e aKids love it. Parents hate it. I don’t need to explain the park to you. But perhaps you’ll appreciate my dos and don’ts.
- DO pack snacks and drinks or your free outing will end up costing a bomb in sausage rolls and donuts and bottles of water that are terrible for the environment, geez!
- DON’T look down at your phone for too long. Yes, the park is THE most boring place on earth but the minute you look away, at least one of your kids WILL disappear to somewhere you can’t see them and you’ll age 14 years in the 47 seconds it takes to find them. For god’s sake, think of your face.
- DO up the adventure stakes by choosing a park outside of your immediate suburb. Google parks in your city and head for an awesome park that the kids have never been to before. A change is nowhere near as good as a holiday, but it helps break the monotony of your desperately boring life.
- DON’T go on that thing that has a wheel in the middle and someone turns it so that you all spin around and around. It WILL make you violently ill.
- DO take photos to prove that you are an excellent mother who takes her kids places.
- DON’T forget the sunscreen. I have yet to meet a toddler who agrees to wear a hat for longer than 12 seconds.
- Do take hats, gloves etc when it is cold not only for yourself standing in the cold but also the children.
E absolutely loves going to the park, I don’t mind going as she is now at the age where she can run around and I don’t have to follower her at all times. I can just sit on that cold damp park bench and watch her and be there if needed. The park in the summer is such a wonderful place to visit but in the winter it gets cold when your standing or sitting watching. E’s independence means that she only needs me for a drink, snack or to push her on the swing, so whilst I am stood there blowing my hands she is trying to take her coat of because she is hot from all the running around. All the parents at the park give each other knowing and understanding glances of the sheer boredom you might be encountering or of how cold you are.
One thing I do like and have only recently experienced at the park is the adult social life with complete strangers, other parents whom are in the same situation, standing there watching, evidently a little bored as they are surplus to requirement. These people are great to talk to and they are also extremely keen to talk to others. Small talk about the children, how old, what they are up to etc.. As a regular visitor to the park I have started to recognise other regulars and the conversations have developed from isn’t it cold, how old is your child to actual intellectual (well occasionally) conversations.
So now when E wants to go to the park I hope it is fairly busy as it means there is a small chance there might be an adult to talk to!
As the good mummy I am, I constantly take photos whilst we are at the park so here are a few of the recent ones.
This slide is her favourite
Looking cheeky!
The swings – when I am required!
And the best part of visiting the park is when you have you welly’s on and you can play in the leaves or puddles!
As you can see E has great fun at the park and at the end of the day if it keeps her happy and occupied then it makes me happy!
