Mum slammed for asking little boy to leave playground because it’s ‘girls-only’

For parents there’s nothing better than watching your child have a good time.

You only want the best for them, and you’ll go to any length to make sure they have just that.

Well, hopefully any length within reason.

But one mum has been heavily criticised for attempting to ensure that her daughter can enjoy playing with her friends – and it’s all because of the lengths she went to for it.

The parent in question shared all in a letter to an agony aunt.

Writing to the Washington Post’s advice columnist, Carolyn Hax, the mum revealed that she and her daughter had started meeting up with a group of other mums and their young girls at a local playground.

She said: "I have a daughter and some other moms of daughters and I have started getting together at a local playground at a set time each week.

"Recently a mom of a boy brought her son to the playground at the same time we were there. I asked her (nicely, I thought) if she would mind leaving because we had wanted it to be a girls-only time She refused and seemed angry."

The American woman adds: "This has been such a sweet time for moms and daughters, and having a boy there is naturally going to change things.

"We live in a world where boys get everything and girls are left with the crumbs, and I would think this mom would realize that, but she seems to think her son is entitled to crash this girls-only time."

She finishes the letter by asking: "I know I can’t legally keep her from a public park, but can I appeal to her better nature?"

The columnist is shocked by what she’s read and brands the mother’s behaviour "terrible".

She responds: "Can I appeal to your better nature? Goddess help us all.

"Shooing off the mom and her boy was terrible. And justifying it as a cosmic correction, for which an innocent child bears the weight? And still trying to do this even after you’ve had time to think about it? Wow.

"That kid is a human being – not with privileged little man feelings, either, but with feelings period."

Carolyn added: "If you’re going to have an exclusive gathering, then host it on private property.

"And if you’re going to accuse anyone of being ‘entitled,’ then ask yourself who just asked the world to bend to whom."

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A lot of other people were also appalled by the contents of the letter.

One person commented: "My fifth-grade boy has always gravitated to playing with girls. Please don’t group all boys into a stereotype of being disruptive or playing a different way than girls play. You do kids a disservice by not treating them as the individuals they are."

Another posted: "I have two kids, a boy and a girl, and consider myself an extreme feminist, for whatever that’s worth; I just think that women should be treated like humans, but apparently that’s radical.

"Think of it this way: You are perpetuating the exclusion of one sex over the other in society. Kids are kids. Adults teach them that one sex is different from the other, or only gets to do certain things. You are doing the same, but at the expense of a little boy who wanted to play on a playground."

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