Totally off topic from anything I mentioned in my list of posts to be written, but this is bugging me and I have to ask.
Situation:
You are at a certain fast food establishment (doesn't really matter which one) that has the kids' play area. After your child has eaten enough of his chicken nuggets to qualify as having "eaten his lunch" you allow him to play on the equipment. Soon there are about half a dozen kids playing there. A few start to play tag, including one who is a bit younger (maybe 4) than the others playing (probably 7 or 8 years old, maybe 1 of them was as much as 10 years old). When the younger one is "IT" the others are running from him and encouraging each other to hide (just as they did whenever any of them was "IT"). At this point, the younger one's grandmother goes over to the children and reprimands them from running away from her grandson "like there's something wrong with him" (her words, not mine). The kids, looking bewildered, say no they're just playing a game. She then tells her grandson to come back to their table and doesn't let him play anymore.
Question:
As a parent of one of the children she reprimanded what would you have done or said either to her or to your child?
I'll share what I did after I get a few opinions in the comments. . .
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6 comments:
Sounds to me like the kids themselves handled the situation about right; sort of, "Huh?"
I've learned thru multiple experiences, spread over 25 years, that there is virtually no reasoning with such parents. They are quite clueless that their tactic winds up working to their own kid's detriment, despite their best intentions. And, at least she just took her Little Precious out of the game, and didn't try to shut the game down completely; I've seen that one, too.
Grandma's nuts, don't worry about it, the kids did what was best all things considered, sometimes you just shrug your shoulders. I'm so glad my "playplace" days are over. :)
I doubt I would have said anything to the grandmother, just chalked it up to someone who needs to chill a little. I would have told my own child not to sweat it. That the person misread the situation and not worry about it.
I second finished last's comments. I would take some time to talk to my child about the adult's apparent misunderstanding of what was going on. She'll probably go home and tell her daughter/son what a great job she did of "protecting" their little one from the mean old kids.
I wouldn't say anything to the grandmother (though seriously...that's a little off to repremand other kids) but I'd just remind my child that all kids like to be included. Also, this little boy probably wouldn't have been able to catch the other kids and the nice thing would be to "get caught" just so the little one could feel part of the game.
I think leaving Grandma alone and talking to N outside was the right way to go. In Grandma's defense, it's possible the child has an "invisible" disability and the Grandma is overly sensitive about it. My son is autistic and can sometimes be treated differently by other kids because he acts so different. I know that I find myself sometimes wondering if other kids are mistreating my child because of his disability, but I usually take the time to assess the situation from the point of view of someone who doesn't know that Boy is autistic. Often I find that they're treating all the kids equally, I'm just super-sensitive. Grandma needs to calm down and take time to assess the situation.
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