...to disapprove of children standing in swings with muddy wellies on?!

[MammytoM]

Is it unreasonable to expect a reasonably clean swing at the park? Gets on my wick seeing children standing in them with dirty shoes / wellies on leaving mud all over them . Some of us have little ones which want / need to sit in the swings. Am I being a swing snob lol?

Was baby swings mentioned though? No just swings which can be say on stood on led on and 2 can get on. HTH

I find it more irritating when they walk up the slide with muddy shoes/boots on, but then I dislike children walking up the slide at any time.

I loved swinging on my belly! Fell off once and grazed my elbows, gave them a wipe with my dirty hands and carried on. 34 yrs later I still have bits of grit under the skin!

If you have small enough feet you can stand on baby swings.

Are parents really this uptight now? Are children not allowed to have good clean (dirty, messy) fun anymore?

Yes, op said 'sit in the swings' and mentioned her small dc....sit in rather than on indicates to me it's a baby swing

KNow what you mean OP but also agree with the others too.

My bugbear is young kids on buses/trains/any sort of public transport with muddy/wet boots standing on seats or running from one to another and mum/grandparent/dad/nanny is too busy on their phone or texting and not watching/restraining them,or ignoring the tutting!!!!

Oh for goodness' sake. It's winter and sometimes it's wet and muddy in the park. Take a dustpan and brush with you and sweep the mud off if you hate it that much. FFS YABU

We had concrete under our swings, it's a wonder we survived at all TBH.

OP, get your kids <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.ca/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbo=d&biw=1280&bih=709&tbm=isch&tbnid=2X9TiScwlPM4NM:&imgrefurl=tuffo.com/tuffo_muddy_buddy_features.html&docid=eSzIdrxPvg6yGM&imgurl=tuffo.com/images/mb_boy_2.png&w=201&h=283&ei=nu3uULnDNqeCiwK8wYGwCw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=371&sig=101749972007147167500&page=1&tbnh=153&tbnw=100&start=0&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0,i:118&tx=40&ty=79" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">these. No mud on your child

Does mud on the slide annoy you too ?

If someone is deliberately allowing an older child to stand in the baby/toddler swing and cover it in mud then yes I guess that's annoying however, generally putting a muddy booted toddler in and out of a swing does mean that mud will get on the swing so no idea how you expect other toddler parents to prevent that - take wellies off ? place child in swing ?

Now what is annoying is people that 'hog' the swings and don't understand taking turns whilst they stand and chat to each other for hours and hours whilst other toddlers scream.

I get losses of at parents that put restrictions on play equipment, it's there to be played on, it's us stuffy grown ups that dictate how.

thebody yes so are mine.... I get irritated by the teen bashing here

Baby swings would indicate baby IMO and swings would indicate standered swings, I wouldn't have a problem with a dc standing on a baby swing either. It's children and it's a park, or do you expect them to not play.

MN is a alternate universe sometimes.

True about the birds! Lucky they don't wear wellies too or I would be really mad lol . Glad I'm not the only swing snob though

You're sort of NOT BU... I'm the same but more because of the amount of washing that needs doing when they're constantly dirty (and since our water bill has just risen to £95 A MONTH I can do without the extra loads to be honest). But I do really want DD to be able to get wet and muddy, so like someone else said, I invested in all-in-one waterproofs!

She wears them rain or shine and it means that we can stay out all day in the rain without her getting cold and miserable because her clothes are soaked through! And like another poster said, I sit there huddled in my waterproof coat drinking hot chocolate while she plays - everyone's a winner...

Don't get me started on children walking up the slide though

ILoveTIFFANY...thank you, I do mean baby swings!
MrsTerryPratchet...great idea, thanks
HappyJoyful...I do mean people deliberately letting them stand in the baby swings with muddy wellies etc on, little bit of mud as they are being put in the swing can't be helped

YANBU it's inconsiderate to other children not to wipe the mud off if your child left a mess in the swing.

No need to hinder their play just clean up after your own child instead of leaving it for other parents.

Exactly MoonHare - I do take wipes with me but I agree that if children are allowed to stand in the baby swings and make them so muddy that anyone without wipes wouldn't be able to use them then their parents should wipe them down quickly before they leave

Actually the thing that annoys me when I am tidying up our village playground and doing safety checks is people who let their children run up slides in muddy boots or trainers. It totally stops the slides from working. No fun in going down a 'slow' slide.

Agree Mammy, doesn't take much to give it a quick wipe when you take your child off the swing.

Like at the gym, but with mud, not arse sweat

I went to our local park a few months back and there was a couple with their pfb and a jumbo pack of anti bacterial kitchen wipes. They wiped everything their child went on. The swing, spinning tub thing, seesaw, slide, all seats

The kid was pre walking so I hate to think how they'll cope when he's tearing around as a toddler

Ewww arse sweat lol! And the anti bacterial wipes on everything! Agree about the slides too. Obviously things are going to get dirty, it's a park but it's still irritating when you go to put your baby in. Swing and every single one is caked in mud / you see children standing in them in muddy wellies (and I do mean very muddy). There's a sand pit area in our park which all the dogs pee and poo in