Who Is That Mom?

I have a slightly embarrassing confession to make.  No, nothing really big and juicy but one that makes me laugh ever time I think of it.  With this beautiful weather, I've thought about it quite a few times this past week. 

The summer my older son (OS) was about 20 months, we spent a lot of time at the park.  It was the first summer that he was walking and could really enjoy the equipment.  He particularly liked the little toddler slide at one park.  He would go on it over and over again.  Except for this one day when a bunch of older kids kept climbing back up the slide.  These teenagers 4 year olds didn't even seem aware that OS was trying to go down the slide.  I was really annoyed.  Where were the parents?  All I could see was a bunch of parents standing around talking. 

I was completely irked.  I even emailed my moms group list-serve to ask about the etiquette for this situation.  (This makes me laugh a slightly embarrassed laugh.) I mean surely this rude behavior was an anomaly.  Maybe not.  I witnessed it a bunch of times later on that summer.  Each time I a huffed about it. 

Fast foward to yesterday.  I was at the park with both of my boys who are 4.5 and 21 months.  I was talking to a friend while standing next to the slide that my boys had been using.  I turned around to see a woman standing on the other side looking perplexed as her granddaughter proved unable to go down the slide because my sons were climbing up the slide.  Great.   Nothing like being a hypocrite.  I mumbled an apology, as did the boys, and took them off to climb on a different structure. 

Comments

[margaret]

I remember thinking the same thing. Now with three, I can't keep them from climbing the slides. However, we do have a few slide climbing rules.

1) It can only be done if there are not alot of kids at the park.
2)It can only be done when no one is using the slide.
3) And try not to teach the little kids how to climb a slide.

It pretty much works out and no one's complained. Of course, their kids are all climbing the slides as well.

Now we pretty much have a line of kids going UP the slides and then down in a big chain.

[Patty]

ROFLOL, sorry but that makes me giggle, because I think most of us moms have BTDT

[Kim/hormone-colored days]

My boys are eight and ten and even though they are small for their respective ages they, of course, tower over the tots.

I used to warn them to mind the big kids, now they ARE the big kids. *sniff*