answer:17 months is a little young to just turn her loose. At that age I was taking my kids down the slide on my lap, and pushing them in the swings and helping them learn to grab monkey bars and swing. I never thought about it, but I guess I was always within about 10 feet of them when they were that young. I was interacting with them. If it’s making other people uncomfortable, and they’re afraid of their rambunctious kids smacking in to the baby then yeah. I’d say you need to be more on top of her. This is a little off of your subject, but kind of the same: I used to play competitive co-ed volley ball…a spiked or a served ball can hit 30 mph and I just HATED it when people would park their infants, in their car seats, on the floor in front of the bleachers, not far out of the court boundary lines. It just ruined the game for me. Same for those moms probably….they came to relax and let their kids run, but suddenly they’re feeling stressed and responsible for this baby out there on the playground.