to not stop my DC doing things because other people don't want their DC to do them?

[hollyvsivy]

My children are adventurous and unless something is dangerous or unsafe for themselves or others, I don't see the problem. Increasingly I find myself being scowled at by other parents whose DC want to copy mine as if I should stop mine to help them out. I've had passive agressive comments, too. As far as I'm concerned, it's up to them to enforce their rules on their children - not me.

Some examples to give you an idea of the contexts of these situations:

Splashing in puddles
Climbing trees
Standing up on the swing
Climbing the slide (as long as no one else is waiting to go down)
Painting their hands and feet at toddler group
Rolling down hills

AIBU to continue to let my children do what I'm fine with them doing and ignore disapproving outsiders who expect me to stop them so their children won't do the same?

So shell feels it's ok to spoil others enjoyment of the slide then.

Wow I have learnt something today......lots of people have a problem with children climbing up slides...I have 6 children and 9 grandchildren and simply did not know this was even an issue.

Well now I do know and....I do not care.

Oh for the days when kids went to the park on their own and parents just let them get on with it......round about the time most of this maoners were children...

Use equipment the way it was meant????? Playgrounds are to stimulate imagination and physical play..climbing up slides and standing on swings is exactly that.

I despair of modern patents and what this type of parenting is going to do to the adults these children become.

If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun....please all climb a slide today!!!!!!

Slide climbing is about using judgement, so you don't do it if lots of kids are in the park or if you are covered in mud.

For kids who live in a small city flat and don't have a farm to explore, playground equipment can be their only place to run freely and use their imaginations with large physical motion.

I think it is pretty boring only to use the (often rather dull) equipment exactly as it is designed to be used.

Playgrounds are for learning to take turns and be considerate, but they are also for using your imagination and growing in freedom and independence.

easy my dm tells the same stories. She is 73 now. ANd whenever she tells me things from her childhood, one of 6 children, single parent family due to father's death, her mother working three jobs, no supervision most of the time, im amazed she survived. One day, no adult in sight, playing in fields her friend fell into water and went under. My mum pulled her out by her hair. Neither could swim. They were about aN hours walk from home and primary aged. She would as a 6 year old walk her 4 yr old sister a half an hour walk to where her mum was working. Then back. Along a road. They werent safe. They werent properly looked after. They were lucky. Not all children were. Her brother did die in an accident falling off a Roof. There are lots of stories about climbing.

clara you do not run freely On a farm!

lostatsea if you use the eauipment respectfully then other children NOT JUST YOURS can also enjoy it and have fun. Some people have really selfish attitudes i expect they also have 'spirited' children and dont notice the quiet ones who want to slide but dont go near it due to the yobs running up in and not taking their turn

Some of those things are antisocial in playgrounds. There's an unspoken etiquette in playgrounds- no climbing up slide (even if yours have clean shoes and are careful, others will copy and may get mud on it or obstruct others coming down, causing a collision). Standing on swings is dangerous! It also gets the seats muddy. You wouldn't let them put their feet on a bench or seat, why a swing?

Puddles, tree climbing, rolling down hills... harmless unless splashing people or in the way. Though I wouldn't mine roll in park in case of dog poo.

I think you should take them to woods or deserted playgrounds if you're going to let them climb and go up slides the wrong way. Or get some playground equipment for your garden. It's not on to let them go wild where others will copy them.

Slide climbing would piss me off because it's dangerous, inconsiderate and pointless. Climb on the stuff designed to be climbed on.

The rest of it is just normal surely?

Slide climbing and swing standing both annoy me because someone else has to sit on it afterwards. Whether your kids are barefoot or wearing shoes handmade by Russian royalty if there's mud there's mud.

I have no problem with kids climbing things that are meant to be climbed, or any of the other things on your list.

Personally with the swings/slide I think you're confusing being judged for being "adventurous" 🙄 with being inconsiderate.

Lol are all of them not done by all kids??? Except the slide thing, walking up a slide DOES make it less slippy, plus, its the safety thing, someone comes flying down it and knocks the kid off, there are plenty of other things to climb!
I can see maybe the odd mum sniffing in disapproval, but the majority of Mums I know, these things would be considered run of the mill things that kids do!

I only get the funny looks when I jump in the puddles too....;-) Or get my Bum stuck on the slide! But then I only had kids so I could continue being a large kid myself! Heheheh!

You wouldn't let them put their feet on a bench or seat, why a swing

I have seen lots of parents allowing that too.

It does seem some parents forget about basic manners and thinking of others and excuse it by saying they are allowing their children to "explore" or be "free spirits"

FFS.

Not letting your children climb the slide isn't about sanitising their childhoods etc. It's not the risk of danger - my children climb up far more fearsome things than slides(!) - it's about not being a selfish twat and spoiling it for the other children.

CountDuck lol I live in the country, right next to a farm, in fact. I am well aware of the dangers, but there have been lots of people talking about how their kids have all sorts of freedoms which inner city kids just don't have.

Sounds like you're proud of your feral children.

I think slide climbers are guilty by association because everyone has gone to the park and found big muddy footprints on the slide or had their kids (at the top of the slide) pushed aside by someone coming up it.

Wow I have learnt something today......lots of people have a problem with children climbing up slides...I have 6 children and 9 grandchildren and simply did not know this was even an issue

I've reached the grand old age of 45 without knowing it was an issue. Did it a lot when I was a kid. Don't remember being moaned at because of it.

But by reading this thread, you gain an amazing insight into the world of elf and safety gone mad and precious parenting.

There's an etiquette in a playground? Really? The only etiquette is not to hog a swing and let everyone have a go on everything (assuming they are old enough, and want to).

And the desire to not want to have to discipline your kids. They're doing it, why can't I? My response would be "they're them and you're you and I say no". But some parents seem to be incapable of this.

As for mud on swings, don't you expect your kids to get mucky when they go out to play? I wouldn't be dressing my kids in decent clothes to go to the park. The only thing I'd be concerned about is rolling around on the ground because of dog poo as someone said.

Kids usually coordinate between them quite well going up and down the slide. Obviously there will be the odd inconsiderate child who will sit at the top or partway down and not budge for half an hour. Part of being a child is being very imaginative and I would expect a child to use a slide in lots of different ways. Not just as adults rule.

What's wrong with a bit of mud? Kids are meant to get muddy.

I'm smiling at all the posts of 'I can't believe the parents of today, not letting their children do xyz because of Elf and Safety, it's terrible.
I mean, I don't let my children to abc though, obviously.'

MN grown ups trying to structure children's minimal risk free play.

Nothing wrong with a bit of mud. But not all over play equipment!

I am all for getting muddy but surely that falls into the "time and place for everything" side of things. Slides and swings shouldn't become muddy just because parents let their children climb over them. Just the same as benches shouldn't be muddy from people climbing on them.

As a child I spent most of my time in the playground climbing up the slides as did the rest of the kids. It also used to have a little hut/shelter at the top, which we used to climb on the roof. It was about 15-20 foot in the air with a concrete base. Health and safety 1970s style.

Yanbu. Ignore.

I have the same rules as you re:slide climbing. I remember having loads of fun as a child climbing slides, so I let my children do it too. They know that children coming down he slide have priority and they don't do it with muddy/wet/dirty shoes.

Well now I do know and....I do not care.

This pretty much represents my entire experience of MN.

YANBU.

But I can believe anyone actually objects to any of this. Apart from the slide climbing which most people on MN despise.