Playground Politics

Okay, people. What is happening on playgrounds these days? I’ve been to a few in the past week and, let me tell you, it’s a whole new world out there.

Allow me to complain a little bit about some people and their playground politics.

Humor me.

This isn’t to say that I don’t do annoying or irresponsible things. We all do. I’m not preaching here, just telling you what I witnessed on two separate playgrounds that made me wonder if I was on one of those hidden camera shows.

Is someone watching me to see if I’ll do the right thing? Is someone testing my patience?

Ashton? Oh, Aaaaash-ton? You can come out now. You’re not going to punk me!

Actually, I feel sorry for celebrities who get Punk’d. I’m glad I’m not famous. Well, that’s not true. But I’m glad I’m not in danger of being Punk’d.

Anyway, I digress.

It all began on an innocent trip to a park playground last Friday in Columbia. The slide contraption was tall and fun, but not toddler friendly. I did my usual shadow-mommy behavior: holding Taylor’s hand every step of the way and staying behind her as she climbed.

(I know, don’t say it. I’m one of those moms. I hover. I can’t help it. She’s my first child and only child at the moment. Enough said.)

After I finally let Taylor go down the tunnel slide alone (to be caught by my mom on the other end), I walked back to the steps to bring Taylor up for another round. That’s when I saw a little girl who couldn’t have been much more than two years old, if that, pulling her way up the steps to the main platform of the play gym.

We saw this same little girl earlier that day eating sand from a plastic rake like it was an ice cream cone. We had yet to see her mother.

Now, let me explain to you that this play gym was at least eight - maybe even ten - feet tall with several open spaces where kids could monkey their way down metal poles and ladders. An unattended two-year-old could fall off and drop ten feet to the ground, easily.

I was imagining the worst. My maternal instincts kicked in like nobody’s business.

I lifted that little girl off the steps and carried her around the playground asking every adult in sight, “Whose child is this?” until finally a young woman came forward to claim her. She scooped the little girl out of my arms without so much as a thank you.

Seriously?

She didn’t even say thank you! She didn’t seem concerned or the least bit surprised.

So went my first lesson in playground politics. That mother felt entitled to a supervision-free outing to the park, allowed her too-young-for-the-play-gym daughter to wander aimlessly into danger, and expected other parents at the park to watch her child. She took advantage of the system. And it worked.

I guess I was the sucker.

But I would do the same thing every time for the sake of that little girl.

In another less-friendly park in Charlotte, I witnessed one child slap another child in a fight over the steering wheel toy on the play gym. Taylor was in my arms - thank goodness - but I audibly gasped and turned my shocked face to the mother who yelled at the boys. I thought her son was the victim of another, unrelated boy’s aggression. I expected her to jump up and save her son from the situation, but she didn’t move from her seat on the bench. She just kept yelling while they basically ignored her. I realized she must have been in charge of both boys when she huffed and shook her head at them, still unmoved from her seat. They were allowed to continue playing or fighting or whatever. I immediately left with Taylor, explaining to her that hitting is bad behavior. I didn’t want her to think it was okay to hit.

No fighting, no biting.

Right?

Isn’t that still the rule?

My second lesson in playground politics: apparently, all’s fair in love and war and on the playground.

Sheesh.

Some people.

So, what’s happening on your playground?

My Blog Title

Dear Reader,

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog! I mean it. I like to think that there is at least one of you out there, but I don’t know who you are unless you leave a comment or become a follower (hint, hint – my followers feature is new – follow me – over there ----> ).

Anyway, Reader, do you ever wonder what I was thinking when I chose my blog title: “What Was I Thinking?”

Maybe not, but I feel the need to explain.

I know my title is an idiom. It’s a rhetorical question commonly used to express disbelief or regret or embarrassment about something done or left undone. It’s another way of saying, “Why, oh, why did I do that?” It’s something I’d groan with an emphasis on the word ‘thinking’ while shaking my head in wonder at my own foolishness.

But my blog title, while it may be true to its figurative sense for some of the content in my posts (I’ll let you be the judge), is actually meant to introduce whatever I was thinking at a specific moment in time about any one of a variety of topics - the trials and joys of parenthood, my first attempt to write a novel, practicing law, or my wish to study and protect the ocean.

Really, literally – what was I thinking?

If you care to know, then read my mind on my blog.

It’s just that simple.

Still, to have a little fun with my blog title, I’ve listed a few things below that would make me have to ask myself the blog title question in its common, figurative form. I’m pleased to report that I did these things (well, most of them) when I just didn't know better in my teens and twenties.

What Was I Thinking…

…when I went water-skiing in an alligator-infested river?

…when I left at two in the morning to drive ten hours to Panama City for spring break only to get stuck in the well-forecasted blizzard in Atlanta?

…when I took a taxi – alone – from our hotel in Cuernavaca, Mexico, to a remote village in the nearby mountains to climb to some random temple?

…when I went to law school? (Just kidding! But I did ask myself the blog title many times during the first year.)

…when I rode in a six-seat airplane in Belize that landed on a dirt runway with a small wood shack for an airport? (I’m not kidding)

…when I did so many keg stands at a party that I thought it would be a good idea to put my keys in the ice box? (It took most of the next morning to find them before I could go home!)

…when I bought some over-priced lotion set from a mall kiosk vendor?

…when I drove a rented Taurus on a gravel road that wound through the hills of New Zealand’s North Island – alone and without a cell phone?

…when I danced in a shadow box at a public bar? (okay - that was in my thirties)

…when I climbed up the side of my old apartment building, using the water pipes and decorative ledges, to reach the unlocked balcony window of my third floor apartment because I locked myself out and didn’t want to wait for the landlord?

…when I tried to install my own dial-up internet wiring by tacking a phone cord along the floor and door frames from one bedroom to another?

You get the picture.

I hope you are amused by my selection of naïve and embarrassing adventures. I’ve had a few too many opportunities to ask myself, “What was I thinking?” I don’t want a whole blog about it.

And that is why my blog title means exactly what it asks.

Now, you know what I think.

(Follow me – over there -----> )

Hugs,
Kristen


P.S. Tell me what you think. What have you done that made you ask yourself, “What was I thinking?” Don't be shy. I want to know.

Bluesday Tip #2: Drink It, Don't Sink It

Today is Bluesday (the first Tuesday of the month). Each Bluesday I share a tip for How To Be Blue. Being blue is about caring for the ocean - what we put into it, and what we take out of it. This month's Bluesday tip is "Drink It, Don't Sink It."

Each time I brush my teeth, I turn on the water in the sink…and leave it on. I rinse my brush and then stand there, brushing and brushing while the water is gushing and gushing. This is a waste of water. I don’t remember when this bad habit began, but I’m more aware of it now than ever. It’s a hard habit to break.

One of the best ways to keep the ocean clean and to be blue is to conserve water. One of the easiest ways to conserve water is to turn off the water while you brush your teeth. We can all learn to do it. Here’s how:

Step 1:

Put a cup beside the sink for convenience.

Step 2:

Before you start to brush, fill the cup with water and rinse your toothbrush.

Step 3:

Turn off the water (obviously, this is the most important step).

Step 4:

Brush teeth, drink water to rinse, and clean toothbrush with water leftover in cup.

Step 5:

Feel good about fresh breath, clean teeth, and being blue!


Conserve water by reforming your water use habits.

Drink it, don’t sink it. The ocean will thank you!

May you turn a deeper shade of blue with each passing month.