Yes 11 16.92%

No 36 55.38%

Sometimes 18 27.69%

No slides allowed/used 0 0%

At the park this morning (hurray for sunshine! ) I was witness to a heated "discussion" between a mom and a daycare center teacher about kids going up the slide.

It was just me and my kids (15mo, 15mo, 3) and a mother and her DS (I'd say he was probably 4-5yrs) for 30mins until a daycare center nearby walked down with a group of kids (I got to 28 before I lost count ) in the 3-4 age group.

The mom was letting her DS climb up the slide he whole time we were there but I wasn't really paying attention to it because there are 4 slides and the one he was on my DCKs don't use (it's the "big kid" side of the playground). Plus he's not my DCK so I don't care Anyway the center kids swarmed when he was mid climb and when one of the teacher hit the playground (the kids ran ahead) she immediately lit into the mother about the boy climbing up the slide. It wasn't about him running into anyone as he finished climbing to the top then played at the top with some of the center kids, but the fact that she was letting him do it in the first place.

The whole situation was a bit much so I packed my crew and we headed home, as did the mother after a few choice words for the teacher but it got me thinking about slide safety/etiquette.

Do you let kids go up the slide?

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I don't make it a point to nit pick other parents but:

1. I don't let my kids or any kids in my care go up the slide (for safety and liability reasons respectively)
and
2. if there were other random kids going up the slide and it was interfering with the safety of my kids or any kids in my care trying to go down I'd probably say something to whoever was supervising (although not in a light mom up sort of way but a hey, do you care to divert disaster here by having him/her stop at least while my crew is trying to use the slide appropriately lol)


That scenario is exactly why I don't go to public playgrounds or dog parks. Crazies and bossies seem to flock to 'em

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I do let kids go up the slide when there is only a small group (2-3) kids in the playground.

I do not let kids go up the slide when there is a bigger group. All of the kids I have worked with in the past understand this and it's never been a problem.

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I never let them go up the slide. I feel like if I let them do it once, they will never get why I say not to next time when someone is coming down. I just say "the slide is for going down" and direct them to the ladder.

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I do as long as nobody is trying to use it to go down. Going down is the right of way, going up is if it's empty.

We have slides inside the house, and some outside, they can do whatever they want on any of them, as long as they look first.

In a larger group like a daycare, I would make a "slide are for going down only" rule, because the chances of all the kids paying attention are really slim.

I imagine that when my kids go to preschool, they have to learn a whole new set of rules, but I've never had any complaints about our slide rules.

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Nope, not me. It peeves me to see kids climbing up the slide at the park and my kids or DCK's can't go down because of it.

I am constantly redirecting and reminding the kids (even kids that I am not responsible for) "Up the stairs and down the slide"

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I feel ALMOST the same way. My DCK's will actually say, "Ms. ___, he/she is going UP the slide!" and I will say, "Oh, that doesn't sound like it's a good choice..." and they will say, "No! That is not a good choice!" The parent always hears us. I prefer NOT to socialize with strange adults I don't know, and as soon as I utter one word to them they think we are friends. I have a job to do. I am not your friend, stranger. We actually try to avoid parks with anyone at them and will avoid one if we notice people there before us. We go to the parks once in the morning and once in the afternoon for recess.

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Up ladders, down slides. I don't care what others are doing, but if they have a kid climbing up and I have one waiting to go down, I'll usually tell mine good job for waiting patiently to go DOWN the slide. The parent usually then says jr, get off and go up the stairs. There was a time last summer when I had a couple boys that wouldn't wait and would just plow over whoever was coming up. No matter how many times you told them they had to wait and not plow people over. I always got the, "well, it's my turn and my slide and I can run over whoever I want." I hear they aren't doing to hot in Kindergarten this year.

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I let my kids go up the little slides at my house, as I only have a small group and they are the small slides, but really my DCKs aren't that interested in it.

I hear ya! Two weeks ago I got chastised by a mom at the park because DCG was started coughing and I apparently "brought a sick child to a public area and let her expose a bunch of innocent children to a virus!" Yeah, Asthma is totally contagious. I said nothing but handed DCG her inhaler and some water after this lady finished wagging her finger at me. Her response was "oh, well I'm just protective." and walked off

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I NEVER let my own kids or dck's go up the slide. It isn't intended to be used that way.

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Yes. I let them go up the slide. If they were there first they can continue going up the slide for as long as they wish.

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Ok, I will be the weirdo. It doesn't bother me in the slightest. I do teach the kids to be respectful of taking turns, so if it is becoming annoying, I will talk to them about being fair, but I have kids running up the slide (taking turns) and going down the rock wall or across the monkey bars, as often as they are doing the opposite round.

