Providers - Monitor Your Children

[sharlan]

When you take your children out in public, monitor them. It is not someone else's job to watch out for them.

We were at Knott's Berry Farm today, a small amusement park. I couldn't believe how many groups of kids were running free range with no adult in sight. I got one group of 10 kicked off of two different rides because they were jumping the lines.

Sorry, I am not going to stand in line and teach my 3, 4, & 5 yo manners while your group jumps over the railings and cut people off because you aren't supervising them.

[Michelle]

When you take your children out in public, monitor them. It is not someone else's job to watch out for them.

We were at Knott's Berry Farm today, a small amusement park. I couldn't believe how many groups of kids were running free range with no adult in sight. I got one group of 10 kicked off of two different rides because they were jumping the lines.

Sorry, I am not going to stand in line and teach my 3, 4, & 5 yo manners while your group jumps over the railings and cut people off because you aren't supervising them.

I think I could guess which "organization" this was!!!
ymca?
The same thing happened to us at Soak City!
They kept calling their friends over to get in front of us and I just stepped in the way. The rules of these parks actually say they can get expelled from the park for it too.

[sharlan]

No, it wasn't the YMCA. I have a major problem with our local Y and their supervision, but this wasn't them.

They only had their names on their shirts. There wasn't any other name on their shirts. I originally saw them out front in a group of 25 - 30 kids. I did see a couple of women walking around with the same shirts, but they didn't have any kids with them.

I was very impressed with another group, I didn't get their names and I was sorry because I would have loved to send them a letter. I'm guessing they had about 15 kids with 3 adults. They went to a concession stand and all got into a neat line. One adult had a manilla envelope with white envelopes inside. She went down the line and told each child how much money they had left to spend. As I walked away, I saw the kids order their snack, get it, and move to the side for the others.

[youretooloud]

I spent a few vacations in Oceanside. The YMCA kids would go down the the very spot that said "Danger riptides", and the leaders would lay down on the sand while the kids spent the entire day playing in the riptide. Nobody died... but, still, I question the common sense of those who send nine year olds in the very spot that said "danger".

[Michelle]

We go to the beach a lot and there is a lot of rif raf there.
Every time I go, I see a ymca group with little kids in the bathrooms alone or on the pier alone. The teen or young adults that are suppose to be watching them are usually on their phones or just chatting with each other on the beach.

They get away with it because they supposedly have a good reputation. At least I haven't heard of anything happening. It just scares me to death what can happen to them.

[Meyou]

I take my group to a beach at a nearly lake everyday in the summer to take swimming lessons and we see all kinds there. The YMCA is bad here too for just letting them go. Luckily our lifeguards are amazing and send them home if they start to disrupt others or break the water rules.

Too bad they don't do that for the pregnant smoking mother with her two dirty children that she doesn't watch. I pulled one out from under the water where she slipped last year and took her back to her mom who offered her chips and shrugged at me when I told her she was underwater!!!

[countrymom]

ok, so its not only me who has this pet peeve. We went to canada's wonderland a few weeks ago and I was floored at the lack of supervision. Dh and I had our 4 kids, my odd's 4 friends and another mom joined us with her dd too, we had a blast. But then the last ride of the day, the girls go on this ride and when it was done, the girls come running up and are telling us the story about how a kid threw up. So the kid who threw up comes up with his friends, I can't believe, they looked like they were 8 yrs old and there was absolutely no adult watching them. I felt so bad for this kid.

[Cat Herder]

When you take your children out in public, monitor them. It is not someone else's job to watch out for them.

And the congregation says....AMEN!!!!

[Michelle]

I guess they think ....well these kids all have matching shirts so nothing bad will happen!
We have matching shirts and when we go places my kid say, " excuse me, yes please", etc. We never let them go off alone. I get lots of approving smiles and people asking for my card.

When daycares are getting paid for these kids they need to watch them.
Now if a kid disappeared they would probably have a readily available "rap sheet" of this kid's bad behavior or whatever and blame the family.
I've seen this happen in our public school.

[AfterSchoolMom]

We went to the movies last summer and there was a daycare group there, sitting behind us. It may have been a YMCA group, they only had three kids no older than 14 or 15 "watching" about 30 school age kids. They yelled, ran around the theater, threw their popcorn and popcorn boxes, and disrupted the movie so much that we got irritated and left the theater. The manager ended up reimbursing us for our tickets...I don't know what happened with the group, but I hope they weren't allowed back!

[Kaddidle Care]

Around here, the camps get one theatre to themselves. (Thankfully)

As far as the OP's case - I would complain to the Park. They need to beef up security and you just might get a free pass or two.

I tend to visit theme parks during the week and if I see camp groups, I head in the other direction.

If you see it happen again, do speak with the camp counselors and find out what camp it is. Don't complain to them, say something like "Wow, the kids are having so much fun. What camp is this?" Gotcha! Go from there.

People pay good money to have their kids at camp and if they're not being watched they need to know.

[MG&Lsmom]

Drives me nuts too! Even parents that let their kids loose at busy places.

It saddens me to hear that the Y programs are so bad. I worked for the Y for many years in different roles from daycare to camp director and I never would have stood for that type of behavior from my staff.

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

The main problem with Y programs and the children running around without proper supervision is because they seem to prefer hireing teenagers when it comes to child related activities. They seem to think caring for children is the easiest job and perfect for inexperienced teens looking for jobs. Or at least that has been my experience (I have worked in a YMCA before this, with the childcare). I know a lot of teenagers who are really responsible and mature, but when it comes to caring for children, it should not be left up to young inexperienced teens, who just aren't capable of complete common sense at all times. Most teens (not all, I'm sure, but the majority) are still in the "me" stage, where they believe their convenience should come first. So if they want to work on their tan, they'll work on their tan and let the children run around doing whatever they want. "Don't bother me kid, I'm trying to get some sun, here." Or "I'm on the phone with my boyfriend, go play." And really, children love teenagers as a role model type thing, but when it comes to discipline they really don't listen as well to them as they will to an adult, maybe because teens focus so much more on being popular with the children, and being well liked, that they just can't discipline them and be that "mean guy" person.
Sorry, I'm sure that was off topic, just thought I'd share my opinion

[sharlan]

Your opinion was appreciated. I have a very responsible 17 yo borrowed granddaughter. She's been part of my daycare since she was 3 days old. She knows the routines, how to do things. BUT, there is no way I would drop her off with 5 - 6 kids and expect her to handle them on her own.

I love to see providers take their kids on outings. Kids don't learn to behave in public if they're not exposed to it.