Thanks A Lot, Big Kids, For Making My Kid Hate Something He Used To Dearly Love

On Friday night to celebrate Denis’ birthday we went to the local Charlotte Knights baseball game. They are a AAA minor league club that plays only a couple miles from our house. Denis took CootieGirl to a game last summer with some success, so we figured we’d make a family night out of it.

Not such a good idea. CootieBoy has the attention span of a gnat if it’s not in cartoon form. So about 30 seconds into sitting at our seats he was anxious to go elsewhere and see other things. I don’t even think we made it past the first inning before Denis and I opted to take the kids up to the children’s area to play for an hour or so. They have some good stuff for kids – a moonbounce, a small carousel, an area with slides and sand and such. CootieBoy was having an absolutely blast going down the slides and climbing on the jungle gym. However, there were a LOT of big kids around (we’re talking 10-yr-olds) playing tag and not having a care with the younger set. Well, the inevitable happened. I didn’t see it happen, but I saw the end result: CootieBoy on his keister, tears streaming down his face, surrounded by guilty-looking 10-year-olds who didn’t know whether to console him or run away before anyone saw them.

The Mother Lioness in me let loose and I was at CootieBoy’s side in seconds. “HEY!” I barked at the big kids as I scooped a tearful CootieBoy into my arms. “You big kids need to be more considerate and realize this is a playground for YOUNG CHILDREN – not kids your age!” Next thing you know, four of the kids pointed at a handful of others and all said at the same time, “S/he did it!”

“I don’t care WHO did it,” I said. “You shouldn’t be in here anyway.”

A couple of the big kids left the playground altogether at that point, and a few more stayed and played tag more quietly so as not to rouse my ire all over again.

But you know what? CootieBoy refused to go back down a slide after that, and we left a few minutes later when it became apparent that the good fun was over. We didn’t think anything of it, figuring he was tired. But on Saturday afternoon Denis took CootieBoy to the park for some one-on-one time and apparently CootieBoy refused to play on Saturday too, prefering to stay by Denis’ side. And wouldn’t you know, on Sunday we went as a family to the park after church and once again – he adamantly refused to do ANYTHING and only wanted to clutch my leg and cry. He wouldn’t even STEP FOOT on the metal ramp leading up to the slides.

Which is tragic because CootieBoy loved the park more than anything in the world. He’s adventurous, fearless, fun and engaging. He loved following older kids (meaning 5-6 year olds) and following them down the slides or climbing on the monkey bars. He loved going through the tunnels or playing tic-tac-toe. He hated leaving the park and would be content to play at the park for hours if we’d let him.

But that was before Friday night, when some Big Kids decided that the toddler playground was the best spot to play tag.

Damn kids.