Playground or torture?

Florim and I agree that we hate, hate, HATE the playground.

First of all Arber’s concept of sharing is non-existent. So when we pull up and see that there are kids there with their bikes, or motorized vehicles, we turn pale and our stomachs fall like bricks into our bottoms. But Arber is so excited in the back seat that we look at each other and tell a big fat gorilla lie “he’ll be fine.”

He’s not fine.

He takes over. And although some of the parents are kind enough to pretend that its okay for him to take over their children’s possessions, for me it is like watching a car wreck. It’s horrifying, paralyzing, and there’s nothing I can do about it but wait until I can clean up the mess. If I divert him, he will cause a scene. So if I allow him to infringe on these people’s kindness for a little while, I can at least take comfort in knowing he had some fun before I tear him away kicking and screaming.

Second, not all parents and children are nice. Recently we went to one of the school playgrounds, because it is less crowded and therefore there are fewer opportunities for melt downs. There was a group of boys and another group of girls playing on opposite ends of the playground. Arber went for the boys first, they were closest, and stood among them as they established rules for their game of throw the tennis ball against the wall. Not one of them acknowledged him, even as Arber smiled and jumped up and down and dinga-dinga-da’ed them. After a minute of this he gave up and went after the girls, who were playing a lovely game of house in the tower.

All of a sudden I hear “I don’t like him” followed by a chorus of screams (Arbers included) as they ran away. Arber trails behind like Pepe La Pew laughing and glowing with excitement. “Don’t let the little guy get you” I hear as they run past again screaming. It was a game. And, ironically, he enjoyed it most.

Until I ruined it.

The smallest one started to block and push him away. I was already pissed that the mothers were fine with this, pissed that no one wanted to play with my little boy, but this pushed me over the edge. As kindly as I could I asked her to keep her hands to herself, and reminded her that he only wanted to be friends. Girls are nasty. The look I got in response…I was glad her mother finally called her and threatened to take her home.

Ten minutes later she made good on her threat, and the entire playground was empty.

All I could think about was that this must be how the mothers of the nerdy kids feel when no one likes their child because they wear glasses, or are really into dinosaurs, or talk with a lisp.

My 2 year old cleared out a playground because no one wanted to play with him.

We can’t win.