Oh, and I agree on the avoiding parks. Nodding "hi" does not make me your lifelong friend. Please let me do my job!

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I get the taking-turn-issue here, but really, what is the liability issue? I'm asking because I don't know. I've always let children go up the slide.

Someone posted that's not want it's intended for. Books were intended to be read. But we use them to make fences for the animals, to pile up to see how high they go, to make a train track. Using things as something else is a great skill to me. Am I missing something?

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If it is only my kids and they are not interfering with the other kids trying to slide down, then yes I allow them to do it.

IF there are other kids there, then of course, I am not going to allow my kids to climb up the slides and get hit in the face with another child coming down.

I try not to parent other people's kids but if it is endangering the welfare or safety of mine, I will POLITELY speak to the child.

I enjoy going to the park and I also enjoy some idle chit chat with another adult while watching the kids play and interact.

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I was at the park once and there was a little boy there that was climbing up the slide and slipped and hit his face. He got a really bad bloody nose and cut his lip and his mom had to take him to the hospital. I saw the little boy again at the park with stitches in his lip ... climbing up the slide .

He was with his mom but had he been one of my DCK's I would have had to call licensing and make a report etc. If the DCP's didn't have insurance then I could be held liable to pay the medical expenses and possibly be questioned by licensing for "lack of adequate supervision" or something like that. It's just not a position that I would like to put myself in with my business. Just my preference ... use toys and equipment like it was made to be used.

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Of course, that could happen going DOWN the slide as well.

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I've been to parks where my kids have to wait because some child is climbing up the slide, heck I've seen kids climb up the slide as my kids are going down. Its also, the fact that as they climb up they have usually muddy or poopy shoes on.

it really comes down to saftey, slides are not for climbing, if they were then they would have steps and groves in them for your feet.

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It has!! The kid had a wet swimsuit on and just flew off the end, landing on his face! Of course, I also let them slide down with the hose running on it...lol
ETA...no hospital was involved, just a scraped chin and bruised nose.

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If its my own children i dont mind, but when daycare children are here , slide is only for down. If its a shared playground its none of the providers business, she just needs to worry about keepng her own kids in check, thats crazy.

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Oh absolutely. No doubt about it. But at least I wouldn't be accused of allowing a DCK to use playground equipment improperly.

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It's a reg here! No using the play equipment in any other way than it was intended.

Licensors tell us at many meetings, that if they see a child go up a slide during an inspection and we don't stop it straight away...we will be cited.

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I allow it, at home or alone at a park, but I stress to my kids about the etiquette of the things: "This is something that's okay at home or when no one else is around, but at a park with lots of other kids, or if someone is waiting to go down the slide, then you need to not go up it."

Works well. My DD totally gets it and I have had no problems at all.

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There are physical and cognitive benefits to climbing up slides. It uses different muscles, different climbing skills, etc.

In my backyard the children can go up or down the slides as the choose. They tend to work out between them who goes first and how. When we are in public, the kids go up the ladders and down the slides only.

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I am kind of glad to hear that the day care teacher enforced that rule. I can't tell you how many injuries I have seen from children using playground equipment inappropriately. As others have said, it is a huge liability. If someone gets injured and asks how it happened, how do you explain that? I always explain slides are a down, not an up and stairs are an up, not a down. It reduces the likelihood of injury and child collisions. Many teeth have been lost and bones broken from slide incidents. All I can say is go up the slide at your own risk!

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I let them go up the slide as long as noone is waiting at the top to go down. As long as they are taking turns I'm ok with it. I normally hang out by the slide at our park anyway because it's really fast and the littles tend to fly off the end if I'm not there to slow them down a little.

On a side note....I TEACH babies/toddlers to go down slides on their bellies with their feet pointed towards the ground. It's much easier for them to get "set" at the top in that position and they land on their feet instead of flying off and landing on their bums. I've had many a mother gasp when they've seen one of my babies crawl all the way to the top, turn around and slide right down all on their own. But I've never had an injury and I have very steady, brave and strong babies who love outside.

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This is me at the mall play-area, haha. I go there with my son on the morning after dropping DD off at preschool, before the mall even opens so there's maybe a total of 3 kids there. My son is 2, and he is very testy. He knows not to go up the slide, but the second he sees another kid do it, of course he'll try - while looking over at me to make sure I'm watching So I go over there, and tell him the right way, and then I'll ask the other kids ... one litle girl that is usualy there is a year and a half older than him ... "since he's younger than you, can you be a good teacher and show him the correct way to go up the slide?" And that usually works, until the next kid enters the play area and tries to do it as well.

