to let DD climb up the slide.

[TheIIlusiveShadow]

Am now completely unsure of playground etiquette.
Lovely afternoon here at the park but DD got told off by another parent for climbing up the slide instead of queuing like her DCs. Does it matter? Should I have insisted the DD only goes down the slide?

I have had several trips to the opticians for broken glasses after DD has been climbing up a slide.

It's a learning experience and perhaps one day she will actually learn from it.

And please can the morality police not pounce on me - I am only being half serious, but I do have more to worry about than slide climbing.

YABU if there are children waiting at the top, or your DD has muddy shoes.

YANBU as long as you don't throw a hissy fit when the 5 year old coming down smashes into her feet first and knocks her teeth out and busts her nose open.

As the PFB mother in our local park did. Whilst screaming abuse at said 5 year old who had queued at the top with the other kids and was completely bewildered as to what he'd done wrong.

YABU if there were kids waiting! also I agree with all those who say it unslippies the slide. My DD is obsessed with sliding and her father is never without a selection of towels on park visits to try and reslip the slide.

I used to enjoy climbing the slide, but it must be done with consideration for others, so not if it's wet or muddy and certainly not if others are waiting at the top.

Obviously turn-taking, safety, mud etc need to be taken into account, but if these are not an issue, and no one else is waiting, why shouldn't the kids explore all the DIFFERENT ways of getting up and down - up the steps and down the slide may be the USUAL way, but why is going up the slide and down the steps WRONG? It's just different. Do you really want your toddlers/small children to be so rule-bound that they never try anything different?

When my teens were little, of course they were taught consideration for others and turn taking, safety etc, but we always actively encouraged them to look at different ways of doing things/playing with toys/using games (sometimes admittedly not always popular with other parents, who seemed rule obsessed to us). I think this approach carried through to school and their learning - they would look for different ways to do things, with a lot more creativity than most of the DC, who tend to be happier to do exactly as they are told!

Yabu - dss has particularly bad break in his arm when did This and was slid into.

I suppose If you are daft enough want to let dd explore when no other kids about , go ahead.

Chuckling at Oldmum42 and the amount of thinking that some folks do about parenting - for me it's a case of being able to sit in the sun and read my book whilst knowing that the kids aren't going to cause serious facial injuries to themselves or anybody else without me having to hover over them to make sure thay are exploring all the possibilities that the slide has to offer. Climb up 'slide' down. simples

If the other DC were waiting then YABU

Good point folkgirl!!! Non slippy slides are pretty useless.... I was thinking in a more falling off the edge type way not that i'm overprotective you understand.. Actually damn I let the kids go up our own slide in the garden all the time, double standards!!

Totally agree Sapphirefling !!! you don't actually have to play with the little darlings at the park do you

if there are other people going up the steps then yabu, if her shoes were dirty and made the slide diry yabu, if the park is empty/no-one else is using the slide and her shoes are clean its fine :)

Well, I'm 55 and I still remember how much I enjoyed climbing up the slide in
the park when I was about 6 - I'm sure my Grandma made me follow the correct etiquette though.

Well it was a bit muddy but it's the park so DD was in old clothes. I encouraged DD to take turns but try not to get too involved really.

Yes, YABU.

YABU It is against the LAW to do this!

YANBU as long as she is taking her turn.

After school one of the favourite games that the school kids play when they all pile into the park is climbing up and down every part of the slide, and also all sliding down one after another and piling into each other in a big heap at the bottom, and then all climbing back up the slide to the top, grabing on to each other, falling and sliding down and banging into each other, like tumbling dominoes. They all have a wonderful time together and if a kid then comes along who just wants to climb up the ramp and slide down the slide without all the crowds of others, the other chidren just move off the slide while that one goes down.

Kids can be adventurous and wild together while still taking acount of other children an d turn taking. I watch with fascination and it never becomes unfair, dangerous or against park etiquette.

Anyway, i think kids should be able to make the rules in parks, not boring old adults.

Ah so your kid was in old clothes so it was fine?

My dd could've been in a sack, but hates getting muddy (she knocked water over herself at lunch today & panicked, I'm a clumsy mare & coldnt give a fit, it's her own phobia) so he would've been upset. I'm all for letting them get on with it, but it's your job to teCh your kid manners.

YABU to let her climb up the slide when others were using it.

YABU to allow her to make the slide muddy.

I let my children play but am there to intervene if they are not taking turns or are using equipment in a manner which negatively impacts others.

In this situation you should have stepped in before she was told off. I quite like the Schobe school of slide etiquette though :)

every playground I've ever seen has kids climbing up slides as well as down .. quite right too... however would think etiquette is that you don't do it if people waiting to come down slide - otherwise you'll get hit plus annoy other kids... Was clearly not a good mother as never never never did the question of whether climbing up slides makes them muddy and non slippy occur to me.....never.. However, I generally think that when you go to playground park etc you expect and maybe even hope kids get muddy...

YABU. The other week in the park there were a couple of children hogging the slide by climbing up it over and over again. Their mother came over to them and instead of telling them off just stood there and let them do it. It's a small park and without the slide there isn't much to go on, so all the other kids were excluded. Had their mother not been there then I'd have told them off.

but why GladysL didn't you say "now its xx turn" or whatever? I really think that sure everyone should behave well but the reality is they don't - and the way to deal with it is to deal with it not stand watching and giving out inside

YABU.

If there was a queue then yes you are ignoring social etiquette and inviting public criticism! How can you not know this though?