1. People do not respect playgrounds. I like to think this is mainly people that do not have kids, but maybe that's not true. Who knows. In the past week I have found that, for the most part, playgrounds in this area are well maintained and worry free. But some? Not so much. Yesterday one park we went to had cigarette butts all over the ground of the playground, dog pee down the swing poles, and a man openly drinking beer on the bench closest to the playground. First off, I do not think people should be smoking in a playground. Yes, probably these cigarettes were had at night when children would not be playing there, but its still gross. As the mother of a toddler that still likes to put random things in her mouth I find this gross and disrespectful. As for the dog pee? Yes, dogs have to pee. People bring their dogs to the park for exercise. I get that, but come on! Don't let your dog urinate all over the playground! Jackson actually ran over to the swings, and for some reason that is totally lost on me, got excited about the 'wet sand' and stuck his hand in it. ::barf:: And the man drinking? Not okay in any way. In a playground? Where a few kids were playing? Yuck. THEN today we were at another park and there was a cigarette butted out on the top of the play structure. Right beside a big gob of spit/mucus. Now, anyone that really knows me knows that snot really really grosses me out. I gagged over this one for a good five minutes. Then, just to top it off, I looked on the ground and there was a used tampon applicator. That just confuses me. How do you find yourself in the position that you need to change your tampon and cannot find a washroom? Why do you need to do that in a playground? Just sick and gross.
2. Lexi has very little fear. She thinks she is a big girl and can do anything her brother does. There have been times this past week that she climbs up onto a play structure and actually scares me. She just goes with no understanding of how high she actually is. So far (knock on wood) she has not had any major spills. And she's stubborn. And quick to dramatically throw herself on the ground if I tell her not to do something. But I already knew all of this.
3. As much as I love dogs I do not think they should be allowed in a playground. Yes, allow them in the fields of the parks, but not around the actual play structures. We have never encountered any sort of mean or aggressive dog, but my kids are scared of dogs. So they will be happily playing and then a dog comes over and they both freak out, start screaming 'puppy, puppy' in fear and trying to jump up into my arms. At one park there was a younger girl (probably around 10) walking her dog. She (somehow) mistook my kids freaking out for excitement over the dog and proceeded to repeatedly bring him over to say hi. Finally I told her that my kids were actually scared of the dog and to please stop bringing him over.
4. My kids are generally much more fun at the park than they are at home. At home they fight, wine, cry, act rudely. At the park they laugh, squeal, and have fun. They enjoy themselves and each other. Then when we are at home they are more relaxed and just all around happier.
5. By going to numerous parks every day it is easier to get my kids to leave a park. With the promise of another park they happily climb into the van!
So in the past 10 days we have been to 22 new parks and one repeat. We have generally been going to 2 a day, but sometimes we've pushed it to 3. The kids are loving it and I am loving discovering new neighbourhoods and new features on play structures. We have almost discovered all the parks in Langford, all the ones in Sooke, most in Esquimalt and View Royal, and hit up quite a few in Victoria all ready. Fun, fun, fun.
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