Posted this in bullying but no response (& not sure it was quite the right place).
My DS (age 7) was pushed off some play equipment by his “friend” same age.This was from a height as they were on a platform, sat on a barrier that DS went over.Thankfully he was not badly hurt but grazed and shaken.
They don’t see each other that often but when we do there have been occasions where DS has been pushed or tripped by this kid, usually when he does something better than him (eg running faster so he’d pull him back). I have debated ceasing contact in the past because of this but they do have nice meet ups, it’s not occurred every time and when younger it felt like developmentally something that could happen with any kids that age.I also kept a close eye on them when meeting up but had perhaps dropped my guard a little as there’d not been any issues the last few times we’d met & unfortunately DD grabbed my attention and next thing I know my DS is screaming on the floor.
However, at age 7 surely you have some insight that pushing someone off a height is going to hurt them…potentially seriously!? It was also unprovoked, they weren’t arguing & the only thing I can think that could have precipitated it was my DS had climbed higher than the kid wanted to on a diff climbing frame earlier in the meet up but he didn’t display any annoyance about this at the time.
Im not planning on seeing them again and I felt the response of the other parent was inadequate (told the kid to say sorry & although the parent did apologise a few times they’ve not text after to ask if DS is ok).
I don’t really know how best to manage these situations-would you have said something to the kid or parent at the time to point out the potential seriousness at the time? Do I just ignore future suggestions to meet or decline citing the pushing as a reason?