Playground bullies
I am in a conundrum of sorts over an issue that happened at a local playground. Children can be a bit rowdy at times so I always have a close eye on them when we are in public settings. I never allow my children to be rude, take toys from other children, or bully children around them - not that it doesn't happen, of course it does, but I'm always there to correct the behaviour. The problem is that other parents don’t seem to have these guidelines.
My daughter who is five was playing on the playground when a slightly older boy came and pushed her and she fell over. She began to cry and I ran over to her. I looked around waiting for the boy’s mum to come discipline the boy but she never appeared. There were a few mums chatting at the other side of the playground – I presumed it was one of the, but I thought it best to leave it and move on, so I told my daughter to ignore the child and continue playing. About 5 minutes later the boy returned and again pushed her, this time he also called her a “cry baby” for being upset.
Again I ran to my little girl and picked her up. I looked around for the boy’s mum, but nothing. I wasn’t happy to leave it this time, so I dealt with it myself, as I’d had quite enough at this stage. In a calm but decisive manner, I told the boy not to push my daughter and explained to him that it was unacceptable behaviour. He walked away, and my daughter played happily.
No sooner had I returned to the bench, I could see a woman approaching me. She stormed up to me and demanded to know if I was the mother to “that little girl” and pointed at my daughter. I told her I was. She proceeded to tell me that I had no place telling her son what to do and that she doesn’t appreciate me correcting him. And further, that if I did so again, she would report me. I answered quietly and calmly and told her if she managed her unruly child that there would be no need for me to get involved. I picked up my daughter and we left the playground. I was shaking. Not because I did something wrong, because I really don’t think I did, but the whole experience has left me feeling absolutely awful about it. What was I to do? Should I just have left when the incident first happened? Or maybe approached the mum about it? When I was dealing with the issue at the time, I felt like I was doing ok. Now I’m not so sure. Has anyone any advice on how to do with a mother and child team of playground bullies?
