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I would have spoken to the mother, as well. What a bitch. She totally should have stepped in, her daughter was bullying your kid. I'm sorry.

He disagreed with your actions?? What did he think you should've done differently?? I would've done the same thing!

Ugh! Wow! I think I would have done the same. Curious, how did your husband think you should have reacted?

I would have handled the same as you. "That's how kids learn"- maybe if it was like, fighting over who go to use the swing first. I will step in but I can appreciate the argument of letting them settle it themselves. But pushing a kid half her age off a ladder? No way.

@yoursilverlining: I think plenty of kids act out their frustration with pushing like that, without the parents necessarily modeling that behavior. But I think most parents would put an end to it. If my kid was repeatedly pushing or bullying we would leave, end of story. She has, in fact, been kind of mean to a younger kid (jumping in front of her to grab the swing first, blocking her path on the bridge) and after two warnings we left with her kicking and screaming.

I probably would have left without confronting the other parent honestly. I hate confrontation!

I would have done the same thing that you did--I don't think that there's anything more you can do. I've scolded kids on the playground before for being careless or too pushy with the younger kids, but usually it's because their caregiver is nowhere to be found. The "that's how kids learn" thing is complete bs with this age group--I can see maybe taking a step back once the kids are in elementary school or older, but my girl is 2.5 and I am her advocate until she's older, and her role model to show her how to be an advocate for herself as well

I would have come unglued! You kept your composure much better then I. I am so sorry this happened to you and your LO. I am pretty hands off with playground things unless a child could get major hurt. So I would have gently reminded about being nice and careful but yeah pushing your LO off a 4 foot ledge. Nope better believe there would have been confrontation.

4 feet is a big fall for a 22 month old. I can't even comprehend her response. It takes a lot for me to confront another parent at the park - I've only done it once - but I would have lost my sh** at her response.

Honestly, I would have left because I hate confrontation. Buuuuut, I'm pregnant and hormonal, so I may have worked myself up into doing the same thing as you! Clearly that mom was out of line and disengaged.

After her comments about how kids learn, I probably would have told her that her child was endangering other children on the playground and was going to get someone hurt. Depending on her attitude, I may have gone mama bear and asked how/what her child would learn if someone twice her age pushed her off one of the tallest platforms. If she wasn't going to restrain her child, she needed to leave and if she didn't leave, I'd do just as @Coffee-lover and hover over my child playing while watching the other kid like a hawk.

I'd have (calmly, I hope) told the mom that since she can't be bothered dealing with her child's behavior, I will. And proceed to do just that. Sure, kids push sometimes, but one time there was a very similar situation at my playground. So when this kid pushed over my two year old so hard he hit his head, and ran away laughing, I chased him down and told him I'm watching him and I better not catch him again. If the parents didn't want anyone telling off their little precious, they should have made sure little precious was not beating up toddlers.

I have a lot of bad experiences with this. One of my family members is a total bully. She believes that a certain amount of bullying is perfectly fine and I've never been able to get her to acknowledge when things go too far. For her there basically is no line because "they're just kids". It drives me absolutely insane. From her perspective she believes that what's wrong in these situations is that the younger child needs to learn to "have some self esteem" and "stand up for themselves" which to her means shoving back.

To me it's clear she's a bully as an adult and sees her bullying as "standing up for herself" and not being a pushover. So she's teaching her kids to be the same. It's absolutely infuriating and I try to interact with her as little as possible.

I've never been in that situation with a stranger, and I would simply have left the park and never gone back when that mother and daughter are present. Mostly because I'm so sensitive about this stuff from comstantly being made to look like an overly sensitive over reactive pushover because I don't think a 4 year old hitting a 1 year old is acceptable behavior. Ugh. My blood boils just thinking about this!