also into climbing up!), she could and would only go down. But small local playground often not very busy, so hell to conforming and yes to subverting !

:o this has really made me smile.

I think the solution is for next one to "go" when OPDS is 2/3 the way down.

Do you like the way the OP sneaks "he's been walking since 6 months" in ?

I let mine climb up the slid too but not when other children are waiting to use it. It'd be like driving the wrong way up a one-way street.

We got to a soft play where they have a microphone. If the manager sees anyone climbing up the slide she gets on the microphone and tells them, 'Do not climb up the slides!'

Your ds would have to follow the rules here or be booted out!

YABU - I find it really irritating when people do this.

YABVU

I know you've gone OP, but YABVU.

My DH has been known to forcibly remove climbers from slides, so that they don't get their head kicked in by littlies sliding down at great speed. Parents completely oblivious. Probably Mnetting on their i-phones.

yes, i am sooooo OTT ( which are actually initals for something else ) about not wanting my son to have a nasty accident!

LOL, im sure your students have lots of fun with you PP, and i do not doubt it is done with the best intentions, just my POV, i wouldn't want my son doing that at all, especially without me there.

It's not an "unwritten rule". I have spent countless hours in numerous soft play places and it is always bloody WRITTEN.

Until the DS is old enough when it is safe and appropriate to climb a slide when other arent there then he should be taught the correct and intended use.

I meant old enough to be taught the difference

Just in case you're still loitering OP - another YABU. As you have an older child I assume you know that once your child can talk he will still have a tantrum if you tell him he can't climb up the slide. Particularly as you've always let him. How are you going to explain that it dangerous now?
I would restrict slide climbing for when there is no-one else there. You may think you are being fair with your climbing 'rules' but to other parents who aren't privvy to these rules your (I'm sure adorable) child is just going to look like a pest who is being allowed to get in everyones way.

Its like deciding to drive on the right because you want to even though everyone else is driving on the left .

Oooh have my own slide rage related story as of yesterday. In a soft play centre with a huge whizzy 3 lane slide. Once the child is coming down there is no stopping super fast - great fun. At the bottom a group of mothers with tinies - 18months/2 allowing them to climb up the lower bit of the slide and play at the bottom. At one point I had to in a split second run in and pick up one of their toddlers to prevent a nasty accident ashamed to say I politely bollocked the mother to no avail. My friend and I were totally . It wasnt even as if these mothers were chatting not paying attention, they were there and watching just not preventing their toddlers getting hurt

How is a child of under 3 meant to understand that while they are queuing at the top of the slide, therefore waiting their turn, that some child is actually queuing somewhere else for their turn? That alone is an unreasonable thing. Children under 3 often struggle with the whole turn taking thing and parents are probably going 'no it is your turn after this child' and suddenly they are expected to wait while a child not actually in the queue has a turn. Odd, very odd!

I am also the parent of a climber who will quite litterally climb on anything, it is my job as his parent to ensure he knows what is ok to climb and what isn't.
With respect to the 'He can learn that at pre school', is that not the same as the parent who says 'You wait until you get to school, they can sort you out', so passing the buck so to speak.

YABU

My son might like to spend his turn smearing the slide in dog shit but I won't allow it. It's not the done thing, really.

Do you have a garden and enough cash to buy him his own slide? Honestly, that might be the best way forward if possible.

YABU. For the same reasons that everyone else has given - it's rude to hog the slide and it's dirty.

Ha ha Rosebud05 and never darken the door of the park again.

I think YANBU to allow your child to climb slides. It is one of life's pleasures. I distinctly remember climbing slides when I was young - and I'm the most conformist person I've ever met.

Of course YABU to allow him to do it when others want to use slide for sliding down.

I don't get the "it's dirty" and "dogshit" arguments. Surely there will be some foot/bum crossover at the top of the slide anyway?

As for those who have said they'd purposefully let their kids slide down when yours is coming up - they're just twats.

YANBU, for as long as I can remember slides have always been used for sliding down and climb them up.
We can't police every activity of a small child.

I think YABU. Once they progress to the bigger tube slides, you can't see who's coming down, let alone who's at the top. DCs usually run and jump down them at speed. I teach mine - NO GOING UP THE SLIDE. It's simple and easy to understand. That way nobody gets injured. Climb on the climbing frame. (No doubt this has already been said but I haven't read all the pages).

YABU. My 19 month old can't talk properly yet. However, he is perfectly capable of listening to me when I say "don't climb up the slide" which I have been doing with monotonous regularity since he was about 10 months old.
Guess what? He now doesn't climb slides.

I am willing to admit to having strong views on queuing.

At the water slide at swimming pool the other day:

Little girl of about 6 - I am going before him
Me - no you are not
Her mum - she doesn't like waiting
Me - he doesn't like queue barging

DS went first.

good for you kungfupannda I cant believe parents let their kids get away with simple things like ques etc, its not just about ques though its the message they give child that is applied to all sorts of other situations. Here here re your 19mnth old and sliding down the slide!