Kids at the playground

Going to the playground. It's a nice way to get out in the fresh air and see the world beyond your backyard.  It's also a chance for your child to interact with other random children. What about when the other kid wants to fight? (Or don't understand the concept of touching nicely?)

Well in some ways that depends on how old the other kid is.  Is their parent near by?  Explaining that it is not ok to play rough with your child is a start, and ideally the other child's parent will intervene.  But if they don't as an adult you can act as a meat shield by physically stepping between your child and the hostile other.  And while ultimately you can not control someone else's child you can choose what to do with your child.  First and formost make sure your child is uninjured.  Maybe find a different part of the playground for your child to play so as to make some distance between the kids who don't get along.  It's also good to talk to your child about how the other child was acting in a way that is not acceptible. (Basically do some damage control so your child doesn't adopt undesired behaviors from children who behave poorly in public.)

Part of our father's day fun included going to the local playgroud.  Our son loves slides so he made a bee-line for the nearest slide and started climbing up the wide blue steps of the  play structure.  There was one other child on the steps, but they were wide enough for three kids to go up and down.  So I wasn't concerned.   This kid was three years old, so he was a little older than my son.  The other child laughed and attempted to push my son down the stairs.  My husband and I were near enough to keep my son from falling down said stairs and my husband physically got between the aggressive 3 year-old and our son.  We explained that it's not ok to push people, especially not on the stairs.  The boy's dad came over and took his son by the hand while my husband walked my son to the slide that he was so excited to go down.

After that we pointed out a swing set to our son on the other side of the park and took him to that.  And once again fun was restored!  Eventually the problem child made his way to where we were but by then we were already pretty much done with that part of the park and continued on.

Though we could not make someone else's three year old be less aggressive or more aware of the consequences of his actions (be a pain and no one will stick around to play with you), we were able to keep it a fun and safe experience for our son.