Meanwhile at the zoo...

Angela183

So, we took LO to the zoo today. There was a play area for little kids there. There were some areas that were turf & she could have crawled on, but they were covered with wood chips from another area. So there was one platform with percussion type instruments at that she could play at. She was having so much fun when suddenly an older girl came over.
This older girl just took right over. I didn't say anything when she took a toy that LO was reaching for, but when she tried to take a toy right out of LOs hand, I couldn't hold it in. I put my hand on the toy so she couldn't get it and I said "Don't you take that from her!" My husband handled it by just taking LO to do something else and thought I turned into a crazy lady. He said I can't go around yelling at other people's kids. I didn't yell, I just spoke firmly and I thought it was completely justified. What would you have done?

Angela183

Oh, the other girl was probably about 6 years old.

Oohgurl

Yea, I probably would have said, No no, we have to share, probably not yelled at her. Not that was yelling but think about someone else saying that to your LO. How does that make you feel?

Angela183

SpankingShank said:

It's all tone.
If you had said "now, we don't take that from her" in a gentle voice I wouldn't see a problem.
If someone told my 5 yr old niece what you said and how you said it I probably would have not been too pleased. 6 is still pretty young, and it's not like she was taking your babies toy out of her hand.

She WAS taking it out of my LOs hand. She was completely unsupervised. Oh well, guess I just need to toughen up a little.

mommatotwo2

My almost 6 year old would be devestated if a stranger scolded her but she is a sensitive and sweet little girl and I'd be very surprised if she'd take a toy from another child. She also wouldn't be unsupervised.

Lolalipsy

I would've said, "no darling we don't do that, give it back to the baby".

I've had 7 year olds come up and deliberately scare E and make her cry. Sadly, there's not much I can do other than tell them that's not nice but it still makes my blood boil.

Angela183

I will try my best to do what you all have suggested next time. It was the first time I've ever had to deal with a situation like this and I just reacted.

mommatotwo2

Angela183 said:

I will try my best to do what you all have suggested next time. It was the first time I've ever had to deal with a situation like this and I just reacted.

Don't beat yourself up, it's a completely natural reaction to want to protect and look out for your kid.