“Hey kid, knock it off”
There is obviously some cultural divide here, “two countries separated by a common language” etc. I’m not going to enter into that part of the discussion.
Me: “OK”
I don’t have to argue with people who disagree with me.
It’s a bit “meta” but also I wouldn’t want to go giving kids the idea that we must always “follow law” or that there is only one “right” way of doing things.
The big kid was inconsiderate - and needed to be called out.
But who ever said you can only go down slides? Whey is there only one “right way” of doing things.
This is a bit of an issue here because it is said that one of the problems our national workforce has is that they are too constrained by “the rules” and that they can “only do as told” and must follow “law by law” -
Is being told that you can only go down slides going to turn someone into an unimaginative rule follower? nah, not for one instance certainly not -
BUT…
This attitude is fine, AT YOUR HOUSE! Let your kids pick and choose which rules they decide are reasonable AT HOME! But do not bring them to a municipal play structure if the rules don’t apply to them. And don’t bring them to a movie theatre, or Chuck E. Cheese’s, either.
Modern plastic and wooden playscapes are safer than old metal ones, when used correctly. They are also less safe, when used incorrectly, because they are HIGHER and easier to get on top of. There are fewer chipped teeth and black eyes, nowadays, but more broken arms and ankles, even with all the mulch.
The reason there is only one right way to use a public slide is because there is only one safe way to use a slide, when others are present.
Is it a rule? It was a rule on my school playground 35 years ago enforced by the adult playground monitors - and one that I passed along to my kids - but I doubt my city has a law about the direction of playground slides. One isn’t posted. I suspect its more of a convention in a lot of situations (though I’d bet Chuck E Cheese has it as a posted rule) - like not wearing hats inside, or always check your blind spot when switching lanes.
I checked the playground rules board (which is posted at every playground in the city) as I was leaving, and yes, it did stay that slides are only for going down.
I ***hate ***slides. They always bring up such conflicting emotions and deep values I hold that contradict one another. Facing that cognitive dissonance is so very uncomfortable.
Yeah, going down only is safer.
Stay safe and you never learn anything new. Sometimes injuring yourself is worth it.
Don’t stay safe and you risk injuring others. Injuring others is never worth it.
Going up slides is such good exercise, builds different muscle groups, balance and confidence.
Injuring others is never worth it.
Going up slides teaches creativity and independent use of space and thinking outside the (literal) box.
Injuring others is never worth it.
Fuck the rules.
Some rules are made for a good reason. Injuring others is never worth it.
Stand up to Da Man.
Injuring others is never worth it.
Always comes back to that. Especially when a 3 year old is in a blind spot.
And then there’s this:
[QUOTE=Dangerosa]
generally kids climbing up the slide when someone else is trying to go down aren’t doing it because they want to climb up the slide - the slide wasn’t at all interesting when it was unoccupied - its a power play.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, climbing up slides has its advantages. But none of these advantages is WHY most of these little douchenozzles do it. They do it because they’re assholes with a sense of entitlement and a drive to defend their turf. And, while I get that the guy wasn’t the kid’s dad, he articulated that sense of entitlement quite well. “No one” was using the slide. Well, except that one kid. That one kid is no one, because no one else matters.
My armchair internet warrior would have torn him a new one in a Mama Bear rage. My real life persona avoids playground slides, instead.
This is becoming a bit of a sidetrack -
When my kids are playing outside, I try not to set “rules” - other than “be polite” and “play nicely with the other kids”.
Climbing up when others are waiting to go down is breaking the “be polite” rule, but other than that - have at it.
Kids play, they run, they jump they will do whatever and go wherever their imagination takes them - so long as it’s not actively dangerous (as in break an arm dangerous) I am not going to limit it.
As already mentioned - stopping someone else from going down while you climb up is rude, but doesn’t really deserve a harsh scolding as the first reaction - a gently chiding would probably have been more appropriate. There isn’t a playground police after all
I agree with this. The part I struggle with is…is a big kid going up while a 3 year old comes down likely to end up in a broken arm? I think it might be. I’m not certain - if I was certain, the answer would be easier.
One reason not to crawl up a slide is that you’ll likely get a shoe in the face. Maybe it would’ve been better to let the kid learn that lesson?
