Asked to explain myself by a child!

[DucksOnThePond]

So in a pool earlier. There are always publicly accessible floats and noodles but never toys. DC playing with a toy. It has been borrowed from another friend at the pool but is certainly not for public use. Suddenly find nyself being told - by a 5/6 year old boy in armbands! - that said DC is unkind for immediately not handing over this toy and that it was outrageous I wasn’t forcing it. Unwilling to engage I said very little and moved on. 5 mins later at a different area of the pool a follow up of ‘excuse me, DC should hand it over. Did you bring it from home’. A third time and my response was that as an adult I was not explaining myself to a rude child.

Since when did kids not only feel comfortable enough challenging a stranger but actually harassing them?! No sign of a parent at all.

I imagine his parents are just as entitled and annoying and that’s where he gets it from.

A 5 year old using the word 'outrageous' ?

They were rude (in a polite way..."excuse me") but I don't really go for the idea that adults shouldn't "answer to" children.

Children hate what they perceive as unfairness. If would have been better to have said it was your toy and not for sharing. They might have let you alone then.

You've got to admit that's an impressive command of the English language for a 5/6 year old. No parent close by then?

Maybe the child assumed it belongs to the pool? Why didn't you say so instead of ignoring him and just moving away?

Why didn't you just explain that they weren't for sharing around everyone the first time he asked?

Why didn't you just say it didn't belong to the pool?

Yes just talk to the kid

I would find it a little rude for him to expect the toy to be handed to him and be so forward/pester you about it but I think you were being equally as rude for not answering him. He's just a kid who needs to learn how things like this work.

I said it wasn’t for sharing, and that my DC was still playing with it which to me is very little. I really don’t get why I feel I need to explain myself to a child I don’t know.

That sounds a lot like the child who pestered my friend for an entire evening after she won a raffle. The prize was a big toy and my friend was delighted because she knew it was something her niece would absolutely love, and which she wouldn’t have been able to afford to buy for her.

This girl came up to her after the raffle and announced that she wanted the toy. My friend gently explained that she knew another little girl who would love it so she was going to be giving it to her. The girl did not stop for the entire evening and several times actually came over and tried to take it from our table. Parents just watched and laughed the entire time!

So the kid couldn't swim and wasn't supervised? Why didn't you tell the lifeguard?

I don't understand why you didn't just answer him

Why are you so snotty about engaging? Would it have been so very difficult to explain? This is only a small child, I think you could cut him a little slack on knowing the 100% correct way to approach a stranger in these circumstances.

I dunno, my 5yo uses pandemonium and ballistic.

Tbh, sounds like he child was just challenging what they perceived as injustice. I don't know why you didn't explain it to them.

I really don’t get why I feel I need to explain myself to a child I don’t know.

Because that's how children learn. To be polite to another (smaller less experienced) human being.

May be you come from the olden days where children should be seen and not heard

I really don’t get why I feel I need to explain myself to a child I don’t know.

Because the child is a person, just like you. Neither of you are better than one another. You were rude in my opinion.

Why didn't you just say "Yes we brought it from home"

I would have just said it was my child's toy (doesn't matter that it was borrowed). Child probably has helicopter parents that time a child playing with a toy for 2 minutes, then it's the next child's turn.

I would not have allowed the toy in the pool, this is bound to happen, with the added peril that it gets lost.broken, or commandeered by rude 5 year olds with impressive vocab! :o

Did the offending child ask the owner of the toy to share?

It's all about one-upmanship imo ...look what we have and you have to play with the pool toys

Why on earth didn't you just answer his question?

He might be a child but that doesn't mean it's okay for you to just fob him off. If you'd just said "we brought this from home, sorry" he probably wouldn't have asked you again!

Why on earth should it be ‘unjust’ or ‘unfair’ or an ‘injustice’?! Why would any child go into a scenario like that assuming someone else was holding was up for grabs. One of my kids has SEN and still the sentiment is that if another child offers to share, or they are asked and they do so willingly fine but otherwise a line is being crossed. On a serious note, where does this sense of entitlement - which is what it is - end?

Nothing unusual about 5/6 year olds using the word outrageous, or asking annoying questions. Yes he's back kid but no harm in just telling him it's not a pools toy.