Let Them Be Children

The other day, i took my 3 year old to a very busy park. Where myself and my husband trailed him while he played on the equipment, swinging and sliding for several hours. While there, he met a little girl, just his size, maybe a little older. We encouraged him to talk to her and play with her as we live rather secluded and there aren't children his age around.

After a little while it became very apparent that the mother was far too involved with listening to her Ipod to even consider the fact that her child was wanting to play. The park we go to is rather large. Its completely fenced in, with one exit. However you should always be near your child to be sure they aren't hurt. But this mother constantly screamed at her child to stay directly in front of her, rather then getting off the bench and walking or playing with her.

While i can understand the desire to keep your children close at hand, if i can walk my big 8 months pregnant bum up and down the park, she could certainly walk across the park to keep an eye on her child while she played. I find it difficult to understand why a parent would bring their child to a park, and not a regular small park, but the largest park in our town, and not want them to run around and expend their energy.

For me, it was nearly heartbreaking watching this mother repeatedly yelling at a child that couldn't be more then 4 years old, to stop playing on the slides or castle and to come and be directly in front of the mother. To watch her threaten the child with going home immediately if she didn't comply. And i understood every time, why the poor little girl ran and hid under things when the mother began yelling at her.

I fail to understand, why a parent would bring a child to a place of protected play, and then demand she do nothing more then sit directly in front of her mother, so that the mother could sit on a bench and listen and fiddle with her Ipod. Children are not creatures to sit happily at a parents feet, they have energy and imaginations. They need to run, to play, to explore and invent. It brings me to wonder what that child's life is like at home. I can imagine a small girl sitting in her bedroom, maybe with cartoons playing or alone with her toys. And that would be her life.

It scares me, to see children treated like that. To be yelled at for playing. To imagine what their life is like at home. I could be wrong, and it could have been a bad day. But it could be a normal thing. For me, to see how the child reacted to her mothers yelling, says that its a normal common occurrence. Something she is used to. And hiding is her way of defending herself.

I don't think i will forget that little girl who hid under the play equipment, while my son tried to coax her out to play with him. The little girl who's mom didn't want her to play anywhere but in the 3 feet directly in front of her. The little girl who made me think, that no matter how difficult it is, i can always manage to chase my son around the playground, through the castle, and over the bridges, down the slides and on the swings. Even 8 months pregnant, I can give him that much. To be watched and protected if he gets hurt, but to let him play. Because its so important.