Interesting link! We've been on the other side of the issue more since DD always gravitates towards older girls at the playground. Normally they want her to play a complex game and sometimes she gets it, sometimes not. I always just stand back and watch because I figure if she didn't want to try and hang around that girl she'd just walk away. The only time I've ever interceded was when one girl pushed DD over because she didn't understand what the girl said...
I had something similar happen when we were at a neighborhood restaurant with a playground. DD always gravitates towards older kids and I usually have no problem with this but this one day I came to realize quickly some of the dangers of it all. There were two 5 or 6 yr olds on the playground that DD (then 2) was trying to play with. They clearly were uncomfortable with her because she was keeping up with them verbally and one decided to grab her little arm and twist it. She came screaming back to the table and told us exactly what had happened. The mothers were in shock and tried to play it off that DD was confused but that didn't fly because the older brother of one of the girls was on the playground and witnessed it all and confirmed the story. Even in this situation I didn't jump up and have a fit, which I could have and rightfully so. The girls were bullying a younger child. I knew the moms felt awful and didn't want to add to all of it. DD was not seriously injured .. more emotionally wounded. And I saw it as a life lesson; in that sometimes we have to know to read the signs and step away. After that ... I kept a closer eye on DD and if some child was showing any sign I would ask DD to play with someone else. But I also noticed that after that DD was able to pick up on the signs herself and if the child was negative towards her she just walked away.
