Woman Who Yelled At Little Girl At The Playground Explains Why It Was '100% Justifiable'
Most parents admit that they would've done the same thing.
ArtFamily / Shutterstock A mother who visited a playground with her young son proudly admitted to yelling at a little girl who interfered with her son’s use of the playground equipment. She claimed that she was defending her son’s safety and argued that her actions were “100% justifiable.”
The mother said that she yelled at a little girl at the playground after she kicked a soccer ball that nearly hit her son in the head.
In a TikTok video that has been viewed over 45,000 times, mom, Sydni, revealed that she recently took her 1-year-old son, Quinn, to a local playground to go on the swing and she had no choice but to yell at a little girl playing nearby.
And by “yell,” she meant that she “raised her voice in that mom tone.”
“Before anybody gets upset, it was 100% justifiable,” Sydni claimed.
Before Quinn woke up from his nap, Sydni decided to take him to the playground. While he slept in the car, she parked and noticed a lot of other children already on the playground.
“This is the park in the neighborhood where all the parents just send their kids to go play after school because they don’t want them in the house,” she said.
While she did not have an issue with the presence of the other children, she knew there would be an issue when she noticed that there were no other adults around.
Once Quinn woke up, Sydni placed him in one of the baby swings. As she did, two children, a boy and a girl who appeared to be around 10 and 12 years old, began using the entire playground as a soccer field.
Photo: Monkey Business Images / Canva Pro
“They [the kids] decide that they are going to kick a ball to each other as hard as they can in an attempt to hit each other in the head right next to the swings,” Sydni said, also noting that the swingset was in the middle of the playground.
Oddly enough, there was an actual soccer field right next door to the playground that the children could’ve used instead. However, instead of telling the children to move elsewhere with the soccer ball, Sydni wanted to wait until they saw for themselves why they had to move. Sure enough, it happened within a couple of minutes.
“Two minutes later, a ball comes flying at Quinn,” she shared. Luckily, the ball hit the chains on the swing rather than the baby’s head, but it missed him by just inches.
According to Sydni, the little girl “immediately knew she [messed] up” and gasped while covering her mouth with her hands.
She immediately took the opportunity to look at the children and say, “Hey, this playground is for everybody and everybody is allowed to use the playground. However, that’s not safe to be doing around little kids, and there’s a field right there. Go play soccer on the field, please.”
Photo: Martin Valigursky / Shutterstock
Despite her firm warning, the children continued to kick the soccer ball around on the playground away from the swing set. Thankfully, they left shortly afterward while Sydni took her son to play in different areas across the playground.
The mom wanted other parents to know that instead of leaving the playground to keep their children safe from others who are playing too rough, they could follow her example.
“It’s a park, and I’m not just gonna leave the park just because some kids are being dumb,” she said. “My kid deserves to play at the park.”
Some people commended Syd for the way she stood up for her son. “I think you’re in the right. Those kids are more than old enough to know better,” one TikTok user commented.
“This same thing happened to me. I totally agree with you,” another user shared.
Many, however, believed that Sydni should not have gotten stern with the children since they also had a right to be on the playground.
“Kids can’t be anywhere these days I guess not even the park because of moms like you. This playground is for everybody and you could’ve moved away from the kids since they were there first,” one user commented.
“I would have left. Clearly, it was after school. If your kid is 1 you could go when it's not super busy,” another user suggested.
Photo: ChristinLola / Canva Pro
Although the children may not have realized they were doing anything wrong and certainly did not kick the ball at Quinn intentionally, Sydni had the right to correct their behavior.
If the parents were present and did not notice their children kicking a ball so close to others, Sydni could have approached them instead so that they could be the ones to discipline them. And if the roles were reversed, Sydni said that she would appreciate another parent correcting her child.
“If my kid is ever hurting himself or others and I don't see, other moms have the right to correct the behavior AND raise their voice if it becomes dangerous,” she wrote in the comments section of her video. “But if I see I'll definitely correct it.”
Sometimes, adults need to raise their voices or get stern with children to help them differentiate right from wrong behavior.
In situations like Sydni’s where a child's safety is at risk or they are engaging in dangerous behavior, raising your voice can be a way to quickly intervene and prevent harm. They are not being cruel or unfair, they are being protective, and rightfully so.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.