Jan 08
A mean and nasty post
If you like your blog reading to be all sweetness and light, you should probably skip this post.
I was at a local playground with The Boy, when I noticed someone who looked out of place among the two-to-10 year old set (and their parents). There was one kid who had to be in his teens.
Of course there are plenty of older people there. But this guy was playing on all the playground stuff with the little kids. And not playing nice.
The Boy came up to me complaining that this big kid bumped him. No big deal — he gets bumped all the time. But he got bumped because this jerk was climbing in this castle thing and blocking the slide — he was obviously too big for it.
He went from there to some of the other equipment where he was playing pretty darned rough. He was jumping on one end of the spring-cushioned see-saw, bouncing the kids on the other side pretty high… until they left.
This wasn’t a case of an older kid being a big more bump and tumble than the little ones. This guy had obviously outgrown the playground a few years ago. (My guess is that he was brought there was siblings and was stuck. Still no excuse for being a jerk.)
If there had been a handful of kids there, it would have been one thing. But the place was packed. And he was clearly getting in the way of the little kids and abusing the equipment — certainly people had to keep away from him.
Let’s take a look.
Here he is, squeezed into the tower. Why "squeezed"? You can’t quite see it, but he’s sitting on a bar that goes across the opening. Little kids can easily get under it, but he had a lot of trouble getting down the slide because he was too big for it.
Here he takes He took one of the bouncy horses that are made for three and four year olds and stands stood on it (he can’t sit), bending it way back and forth. I don’t know if he was with that girl or not — I suspect so. She was trying to get him to stop.
Then he got on one end of the see-saw and started jumping until the other kids on it left.
Finally, why sit on the see-saw when you can jump on it to the point that everyone else leaves because you’re too frakking big?
So if you know this guy, tell him to find a place to play that’s more his size — a bike path, basketball court, hiking trail, whatever. Or sit on the side like the rest of the big people.
[Note: Post edited following polite requests; three photos removed as overkill.]
January 8th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
mention it to the cops. They may have a talk with the budding pervert
January 9th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Kids make mistakes. Adults should speak up and tell them when they’re out of line, especially when they’re not with a parent. I think you’re on thin ice putting this kids picture up on the net. Just my opinion.
January 9th, 2008 at 7:32 am
I agree that kids make mistakes, but this guy wasn’t a hyperactive 10 year old — he was clearly old enough to know better especially with all those kids around.
If he had been where The Boy had been playing I would have spoken up, but I don’t want to be the general playground police.
As for thin ice, if I got a note from the parents saying “That’s our son John and we didn’t realize what he was doing,” I might be inclined to take it down. But he *was* being a jerk!
January 9th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Anon — if by “thin ice” you mean that Andrew could be in legal trouble, that’s not an issue. The pics were taken in a public place,and the kid isn’t identified (except as “a jerk”).
Not sure what I would have done if I’d been there, but I wouldn’t have been happy that such a big roughneck was getting in the way of little kids having fun.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Oh, yeah — I didn’t think of that. Nope, there was no legal question at all; no one there had any expectation of privacy. (And if I knew his name I would have posted that, too!)
January 9th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Let me clarify that. I *could* have posted his name if I had it. I probably would have simple posted his first name. I’m a jerk, but usually not that much of one! :)
January 9th, 2008 at 9:43 am
It looks like he’s just a typical teenager horsing around with his little sister. If you thought it was a problem then you could simply say something to him. Posting stuff like this only attracts lame comments like gnomic’s.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I’m not sure what is worse. A 12-13 (maybe older) playing on a playground meant for younger kids. Or an Adult taking Pictures of someone elses kid and posting it on the internet (a very public site) and ridiculing him.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Oh, I’m much worse. Definitely.
But I wasn’t ridiculing him — I was pointing out his awful behavior. If I was making fun of his haircut or clothes, that would be ridicule. But showing how he was messing things up for other kids? Nah.
January 9th, 2008 at 10:02 am
You should probably take the pictures off. Yeah, the kid was being a nuisance and not letting the other kids enjoy the park. But he’s a teenager and they do this not only at that park but pretty much any park. If it was bothering you that much - you could have said something to him. He probably would have stopped. Having his picture on a blog that shows up on several other blogs (rvablogs, rvamag, etc,etc) is a little too much.
January 9th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Sure, there have always been teens hanging out, but they stay by themselves and don’t get in the way of the little kids the way this guy was. If he hadn’t moved away from where my son was playing I would have said something, but I don’t feel like being the park police.
[scratches chin] I’ll think about taking the pics down. He just really ticked me off, as you can tell.
January 9th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I understand your concern and I hope that you’ll decide to speak up to the teenager should something like this happen again. Posting a child’s picture online as retrobution is just cowardly. This is not a dog that you saw loose in your neighborhood. He’s a young person who probably would have listened if you asked him to give the younger folks more room to play.
January 9th, 2008 at 10:12 am
All right, you’re probably right. Maybe it was a bit much. I’ve edited the post and removed all but one photo.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
How does still leaving one photo make it any better? You can still see the kid.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I consider it the difference between illustration and overkill. It’s not just a pic of his face; it’s showing him doing exactly what I was talking about.
January 9th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Andrew, you completely missed the point. The reason that most people wanted you to take the pictures down is that he is a kid, and it is just plain irresponsible of you to have these (this) picture of him on here. Just admit that you were wrong, that you should have addressed the issue at the time, and take down the picture of the kid.
By the way, are you a lawyer? I feel like I’m sitting in on some courtroom drama–”And this picture is Exhibit A…”
January 9th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Do yourself a favor and delete this whole post. You’re making yourself look stupid. You are supposed to be the adult. You saw a teenager picking on little kids and did nothing about it except post it online.
This was just a bad idea.
January 9th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
What’s irresponsible about putting his picture up? It’s a picture. [shrug]
When I’m wrong I’m happy to admit it. (Well, not happy. But willing to.) I’m not convinced I’m wrong here.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I appreciate that some folks think the post was a bad idea, and it’s certainly a valid point of view. But it’s not a point of view that I agree with.
I realize that when someone disagrees with you it’s easy to call them “stupid” (and other things). I also realize that most people wish the rest of the world saw and did things their way.
In this case I’m sorry I’m not doing it your way. I’m sorry you disagree with my choice. Want to call me “stupid” for disagreeing with you? That’s cool (typical these days, in fact).
But I’m OK with looking stupid. I do it often enough.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
You must have a spouse. Consult her.
January 9th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I agree its probably not the best idea to post the kid’s photo. As an adult, I think you had more of a right to confront the kid on the playground than to post his photo on the web. Maybe not illegal, but definitely unsavory. Really, what are the odds that his parents or whoever else would see the blog and somehow be shamed into taking action? I think pretty slim.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
What? Doesn’t everyone read the blogs at Rvablogs.com
January 9th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
RVABlogs? I hear that website is the bees knees!
January 10th, 2008 at 7:18 am
Doesn’t the picture you left up simply depict him playing with the kid he was there with? It’s kind of a clue when they have the exact same hair and skin color.