Climbing up while a kid is trying to go down is wrong (see bengangmo’s “politeness rule”). The OP was justified in correcting the kid, although I think it could have been done better.
But we can still argue that climbing up when the slide is unused is OK. Kids need to explore. If you teach your kids there is only one correct way to play with a toy, you’re going to raise some boring, uncreative kids.
The kid going up was 7-9 years old. The kid coming down was 3. I’m pretty sure I know who has a higher chance of injury.
I’m pretty surprised anyone thinks it’s okay to climb up slides when there are people trying to come down. It effectively prevents anyone from using the slide to come down.
Are you sure there are no guidelines for age ranges to use the playground? I would expect age disparity to be a big cause of injury and a 30ft slide doesn’t seem aimed at 3 year olds.
I suspect if you surveyed kids, they would give a shrug to the question, “Is going up the slide when someone is trying to come down rude?” Even for the ones coming down, at a certain (matched) age range, the kids coming up are a temporary annoyance at worst, and targets for mid slide wrastling matches at best. 
No one is arguing that. Some of us are arguing against the absolute edict that “slides are only for going down” even when someone isn’t trying to go down.
No doubt. Kids are self-centered little bastards (said lovingly). It’s our job to teach them empathy and politeness and that their actions impact more than just themselves. It’s also our job to be understanding that these are lessons that sink in over many years and are often forgotten at a young age in the excitement of the moment. And sometimes, we have to step aside and let them learn it themselves with a foot in the face.*
** Not applicable in the OP’s case when you have a big age gap.*
You lost any high ground when you snapped at a child and insulted another parent. I have a kid younger than yours who likes to go down the big slide and I’d never yell at aother kid like that unless it was an emergency. I would have told my kid to wait a second and then told the other kid to move because someone is coming down.
This is the problem of small families, no big brothers or sisters. ( am the oldest boy, after I learned I was charged with protecting the younger ones. )
Premeditated ‘bully actions’ deserve pain on the second instance. At any age.
My little kid, (3?), & I would be at the bottom of the slide as they started up to use that type slide each run they made. Especially if I was seeing older kids being ‘boy’s’ with no supervision.
No need to say a word to the ‘bully’, just point at him shaking your head or hold your hand in front of the bottom of the slide.
YMMV
True, but what I meant was that everyone is having fun, even when there is bidirectional use of the slide. The kids going up are having fun. The kids going down are having fun. The grown ups are the only ones not having fun, because we’re the ones capable of anticipating the disaster in the making. So filing this under the lesson of “polite” behavior doesn’t make sense from a kid’s perspective. Treat others as you would be treated is the Golden Rule of polite behavior, yes? Well, for kids, that means using the slide to go up and down at the same time.
This doesn’t go under Polite. This has to go under the much harder to enforce Safety and Grownups Know Better and Dad’s a Buzzkill, unfortunately. 
So the “be polite” rule is no “rule” at all. Gotcha.
If you are using your body as a physical barrier, what do you do when the kid at the bottom tries to circumvent your restriction? I think if you take that step unless you are willing to physically restrain the other kid then you aren’t able to follow through.
Um, no, no one has argued that slides are always down-only. Is there any one of us who hasn’t climbed up a slide? The argument is that THAT slide had a down-only rule posted and the rules should be followed when the playground’s busy. The posted rule gave the OP the authority to recite the rule to the kid, which he did.
So much could depend upon your tone of voice and manner, which is impossible to convey here. However, based on how you described your own statements, I think starting with “Hey Kid, Knock it off!” was way too harsh.
I know what you mean, I think, about being able to tell, from observing the kid’s previous behavior, that he was being a bit of a brat about going up the slide, as opposed to a kid who was genuinely interested in exploring the mechanics of how to go up a slide. However, with kids in general and other people’s kids specifically, I always try to pretend I didn’t have that adults-eye-view of their crummy behavior to at least give them a chance to participate in a civil interaction.
I would have started with “whoa there, someone is coming down the slide, you need to wait.” I don’t think you need it frame it as a request – you ARE the adult, but you can still be civil.
The other adult who wasn’t the kid’s parent sounds weird in general. I personally wouldn’t even engage in a conversation like that. If someone started with “Hey, you don’t have to talk to kids that way!” my response would be make a vague “hmmm?” noise that could mean anything, because there is just no hope for a decent exchange.
I am also the parent of a three year old.