What Is Proper Playground Etiquette?
Do you break the rules of the playground?
The other week, I posted on the Modern Manners Guy Facebook wall about an experience I had at the playground and when so many people commented, I knew I had the next topic for an article.
In my post I mentioned how a parent yelled at me when her kid bolted behind my daughter, who I was pushing on the swings, as if it were our fault that her son ran in front of mine. We didn’t see the kid coming and my daughter was already in midswing, away from me. Still the parent thought I should have defied all laws of physics and used my super powers to stop my daughter from swinging. The child–or as we deemed him–“The Bolter” was not hurt, just a little scared… of his mother.
What Is Proper Playground Etiquette?
Even though, I passed this off as simply an annoyance, I started to notice some other inappropriate playground behavior around me. The behavior was so bad, in fact, that Axl Rose’s song “Welcome To the Jungle” started playing in my head.
So, in this article, I will give you my top three tips on how to have proper playground etiquette. This is by no means the end all be all, so please drop me a line on my Modern Manners Guy Facebook page.
Playground Etiquette Tip #1: Keep An Eye On Your Children
My first tip dives right into the nastiest habit of all–parents not watching their children. I am not talking about being overbearing and not allowing your children to play free and have fun. The issue here is when parents just drop their kids off and head for the nearest bench to socialize or use their BlackBerryies.
As a parent I can tell you it’s great to find parents at the playground who I can talk to while our kids play, but that doesn’t mean we sit and talk and forget about our kids. It doesn’t take being a professional multitasker to be able to watch your child and talk to someone at the same time. When parents socialize and don’t watch their children, the child often ends up getting hurt—or ends up hurting your child.
If you ever witness a rude parent not watching their child, unfortunately there is only so much you can do. You should never, ever touch or reprimand another child. However, when you do see another child behaving badly, you should alert the parent. And if you see another person’s child doing something dangerous, kindly and gently tell the parent you think their child might need a hand on the playground. Tell them you wish you could (even though you don’t) help their kid, but you have to watch your own kid. Gasp, the thought!
Tip #2: Obey the Age Limit
Every playground has a suggested age limit, which often times goes ignored—and this is one area that drives me nuts the most. For starters, bringing older kids into a playground that’s specifically for younger kids is a sure way to have kids get hurt.
Even if there is no sign, you can clearly tell which parts of the playground are meant for younger children. If I’m on the part of the playground meant for children three and younger and I see eight or 10 year olds fooling around, I try to make the bigger playground sound a lot “cooler.” I say something like, “Wouldn’t you guys much rather play on that really big one over there instead of this toddler playground? I bet you can’t do those monkey bars all the way across!” Usually this works. I don’t want any child to get hurt or, even worse, have fears about going to the playground because, “the big kids are on it.” My daughter’s words.
Tip #3: Use Your Inside Voice… Well, Outside
Do you remember when you were a kid and one of your friends got yelled at by his parents? Scared the you know what out of you, right? I mean, sure your parents yelled at you, but when someone else’s parents did it to them it was all kinds of awkward. You both were scared to even budge!
This brings me to the parents on the playground who show zero sense of manners, screaming and shouting like they were fronting a death metal band. I can’t stand when people–any adult–yells and screams at someone else in public. Trust me, I totally understand that it happens—and I’m guilty of it too—but usually the ones who do it constantly have no sense of etiquette at all.
So though I’ve told you to pay attention to your kids and make sure they are being careful, that does not mean you should scream at them if they’re misbehaving. Making the playground a safe place to play and have fun is key for a child’s development, so don’t ruin it with your bad temper. If you happen to witness a screaming parent, tell the parent who is pissed because his child is ruining their Facebook session on their iPhone that everything will be all right. Try to settle the situation with some calm, cool karma.
Do you have a great story about how you witness poor playground etiquette? Post them on my Modern Manners Guy Facebook page so we can all hear the details. As always, if you have another manners question, I’m look forward to hearing from you so drop me a line at manners@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email. As well, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @MannersQDT. And of course, check back next week for more Modern Manners Guy tips.