Toddler Taunts

[Jenu294]

I’m a first time mum to a two year old so I’ve never had any real experience of playground behaviour.

How does one handle other toddlers taunting your own child? I’d say they were only perhaps 3 (maybe 4 years old) and there were four of them. Although my daughter didn’t understand fully what was going on, the persistent nastiness, name calling etc was quite aggressive. My little girl did look a bit confused at one point.

I realise toddlers go through a lot of changes; discovering/pushing boundaries, protecting territories/siblings/friends/toys etc and I’m also aware they operate from an emotional viewpoint. But how, as an adult, do you handle this kind of situation?

More annoyingly their mother’s were in earshot and said nothing! Yes, in hindsight perhaps I should’ve said something, to them, but I was too caught up in the moment.

All my little girl wanted to do was join in, my heart broke for her. Mother in law says I’ll just have to develop a tougher skin 😔 kids are kids so to speak and can be mean.

Any advice??

Oh that doesn't sound nice.
I'd say it's not a common thing to happen and ignore and move on.
The parents should have stopped it

Go up to them, get down on their level, say firmly "that's very rude, stop it right now" and then remove your daughter from the situation. Be prepared for other the mums to get shitty about it.

However, i think it's worth teaching your daughter about not butting into other people's games/groups/activities - i don't know many small children who'd be happy with a toddler they didn't know muscling in on their playtime.

@Somethingorotherorother I wouldn’t have let her muscle in - my daughter was playing on the upper deck first, then two boys came along and went into the lower deck and two more girls followed. My daughter is too small to follow them (too dangerous) and she was only peering inside....

@Jenu294 children at that age can be quite sensitive around the idea of privacy/peeping etc - obviously their response wasn't nice, but i can see why it might have happened. If it happens again I'd just go for a calm, firm word and remove your daughter.

Oh the joys of the playground. I would just speak loudly and clearly to your child so the others hear
“Come on X, I’m sure there’s other kids you’d prefer to play with.
Let’s go find some nice children to play with”