Parks & Playgrounds

Sarah is beginning to love going to playgrounds these days, now that she's beginning to master the climbing structures and slides. It is tough for me at times because she is still so little and her balance is still really poor. She also is very innocent, naive and can easily be pushed around. I try to find a good mixture of watching her closely while at the same time letting her explore and challenge herself. Today I had taken the girls to a park to play and Sarah was doing fine until she wandered to the swings and was hit on the face by one that was gently moving in the breeze. Kinda tough when the base of the swings comes to her face level. The other problem with 'big kid' swings is the fact that she doesn't always remember to hold on. When she indicates that she's done, she simply lets go. Up until now, I've managed to catch her and prevent a fall but part of me is expecting a tumble to occur.

Sometimes Sarah likes to sit back and just watch the goings on that are happening. Bigger kids ( not my own) can be quite rambunctious and rowdy and it can be too much for her. Today while she was sitting on a platform just keeping an eye on things, she ended up in the middle of a fight between two boys who were throwing fist fulls of wood chips. Poor girl received a handful of chips in her face which indicated (for her) then end of the play time. I did firmly and loudly tell the boys to not throw things around my kid and apologies were made. It makes me sad when a fun time ends on a note of tears though. Thankfully, a trip to Sobey's and a cookie make things better for her.

Lots of learning for both of us. It was the first time I've stood up like that but I had to defend her and the protector in me was really unhappy. She's recovered and so have I and I am thankful that by tomorrow she will have forgotten everything that happened and will be ready to play again!