I took my son to the park earlier this week, and when we got there, there happened to be a bunch of teenage boys jumping around on the playground sets. Of course, none of the little kids who were playing came anywhere close to them. The parents who were there, either sitting on the benches or playing with their kids, acted as though those teens didn't exist.
I myself try to avoid confrontations as much as possible, so I looked around for patrol cars who routinely drive by the area sometimes. I didn't see any. For some reason, I thought that there were emergency callboxes at the playsets; there are a couple of pieces there that look like they have speakers on them but after examining them, they didn't turn out to be callboxes. Maybe they actually were speakers for emergency announcements but I couldn't actually get in touch with somebody that way.
At that point, I was only a few feet away from the teens, and I found myself asking them if they realized what they were doing, that it was potentially dangerous for the little kids there. I didn't mean to do it, but somehow I ended up arguing with them. One of them politely replied that they don't mean any harm. I told them that that wasn't the point, and that the playground wasn't built for that purpose. After a few minutes, I became frustrated and lost my cool. I ended up yelling and cursing which finally got them to walk away.
I sat on a picnic table next to the playground with my family. I realized I needed to calm down. The teens congregated at another picnic table away from us. After a few minutes, two of them went to each parent and apologized.
They came up to me last and apologized as well. I said sorry for yelling and cursing. I sat down for a few more minutes before finally taking my son to the playsets to play.
So it turned out fine in the end. What still bothers me, however, is the fact that none of the other parents said something to these teens. It was as if I was the wrong one for confronting them in the first place. And as I was in the middle of my discussion with these teens, no one bothered to stand up, investigate, say something. Everybody was just perfectly content to look away and pretend nothing was happening, when they were jumping around the place and after I've confronted them.
If you're a parent, what would you have done in that situation? I didn't know what kind of people they were, but I knew they weren't supposed to be climbing, yelling and jumping around a playground for little children. I should have gone ahead and looked for a park ranger or called the police or something. I certainly don't think it's fine to just sit there and pretend they didn't exist.
Anyway, once those teens left, those parents' kids were sure quick to return to the playset they vacated.
