I have been taking my girls to the park lately. It has been amazing weather here. (That's an open invitation to any who wants to come visit). I like to keep them guessing, so we will go to different parks around town. There are a lot of great parks here, and they all have there advantages--but I have found that my favorites, are the ones without swings.
I remember when I just had Parly, oh so many years ago, and we would go to the park alone. She enjoyed the swing a lot and I didn't mind pushing her. And bonus, we were doing something outside of the house for a change. A park with or without swings...what a luxury. Then we were invited to go to the park with a friend and she said let's go to one without swings. Really? Now I get it.
With 4 kiddies, I know like most moms know- that if I go to a park with swings...I will be pushing my child (or children) on the swings the whole time. And now when I go to the park I try to invite another mom + kids to come along with us, so I have someone to else to talk to (an adult conversation, which is hard to come by as a stay-at-home mom) and my kids have more kids to play with and thus need less attention from me. Genius, I know. So if you're like me...you want to visit instead of push kids on the swings the whole time.
Now I know Shayne is reading this and saying, "Just tell them you won't push them on the swings." That's easy. No, not really. It's just easier to avoid that whole conversation that repeats over and over and over and over....by going to a park without swings.
Of course it was great a few days ago when I took Clayre, Kate, and Maggie to a park with swings....and I gave Clayre one underdog push and she swung for 40 minutes (pumping herself). Now that was nice! Push a child on a swing and they will swing for a few minutes- teach a child how to pump on the swing and they will swing forever...by themselves. Way to go Clayre!
11 comments:
Spoiled brats. In my day we did not have swings. We took rusty nails and hammered rope into tree branches and swung until they broke or the rope frayed or our hands bled. Nobody pushed us or watched us. We got tetanus shots after we were done and we liked it... nay we loved it.
That's weird because I remember swings when I was younger...in fact I was the swing champion in 4th grade -that meant I could beat everyone (including Max Johnson) on the swings, I could get the highest the fastest...and you are only a measly 4 years older than me.
I try to look at swings as a way to give my arms a workout. If I have two kids next to each other then I can push them each with an arm and hopefully get some muscles...hopefully.
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Holy crap, that was funny. Dais, thanks for the gem of philosophical advice about teaching children to pump when they swing. Shayne, thanks for a trip down memory lane and Old Man Johnson's swing next to the General Store.
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Daisy,
I totally agree. I refuse to puysh my kids at the park, and they've really stopped asking, for the most part! Funny, because I didn't know anyone else felt the same. Most of the friends we go with will push - but I still refuse. Mother of the Year - I know.
I give my kids a time limit to the pushing I will do and when it's gone, I refuse. After that, I'll often see some other mom pushing Harry and I just smile to myself, silently thank her (ha ha, sucker!), and keep having my adult conversation.
Amen.
And by adult conversation, Dais, let's be very clear that you're talking about King of Queens or The Amazing Race. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Was Max Johnson a good swinger? I had no idea.
I push my kids so frighteningly HIGH that they never ever ask for pushes. haha, I wish. I, like Brooke, do the time limit. 10 pushes and we ARE DONE! Works like.... MAGIC.
I'll remember this when Ruby is a bit older...
Why were we so competetive with Max Johnson? You on the swings and me with a stupid foot race almost every recess throughout 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades (not to mention every subject in school, especially those math time-tests). Ah, the glory I felt when I beat him. Too bad my days of fast-running and even understanding basic math are long gone.
My favorite was the multiplication flashcard team challenges...or whatever it was called.
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