a few days ago, i took my daughter to our neighborhood park.
we own a bulky stroller, so we like to give her a ride in her favorite mini pink car (step 2 whisper ride buggy).
we arrive at the park, and put the car on the grass near all the other strollers/bikes.
as kaila goes off to play, i notice out of the corner of my eye 2 kids running to her ride.
i think to myself, aww kids are bound to be attracted to mini cars and the last time this happened, it wasn't a big deal.
the mom of one of the kids notices me staring in that direction, gives me a smile, and proceeds to have her kid enjoy himself in the pink car - opening the hood, honking the horn, and doing who knows what else, but seemingly having a good ol' time.
i hesitate to say anything, because why stop a kid from having harmless fun, right?
i have to admit though - i am a little bothered that i have to keep an eye on our car and on kaila...
soon enough, the kids eventually get bored and off they go.
and now it's time for kaila to go home.
as we walk to her ride, something is not right.
questionable creamy guck is smeared all over the steering wheel and seat!
this made me SO angry!
and to make matters worse, my hubby tells me bigger kids were trying to roll over mini hills with the car today (and yes, he politely asked them to stop playing with it to prevent it from being broken).
is it wrong of me to not have said anything at first?
or am i overreacting?
shouldn't moms/nannies know better?
i don't know anymore.
here's my baby k enjoying her main ride this summer:
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| she's got the driving pose down with the wind blowing in her hair! |
and here's what infuriates me these days:
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I have to admit...A is one of those kids that always runs to those cars! I hate when those cars roll up in our park coz I know she'll make a beeline for it. I try everything possible to get her to stop which usually involves me carrying her screaming and crying.
ReplyDeleteHaha...poor Audrey. :(
ReplyDeleteI think it would be nice if the parents asked you if it's ok for their kids to play. Esp since they saw you watching. I think I would be a bit annoyed too...since they left it dirty!
This is tough. O1 is obsessed with bicycles (not tricycles but real bicycles). So whenever we go to the park of course there's droves of big kid bicycles. There was 1 time where O1 was touching and trying to get one - I tried pulling her away and felt the arousal of a potential temper tantrum coming. I was hoping the mom would say it was okay to at least touch, but I could tell that the mom was getting really annoyed saying stuff like "oh you're too little to be riding XYZ's new bike".
ReplyDeleteI'm kinda on the opposite side. I don't really care if other kids touch or play with our stuff. Almost always, the parent will pull them away saying "that's not yours, don't touch" and I'll say it's fine for them to play with it. But if the kid messes it up, then I'd expect the parent to step up and take action. I feel this is what happens 99.9% of the time.
So I'm thinking in this specific case of the mysterious goop - the mom didn't see it happen. If she did, I'm sure she would've apologized and cleaned it up.
But at the end of the day, you're Kaila's mom and it's up to you what you want to do with your stuff. If you don't want kids to play with it, then you can ask them politely not to.
It never bothered me before until it started to get out of hand and kids start to fight over the car. As long as kaila's ride doesn't get broken or so dirty that I have to carry her home, I'm good. :) I guess I just need more sleep. ;)
ReplyDeleteI thought about this more...don't you think it's more the parents than the kids? I mean, you're right, kids will be kids. But that mom should've been watching those kids while they played with Kaila's car. I think I would be more mad at that mom who probably wasn't paying attention.
ReplyDelete100% the parents. it's always the parents. that's who i was frustrated with - not the kid!
ReplyDelete