“Innocent” playground antics?

Tonight I turn control of my blog over to Mommy for her to rant for a few moments about the playground tonight. Here you go Mommy…

Hi everyone, Mommy here! 🙂 Ahhhh. So… where to begin. Breighton has been asking to go to the playground ever since he came down with HFMD (no fun!). So today we made a quick stop before lunch and had a grand old time for about 15-20 minutes until I decided it was WAY to stinking hot and icky to be running around outside in the heat of noon. I promised another trip would come in the near future and Breighton accepted, finally. After dinner tonight David, Breighton and I stopped back by Long Center on the way home. Breighton was wound for sound and needed to burn some energy off before bed (probably had nothing to do with the bowl of ice cream from Brewsters!)

So we (David and I) chased Breighton in full toddler style all around the playground. It is a great playground now after the second remodel which FINALLY led to it being fully gated in! Anyway, Breighton really enjoys the “sand pit” and was having a blast. As I stood and watched there was a young boy (3) who was nose to nose with another boy who looked the same age. They were arguing about something (peace in middle east? the presidential debates? *shrug*) and one of the boys (the 3 year old…very tiny kid btw) took off his belt and folded it in half and started to snap it. He was toe to toe with the other boy and finally the kid without the belt stepped back. Breighton was about 2 feet away and I walked and squatted down between B and the “Belt wielder”… really to protect B just in case the kid went berserk! I asked the kid holding the belt what was wrong. He told me that the girls wouldn’t put a door in their sandcastle (obviously a grand reason to de-belt and threaten other kids). I suggested he build his own sandcastle and he just kind of stared at me. I looked around and there were NO parents in sight for any of the 8+ kids in the area. NONE! Who takes their kids to a playground and doesn’t supervise… oh wait… LOTS of parents! I offered a few more words of encouragement to try to get the kid to put the belt back on and go play something else. I got nowhere and we decided it was time to go! I picked up Breighton and washed off his hands and feet in the new bathroom and we headed home. As we drove away the boy walked up to the girls sandcastle and stuck his finger in it, obviously making the door that drove him to near violence.

The whole way home and still to this moment I am ANGRY at people. I think it is great that parents take their kids to playground and out to socialize. But they need to supervise their children. I was expecting a fight to break out on the playground between an ANGRY 3y/o and 3 other kids all under 8! Why was I nervous about this? These are the kids that would be in school with Breighton. It scares me to think that a 3 y/o would act the way this boy did. This is the kind of kid that will be wielding guns and gang tats before he can legally drive… heck probably before he can tie his own shoes (probably at least a while… he was wearing velcro!). I feel sad for these children in a way. What are their parents doing to them or siblings that a 3 year old would even comprehend taking off a belt to use it as a weapon. Sponge Bob surely doesn’t teach this?! Does he?!

It is moments like this that I am HAPPY to be a stay-at-home-mom and be actively involved in the growth and development of our son.

So a note to you parents out there that frequent the playgrounds… I am watching you! Are you watching your kids? Supervise your kids, teach them morals and values and not violence! If we want a better world for our kids, it needs to start at home!