This afternoon I took my two year old to an indoor play place called “Nuthin’ But Good Times”. This is probably the eighth or ninth time that we have been there and for the most part we have a very enjoyable experience each time. However, today was different.
This play place is large with three different areas designated for certain age groups. There is an area for infants and toddlers, an area for toddlers and three to six year olds, and another area for the older kids. As well all know just because an area is designated for a certain age group it doesn’t mean that kids or parents are going to obey the rules and follow directions. Today Aidan and I ran into such an instance.
While playing in the toddler area today Aidan was tossing cloth blocks around to me and another little boy, they were both behaving and minding their own business. But as the two continued to play the small area started to get over run by eight to nine year old kids.
The kids, obviously too old to be in the area, were taking up all of the blocks, building “forts”, and leaving the young ones with virtually nothing to play with. Normally this kind of stuff wouldn’t really bother me. Normally I would just ask Aidan to leave the area and find something else to play with but today was different. Today Aidan was playing nicely and having a great time and didn’t seem bothered by the older kids. It wasn’t until an older kid went and took the block that Aidan was playing with that I got upset. Now usually in instances like these I would redirect and suggest Aidan get a new one, however, as I mentioned before there were no more blocks left. So as a parent I asked the kid nicely to hand the block back to Aidan because he and the other little boy had had the block first.
The response that I got from the older boy was upsetting. Instead of handing the block over and saying sorry he threw it in Aidan’s face. Awesome!So Aidan being Aidan, thought that this boy was playing with him so he threw the block back. The older boy was not impressed by this and went after Aidan, grabbing him and body slamming him into the tiled floor. I don’t think I’ve ever moved so quickly to my child in his entire life. I angrily asked the boy where his parents were and demanded to see them. He responded with “shut up” and ran off.
Great manners, kid.
Aidan ended up being fine and continued playing thankfully, but he asked me to leave the block area. Good idea, pal.
A short time after this incident I watched the older boy push and shove other little ones around. It was beginning to get out of hand, someone was going to get hurt. I decided that the best course of action was to inform the employees, so I did, and apparently i hadn’t been the only one because they ended up kicking out this child and his parents.
While I know that I did the right thing by informing the help, I almost feel like I was tattling.
Have any of you had this happen in a public place? How did you handle it? Do you wish that you had done something differently?
dawn that is far from tattling…….it was obvious that kid was a bully and his parents didnt give a crap………. if that were my kid i probably would of found the parent(s) and kicked em out myself…..
and now im busted cuz u know i read your mommy rants……..dammit
Hahahahahaha! I’m glad someone reads them!
I tried to find the parents but I seriously had no clue who this child belonged to. I did actually have “words” with the mom in the parking lot about how body slamming a two year old was bad. It was just a waste of breath on my part however, as you could blatantly tell that she could have cared less.
I guess I felt bad about “tattling” because if I could have found the parents I would have approached them first about the problem but again I doubt it would have helped.
Oh, that was *far* from tattling. I’m pretty sure that my response would have been something along the line of grabbing the little monster by his ear and demanding that he take you to his parents right then and there. Someone would have been in tears by the time I was done. (It’s something I learned from my mother; she once made the asst principal at my high school cry without raising her voice or using a curse word.)