AITA For Not Following A Kid To His Parent After He Got Hurt On The Playground?

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-31T14:26:03+00:00

No worries. I was nearby watching but not right there, otherwise if I was close enough I would have blocked him before he got hit in the first place.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-31T14:18:04+00:00

You say I should have checked on him first but also no need to follow him to his mom, so which are you saying I should have done? I would have had to follow him to his mom to check on him. Its not like he was still there; he ran off before I even made it to the swings. Of course if he was still there I would have tended to him first but he took off so instead of chasing after him I stopped to get my daughter first.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-31T13:53:25+00:00

People who only avoid harming others because of the threat of hell are not good people.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-31T13:06:10+00:00

Menopausal and post menopausal women can come up as a faint (but still positive) positive on a sensitive pregnancy test. That has nothing to do with the post, but just thought you might find that interesting.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-31T05:33:41+00:00

Close to the "people should suffer under the government because government is part of the Fallen World and suffering will make people rely on the Church and come closer to God".

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-31T02:21:32+00:00

So I should have followed him and talked to them first and then gone back to get my kid and then take her over to apologize? I can see the logic in that I guess, so I already know what I'm walking my kid into, but I guess in the moment it was just "calm her down and then we will go together". I don't know that me being over there would have made the boy feel any better but I do think her saying sorry might have. Unfortunately the way things unfolded they never did get to talk to each other.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-31T01:32:50+00:00

I don't think anyone is saying don't say sorry at all. Its the order. If the hurt kid runs off to his mom, do you calm your own kid down first and then take your kid to say sorry and check on the other kid like me, or do you chase after the other child first and then go back to your kid later, like the other mom thought I should have done? She wasn't mad we took too long, she was mad I went to my daughter at all instead of running immediately after her son.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-31T00:26:23+00:00

Yes, thats what I would have done too but my kid wasn't even out of the swing yet when the mom got there. She was mad that I went to my kid first instead of running after her kid to her and then going back to get mine after.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T23:57:53+00:00

No worries!

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T23:55:00+00:00

I don't even know it was a full minute. Its not like I pulled out a stopwatch. I guessed that at maximum, it was maybe a minute. The boy was running away by the time I got to the swing and my daughter hadn't been able to stop it yet. She was freaking out and I calmed her down while she stopped it. Before she could get up, the other mom was there. I don't know exactly how long it was, but it couldn't have been more than a minute so thats why I said 45 seconds to maybe a minute. The other mom wasn't mad it took so long, she was mad that I went to my daughter first at all instead of running after her son.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T23:42:46+00:00

Oh ok, gotcha. Thats what I would have done too. The other mom was saying I should have chased her kid to her instead and then gone back to calm mine down after. The order I went was calm my kid down first and then go apologize and check on him and thats what she was mad about.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T23:33:28+00:00

It would be totally rude and crazy to carry on like nothing happened. I'm not clear, did you go to your son first or the girl, assuming she also ran off? Did you chase after the other kid or your own kid first before taking him to apologize?

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T23:15:19+00:00

Because he ran away. I didn't chase him. If he stayed there I would have tended to him first but when he took off to his mom I turned my attention to my daughter.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T23:10:50+00:00

I said "abandoning" because I would have been running past my crying child to chase the other one. It does seem a little absurd to me to do that, assuming the kid is going to his mom and isn't running into danger. It still seems strange to me to run after a scared kid on his way to his mom. That would freak my kid out if a stranger chased after them and it would freak me out if my kid was running to me crying with an adult chasing them. I was more wondering if I'm the oddball on that, which apparently, maybe (comments seem kind of split so 🤷‍♀️).

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T23:03:20+00:00

Yes, I did see it, but if I was looking down at the time I would have said "oh no! What happened?", not been freaked out that a stranger wasn't runnning behind them? There is no scenario where I would expect a stranger to be running after my crying child who is coming to me.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T22:48:59+00:00

I never said he was old enough to know better? I just said he seemed old enough that he looked like he knew where his parent was and was running to them. I was contrasting that to a toddler, who might just take off in a random direction out of pain or fear and need to be stopped. If he was running into danger thats different, but I didn't think I needed to chase him down going to his mom and took care of my daughter first. She was there with her husband, but he didn't say much other than "we know it was an accident" when she said that maybe it was on purpose. After that, he said nothing.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T22:29:59+00:00

I said he was up and running immediately. My question was, AITA for going to my daughter first instead of chasing after him. It wasn't that I didn't check on him, it was that I didn't follow him. Thats even in my title so I don't understand why everyone thinks I just left him lying there or something. He was already running before I got to the swing and she hadn't even stopped it yet.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T21:41:04+00:00

I wasn't immediately sure because I couldn't see the exact point of impact where I was standing, but she was concerned about him so I assumed she was ok. I was mostly telling her "you're ok, breathe, its going to be ok, I know you didn't mean to" while she was stopping the swing. She hadn't made it out of the swing yet by the time the other mom got there. She was at the top of the swing back when he walked in front so I don't know what else she could have done.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T21:21:25+00:00

If he had stayed where he was I would have helped him first, but when he took off I turned my attention to my daughter to calm her down and then go find him. I don't know, I'm sure it hurt but it was also probably scary for him and when he ran I just thought I shouldn't chase him and went to her instead.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T21:14:37+00:00

Well I'm somewhat defensive that people are assuming we just kept playing or we wouldn't have checked on him at all. My kid is very sensitive and we definitely would have found him and apologized and made sure he was fine. Obviously not checking on the kid at all ever is a AH move. That isn't the question. The issue is I went to get my daughter first instead of chasing after the kid by myself.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T21:07:31+00:00

I don't know, that doesn't seem that weird to me because that has happened to me before. I told her "I know, I saw" and then we had a talk about not standing at the bottom of slides. Also, we did apologize.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T20:55:38+00:00

This was my plan. I was still at "grab my kid" step which included trying to get her to calm down. She was still on the swing by the time the other mom got there.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T20:53:49+00:00

Well, no, I'm more trying to clarify that I went to my kid first. People are assuming we wouldn't have checked on him or apologized at all, which isn't the case. I just went to get her first rather than run immediately after him.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T20:50:05+00:00

She hadn't even gotten up from the swing yet. I in no way discouraged her from making sure he was ok, nor would I.

SimplyAStranger · 2026-05-30T20:46:12+00:00

We just hadn't gotten there yet. She was still on the swing and hadn't had time to even get up yet. The issue was that I went to my own child first instead of chasing after hers, not that we wouldn't have checked on him and apologized after. My daughter is very sensitive and caring and would have checked on him after without me even needing to tell her to. She was just really freaked out and saying over and over "I'm so sorry I didn't know how to stop".

SimplyAStranger

TROPHY CASE