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This is a very big pet peeve of mine. It's downright rude to allow your child to go up a slide. I'm not sure how they learn if they are allowed at certain times and not at other times. It's about respect and manners. I cannot stand at a slide to insure your child is doing the right thing, when one of mine are going down the slide. I hope your child isn't making a bad choice when one of mine are sliding down the slide. Your child will end up hurt. (I'm talking about the big slides you can't see the bottom to until your down)

I don't think it's the right thing to do, no matter what size the slide is.

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Not at the park, but depeding on the group, I let them do it at home.

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Why do you think children can't learn two (or more) sets of behaviors? It doesn't take much...you just explain it to them, and enforce it at appropriate times. Children are a lot smarter and more adaptable than most people give them credit for.

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I let my son go up the slide at parks. My son knows that if another child is at the top of the slide wanting to down, my son must turn around and slide down the slide. If the park is really busy we only allow him to go down the slide. I think going up the slide is another good skill to have. It takes a lot of work to go up the slide. That's just my take on it.

I'm undecided if I would let a dck go up or not. I guess this has made me think I wouldn't because of the liability of incorrect use.

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I agree I always remember my aunt telling me when I was younger that that playgrounds are for gross motor development and risk management lessons, as well as social manners.

I think children are very much capable of learning how rules apply in certain situations. My DCKs know that when we are walking to the park everyone must have a hand on the stroller, yet when we reach the park they know they are allowed to play/run in the grass as we walk the rest of the way to the park. There are many rules that apply in certain situations only

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You can also do this APPROPIATELY on equipment designed for this.

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What about consistency? What happened to that?

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I am just glad my city park does not allow commercial use of it's equipment

The police would have moved the large group along unless they had a special use permit.

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I think as long as you have rules in place even if they are certain situation rules you can still be consistent. My DS for example knows he can do certain things one way when we are home alone and another way when DCK's are here. Even though he has 2 sets of rules we keep it consistent.

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Consistency in this case would be to be consistent in whatever rules you are implementing. For example, consistently remind them that while at the park with children not from our daycare we go up the ladder and down the slide. Be consistent in reminding them why we have this rule (other children are not used to playing the way we do and someone may get hurt). Consistency does not mean the same rules are in place for every situation we are in.

In our own space vs. Public spaces... the rules may change slightly, but we must follow them.

Anywho, I heard many years ago, and I cannot remember the source so forgive me for that, that it is beneficial for children to go up the slide. Like a PP said, it works different muscles and such. I can't remember all of the reasons.

For what it's worth, I do not allow ds to go up the slide while at the park with other children, but at home, it's fine.

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This seems like a hot button for you. The kids in my care learn to not go up slides in public because I enforce the rule when we're outside of my yard. It only takes a couple times of reminding them and they get it and if they don't, getting knock over by the kid sliding down will teach them.

I used to insist that equipment was only used how the majority of the public thinks it should be used but I found myself constantly telling them no, redirecting them and micromanaging them. None of us was enjoying our time outside. I decided to just let the kids be, while out in my yard, and now we can spend hours in my yard and enjoy the time out there. I'm amazed at how creative the kids can be in they're play if they're left along to just...play.

It's my experience that children accomplish what they are physically capable of. I do not help children on play equipment because, in my opinion, if they can't manage the equipment on their own, they aren't physically capable or ready to use it. Not being physically capable helps to keep them safe from injury because they are unable to do what is unsafe for them. I also don't move children out of the way from the bottom of the slide. They'll learn quickly that if you stand there, you'll get knocked down. Natural consequence at work. 14mos olds and younger are an exception to this, I will move them out of the way but by 15mos I generally don't.

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Have I ever told you how much I like you?

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me too!!

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Me three.

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My boundaries are consistent. Every time we walk to the park as in my example the SAME rules apply: hold stroller and walk carefully on the way to park, run and play are ok in the grass once we turn into the park.

Ditto!

me too (or 4 I mean )

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at my house, i do because it is like a 3 ft slide and havent had tiny tinies for a while, but I make them stop if there is. in public, I go into a different mode and dont let them "its not civilized!" I can see why the daycare teacher would not want them to, she has people to answer to if the kids get hurt

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Well, I read that wrong. I guess you meant the slide down part but I "thought" and voted yes thinking the steps. Duh. So change my vote to absolutely NO climbing up the down part. Someone inevitably will get hurt.

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