Park etiquette question

Are there unwritten "playground rules"? I took Sarah to the toddler playground today, she loves the swings. The park we went to has 4 of the baby/toddler swings and then about 10 of the big kid swings, but they are on a different playground right next to the toddler one. Totally within sight.

There was a little boy around Sarah's age in one of the baby ones (fine) and then these 2 other mom's had their 3 big kids in the baby swings and were chatting. They kept pushing their kids for about a half an hour and then one kid got out and I thought we'd get a chance and she put her friend's big kid in the baby swing. We ended up waiting about 45 mintues to get a swing. These kids could totally have gone on the big kid swings, the moms just didn't want to walk over b/c they were having a shouting conversation with the 3rd friend whose kid was on the toddler slide.

Could I have asked them to move to the big kid swings? I thought that since they kept looking over to see if I was still there they would have been polite and moved on, but no. It wasn't until Sarah started crying from us waiting so long that they moved. I just couldn't believe how rude they were. I felt like I was back in elementary school being bullied again.

Re: Park etiquette question

I don't know about any "rules" but I would think it would be a matter of politeness. It was wrong of them to hog up all the baby swings with their big kids. If it were me, I probably would have "politely" asked if we could have a turn.

Re: Park etiquette question

that is beyond rude! This is why I HATE some people! I never let Patrick stay on a swing to long just for the reason that some other kid may want to be on it.

Re: Park etiquette question

I would be fuming! How rude of some people. I even feel guilty when someone holds a place for me in line to pay!

Re: Park etiquette question

Have you seen the article in April's parents magazine titled "the rules of the playground" The magazine states regarding your situation "if ten minutes have passed and your child is till waiting, theres nothing wrong with approaching another mom and saying nicely, my son has been waiting for quite a while. Is your daughter almost done? " There are about 5 other situations for the playground.

Re: Park etiquette question

Re: Park etiquette question

I know I'm bad, but I run into this not only at the playground, but in his gym class, where there are half the number of swings available with 2x as many kids, so its obviuos you have to share. Last week, some mom put her kid on the swing and 10-minute time frame was almost up and we were still waiting. Andrew was fussy, so I said in a real loud voice to Andrew, "we are waiting our turn, you'll be able to get a swing in a minute." The mom was oblivious, but the Parenting article also mentioned giving hints in a loud voice to be overheard.