If your child is on the playground do you keep an eye on them?

Nothing annoys me more than a parent who takes their kid to the park and then uses it as their social hour. I understand needing a break, but there are all sorts of dangers nowadays that we need to be aware of. I love to take my kids to the park. We have a really awesome one right behind our house, and we use it as our play time together. I'm not trying to sound like a whack job here, but there was a Law & Order about a kid that was abducted from the park, every parent should have to watch it.

This is a little different then the exact topic. Before I started home schooling my kids went to a charter school near by. A friend of mine sent her kid there too. One day she came by the school to pick her daughter up. It was recess and she was horrified by what occurred. She was able to drive up, go to the play ground, get her daughter and put her in the car. A few of her daughters friends wanted to go too and she actually had to tell them to go back to the playground. She drove around the block then came back. She did this for a reason. When she got back from the around the block trip she went straight to the office. She was so mad that she was able to take her daughter, not only into her car but off school grounds and no one noticed. What would have happened if it wasn't me? she said. All they could do was apologize and make excuses. They told her that there are so many kids they can't keep an eye on every one of them. They also said that SHE needed to teach her daughter that is was not ok to leave without permission. OMG! Can you believe that? Needless to say we BOTH took our children out of that school. Sorry this was not exactly what you were talking about but I felt it was still close enough to topic. grin.. As for the actual question. I never take my eyes off my kids when we go anywhere that is public. There are to many things that can happen. The only precious thing in most parents lives should be their kids. You are supposed to protect them. If you don't want the job, then don't spread'em. :) Just my 2 cents!

I'd always watch my kid on the playground, to make sure she didnt disappear, get piked on by anyone bigger or older, to make sure she just plain old didnt get hurt.i was especially watchful after kids were getting hung by their hoodies sliding incorrectly off of slippery slides.I mutilated all of her hoodies, but kept an eye on otgher kids and her friends,too.

I have also seen this. In fact, I feel like the odd one when I am following my daughter around and playing with her! Granted, my daughter is very young (18 months) and cannot always do the things she wants by herself on a playground. But I still see kids running crazy and their parents are unconcerned. Even when we're on a playdate, I'm still with her. In fact, I hardly talk to the other mom because we're both so busy following our children. It also bothers me to watch children get hurt or hurt others and no one seems to know what's going on.

I have a 6 year old son. ANd i guess some would consider me the overprotective mom. I wouldn;t call it overprotective jus because i want to know where i son is at, at all times, I do not take my eyes off of him. Hes too young to be unsupervised. And anything can happen in a split second. Like as you said someone getting hurt. And also theres just too many sickos out there now to not keep an eye on your young child. I hate even having to drop my son off at school for all them hours not knowing what is going on. But the playground thats one thing I never do. I never go to the playground with any of my good friends this way there is no way to even get distracted.

I always watch my children, have you seen the news lately? It is a scary thing. When I was growing up I went off to play with my friends all the time but in todays society I would never dream of not watching my children at any public place. It is not safe no matter where you are from. Some people have the attitude that these things that they read and hear about could never happen to them or their children but it can happen to anyone! It really frustrates me when my kids are playing at a public place and a kid is really misbehaving and their mothers do not say anything. If I see my kids misbehaving then they have to leave the play place, those are the rules. I also apologize to the childs parents(if I can find them). I have scolded someone else's child in a public play place before because they were hitting and their parent did not care, I would rather offend someone than let an unsupervised child bully mine.

I watch my kids wherever they are. Sometimes something might distract me momentarily, but I try to always know where they are. We live in a very small safe town and I still do that. If we go to the bigger playground in town I will continually move around the playground so that I'm as close to my child as I can be and they are in eye sight. I think some parents probably take for granted that since their kids are on a school playground that they are safe.

I am on top of my kids 24/7 especially when we are at the park, there is just too many scary people in the world not to pay more attention.

Hi, Off course, I would keep a eye as much as possible. May be if in school it may be difficult still near my home surroundings and parks or any other place I would keep an eye on them that too upto a certain age and until I feel my child is far enough to handle things well by himself.

Well, I believe as we are parents should watch our own children when they are on the play ground. It is dangerous to let them go off like that... I always watch my kids play and it doesn't matter where they go... my eyes will roll and follow them all the time, plus I told them not to play with anyone that is mean... just walk away from them and play on your own. Trust me, once her child gets lost then she will know how it feels and how it worths, so if you talk now there is nothing she can do... she still not paying attention. And about the kid that talking back to you is not a nice kid... he grows up in a bad family attitude so let it's be, as long as he keeps doing that then one day someone will kick his butt back for sure. As we are parents, we should tell our children to be polite with anyone and never touch someone that you dont know. I hope your son will be ok and tell him not to be around with anyone that he doesn't know or mean to him. Be safe

I always do watch my son when we are in a playground and wish that everyone does for their safety and my sons but they do. few months ago we went to this huge playground and had a bbq there and the kids played it was my family nd my sister and her family. one of the grown ups was with them all the time if we needed a drink or something the older nephew who is 13 kept a close eye for a minute or two. I was playing with my son and this 5-6 year old would come and say "get off I want to play" (as I said it was a huge playground so pleanty of things around), this happened few times. so after some time I called out to my husband to come and look after the kids and started walking towards the grown ups and him towards the kids when he said look they are fighting. I ran back and puled my son away and told him not to do it and all that, but there was no sign of the other mother. So we continued playing and I was helping my nephew and I heard the boy say to my son (my son was 3) hey d!@$ head get lost this is my toy. I turned around and said "excuse me what did you just say" and this woman goes who do you think you are talking to that is my son and I said well this is my son and tell your boy to watch what he is saying. she came over to fight but my nephew ran and told my family so they all came runing over and she was so rude but steped away. I dont like violence but she would have deserved it because that child had to learn it from someone to be so rude and I saw who he took it from.

It's hard for me to make complete judgement without seeing the whole situation. I used to drive a school bus in the Chicagoland area. I now have a daughter of my own and when we go to the park i am very aware of where she is at all times. As a person who used to be responsible for other peoples childern iI have a habit of watching everything going on. The park near my house there are some big kids that hang out there and I have had to basically run them off the little kid swings several times. The other parents come up and say thank you . I think they are worried but are afraid to say anything. I worry what is the wold comming to when 10 adults are afraid of 4 or 5 12 year olds.

I am not a mother,but just a daughter.As a mother,when you see your baby is on the ground,its certainly that you will not want to just keep an eye on him.But,in a way,do not give him a hand is better to him than to help him.