Parkmagheddon

Like most toddlers, my son is drawn to the park.  It calls to him like the Ocean to Moana.  Most days, I love taking him to the park and letting him climb, run, explore, and enjoy his time in an outdoor setting.  I love the independence that park play can help bolster.  But then there are the other days.

The other 1% of park days are the ones where something unnecessary happens to him.  Whether he is kicked, hit, tackled, punched, or yelled at by another child or group of children, those days are straight up Parkmaghddon and the mama bear in me has to rear it's ugly head.  Now, I refuse to parent another mother's child.  I could say it's because I don't want to step on toes or don't know what parenting style is used at their home, but frankly, it's because I spend 24 hours a day parenting my own kids, I don't need to extend that outside of my house and my tribe.  I like to mind my own motherhood.  This is usually pretty simple.  My kind-hearted, friendly, little love bug typically is pretty good at just walking away from a situation that he senses may be more than he can handle (he is one heck of a fast runner, that kid is totally my cardio!).  However, from time to time there are those unavoidable kids.  The ones that sense his soft heartedness and take advantage of it as a means to get to him.

But inside that soft heart is unafraid.  He will go into the fire of parkmahgeddon to stick up for his friends, and that makes my heart happy.  He will tell the bullying culprits to "just leave me alone!"or that they cannot play with him.  And guess what?  That's ok.  That is completely ok.  I don't want to be around adults who are mean and nasty to me, it is no different for my kiddos.  Actions speak so much louder than words, and bullying is such an issue in our society.  If he has instilled confidence to stick up to bullies at three, I can only keep boosting that confidence so he can stick up to them at 13 too.

Moms, I get it, I really do.  I tend to believe that most mothers, and I truly mean most, are just doing the best they can.  Sometimes we miss things.  Sometimes we have our hands full.  Sometimes we need to park it on a bench and take a breather while our kids run because it's been a rough day.  But, sometimes we need to take our noses out of our cell phones and pay attention to the reality around us.  Sometimes we need to step away from a good conversation to see exactly what our child is doing.  Sometimes we need to be unafraid to approach a parent or guardian if a child is stepping well out of line.  Sometimes, we just need to walk away.  The last one is my main defense mechanism.  I don't want to say hurtful things I regret later.  I want to do nothing more than remove my child from a situation he does not understand and in these cases does not deserve.  Because sometimes the walking away is just the right thing to do.  Instead of fighting fire with fire we take the peaceable route when possible.  Because walking away with his head held high is not a defeat for him, its a defeat for those trying their best to get at him.