There are tons of 5 year olds with siblings that age range, and an average 5 year old is not at all a danger to a younger child. At our local playground I wouldn’t have the slightest concern with my 4.5 year old playing with a toddler, because he’s not a mean little shit who’s going to hit or kick or push them over. He might have some issues with sharing a toy, but those are pretty easily sorted out without anyone getting hurt.
Don’t you think 18 months old is a little young for ice hockey?
Regards,
Shodan
Either way, that’s damn fine advice.
Push him down aggressively to teach him a lesson
If the mother acknowledges her child has a pattern of violent behavior, it should be pretty simple to get him banned from the gym. I would.
No reason for you to leave. You’re not the one causing the problem.
This is a five year old child you are talking about. Sometimes five year olds have poor impulse control and need adult guidance. You say you ignored him in order to avoid giving in to your own impulse to “punt him across the room,” so you did the right thing. You can bet your argument that the kid was asking for it by pushing your kid is not going to count for much when the police arrive.
Now if you had been able to step back from your initial reaction and act like a grown-up, you could have confronted him directly about his behavior. Since he is five years old and you are an adult, this should be stern and no-nonsense, not belittling, insulting, name-calling, threatening, or disrespectful. March him over to his mom and/or whoever is in charge of the play area and make him describe what happened. If he won’t, describe it yourself, and if no one takes any action of their own accord, suggest a time out or that he be taken home to learn to behave himself next time. Sometimes as a parent, you have to do a little parenting of other kids around you, and sometimes it might be your kid that needs the same.