Pre school Mean girls

Has anyone ever experienced little kids non-school age at playgroups that are little “mean girls”? Was at a play group this week and a group of three girls no older than 3/4 were going round purposely upsetting other kids, my lg (2.5) was playing in the big Wendyhouse and they went storming into it and started pulling at her and shouting at her that she had to leave because it was only theirs and she wasn’t allowed in so naturally I went and sat inside it next to her, asked them if they were being kind and doing good sharing and made sure that my lg knew that she didn’t have to move because she was getting lip wobbly. when they got bored they moved onto a little girl that was riding a little car and they kept kicking the doors as she was moving it and she was going “Please stop” and they just kept doing it more so I just went and stood in front of them and said “we don’t kick cars girls” but their parents were just sat chatting not getting involved and I didn’t go over. There had been a couple kids before that they’d decided to pick on too

What do you do in those situations? I don’t want to parent other peoples kids and overstep a boundary… Is it a developmental thing that toddlers suddenly group up and become mean? because I’d be so upset if my lo was doing that to other children
Obviously don’t want to wrap my daughter up in cotton wool either as I know school can have some hard moments and I won’t always be there to protect her. But what is the right thing to do?

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I would of just said loudly enough for parents to hear “oh no thank you” or me being me, I’d go over to the table of parents and ask them if there girls were the ones in the Wendy house?

I’ve done it before and just walked straight over and said “is that your child in the blue top? They are hurting my daughter”


No it’s not a development thing! Being a little grabby or hitting, definitely a normal toddler thing but being nasty is absolutely not. It’s just poor parental supervision!

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I think the instinct to do it is developmentally normal but that doesn’t mean it should be allowed to go on unchecked because then they’re just being shown that it’s acceptable behaviour because their parents aren’t intervening to teach them it’s wrong. I’d be asking the parents if they’re aware what their children are doing and if they said something like “they’re just kids” I would be replying “and that’s why they need closer supervision”

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Girl you have more patience and decorum than I do, the parents would have had SUCH a piece of my mind. Honest to god, normalise calling out shit parenting. If they’re not keeping one eye on what their kids are doing then that’s why they’re becoming mean brats.
My little boy is a bruiser by instinct, he can be super pushy and grabby with toys, which means I never have the luxury of sitting around chatting because it would be wrong for other children to bear the brunt of him learning boundaries and how to be kind. If he’s being a meany, I apologise with him to the other child and remove him or redirect immediately so he knows it’s not ok to push or shove etc. If those girls’ mean instincts are going unchecked then they’ll grow into bullies, and it’ll be their parents fault for allowing that

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Pre school Mean girls

Has anyone ever experienced little kids non-school age at playgroups that are little “mean girls”? Was at a play group this week and a group of three girls no older than 3/4 were going round purposely upsetting other kids, my lg (2.5) was playing in the big Wendyhouse and they went storming into it and started pulling at her and shouting at her that she had to leave because it was only theirs and she wasn’t allowed in so naturally I went and sat inside it next to her, asked them if they were being kind and doing good sharing and made sure that my lg knew that she didn’t have to move because she was getting lip wobbly. when they got bored they moved onto a little girl that was riding a little car and they kept kicking the doors as she was moving it and she was going “Please stop” and they just kept doing it more so I just went and stood in front of them and said “we don’t kick cars girls” but their parents were just sat chatting not getting involved and I didn’t go over. There had been a couple kids before that they’d decided to pick on too

What do you do in those situations? I don’t want to parent other peoples kids and overstep a boundary… Is it a developmental thing that toddlers suddenly group up and become mean? because I’d be so upset if my lo was doing that to other children
Obviously don’t want to wrap my daughter up in cotton wool either as I know school can have some hard moments and I won’t always be there to protect her. But what is the right thing to do?

Avatar

1

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