I’m sure you’ve all been there – out with your kids somewhere and the “big kids” come around and take over the park or the toys or whatever. You’re thinking, “Where are their parents?? If they hurt my kid(s), I’m gonna be pissed.” …right?
*sigh* That ended up being my kids recently. We went to a birthday party for Ned and Penny over the weekend… Burke and Maggie were the biggest kids there! Holy cow – how did that happen? (Actually, now that I think of it, Logan was about a year older than the rest of the kiddos there too!)
Okay – as far as kids go, they were actually really good. They did take over a climber in the corner of the playroom…and I think I got “the eye” from one parent as Burke almost fell on her child (I would have given it as well, so I don’t blame her!) But I tried to have a tight leash on them so they wouldn’t take over the entire room and terrorize the other little kids there.
What do you do – as parents – in this situation? I needed to let them play … it wouldn’t have been fair to make them sit in a corner the whole time; but I really (really) didn’t want them to accidentally bump into a newly walking kid and tip him or her over.
Filed under: kids | Tagged: big kids, playroom terrors |
The Zimmer Zoo 
I really don’t know what to do, either. I just try to keep reminding mine to be careful because there are little children there.
I’m not sure there’s much you can do. I find that Bee just needs to be constantly reminded to watch out for the little ones, because sometimes she forgets. I know that she would never intentionally hurt someone, and accidents happen. I try to always remember this when my own children get accidentally hurt. This happened in a bouncy castle this summer, and I could tell that the boy who knocked Cakes over felt really bad. I tell myself that bumps and scrapes are just a part of childhood, and I only give other parents the evil eye if their kids are being unnecessarily rough and rowdy, and it’s clear that the parent is paying no attention, and makes absolutely no attempt to reign them in.
Tough one – yes they are just as entitled to play than any other kid there. I would just keep reminding them that the others are smaller.
I think your kids were great. Sometimes I think that parents with littler kids can’t expect the moms of the bigger kids to do everything – you have to watch out for your own one. When Penny crawls around at doctor’s visits (waiting rooms), I monitor her, don’t expect the parents of other older kids to be making their kids watch out for her.