Mom takes 3 yo to carnival and gets into major argument with toddlers; 'Did I Karen out?!' AITA?

When this woman isn't sure if she took something too far or not, she asks the internet:

"AITA for yelling at a couple of boys at the fair and did I have a Karen moment?"

I (31f) Had a moment at the fair this week and realized after that I may have been a Karen. I took my toddler (3m) to enjoy the fair/carnival with some friends and their toddler.

They wanted to go into one of the young kid play mazes that has a couple small obstacles such as punching bag maze, rope climb, and 2 swinging bridges before ending in a slide back to the ground.

A sign at the entrance lists the rules such as no rough housing, swinging on the bridge excessively, etc. I went in with my toddler since he is still young and gets scared in some high places.

He and I were both doing great until we hit the 2nd & last bridge. We were a little over half way across when it started swinging back and forth pretty violently. My toddler froze from fear and kept saying he couldn't do it.

I was starting to feel a bit scared as well as I have a shaky faith in fair rides/ attractions. I tried not to think about the bridge breaking and him and I both falling and being unable to protect him.

I tried to reassure him that it was just a bit farther but he wasn't budging. I waited a moment thinking the swinging would pass, but then I looked behind us past our friend and her toddler, and saw two young boys (probably 9-12yo) purposely swinging the bridge back and forth with their full body weight.

I snapped, my deep mom voice came out and I yelled once at them to stop. One boy did but the other stared me down and kept shaking the bridge.

I stared back and yelled if they wanted to move forward they need to stop because we aren't able to move until they do. He didn't completely stop but he lessened the intensity enough for my toddler to start walking again and he made it off the bridge.

After we made it out and safely on the ground I started to feel bad about yelling at the boys. I think my own fear probably made it feel worse and more dangerous than it actually was and I overreacted.

Especially because I didn't know the boys and it wasn't my place to yell at them. I wish I had been thinking clearly in the moment and tried to ask them to please wait until the toddlers were off the bridge. AITA and a Karen?

Let's see what readers thought:

easthost writes:

YTA. YOU are the one who acted inappropriately from the start. You toddler had zero business on this. It's clearly meant for children who can do it INDEPENDENTLY. Like, kids play. They were playing. Next time, stick to age-appropriate things for your kid to do.

audgh6 writes:

NTA. You weren't yelling at random kids for doing random kid things. You were, albeit loudly, calling for calm for the safety of your child. No one was harmed.

Kids were probably just not thinking of those around them. You reminded them that they don't exist in a vacuum. Not only not an asshole but hopefully they learned a lesson (even if the one kid refused to back down, likely out of pride).

violextea writes:

NTA - this is important for kids to learn. Every kid that age goes through a phase where they think so long as their parents or teachers dont see, they can do whatever they want.

Strangers giving them a clue helps them realize the importance of common courtesy even when mom isn’t watching.

When I was around that age I got yelled at for not cleaning up dog poop by some random lady. And guess what? My little ass NEVER did that again

akny writes:

Yep. You made it worse. And I bet your kid has internalized it too. Work on yourself, try to be better. YTA in this situation.