Playground Politics

I knew that having a baby changes everything.  Clearly.  I mean, I've seen the shampoo commercials.  But Johnson & Johnson didn't prepare me for the playground.  Actually, I didn't know that I NEEDED to be prepared for the playground.  It all seemed so straightforward.  Slides, swings, kids.  No problem.  But there's more.  There is a whole playground dynamic outside the wooden boundary.  Its with the parents. 

I was sitting at a Chick Fil A playground watching Peyton play with five other kids of varying ages when I realized that I felt strangely self conscious.  All of a sudden questions like, "should I stop him from following that girl around?" (it might creep ME out) and "do I seem like a bad parent for not helping my kid when he yells for me to help him up the stairs?"  (our playground 'deal' is- if you can't get there on your own, you can't go)  were popping into my otherwise confident (ha!) mind. 

And it's not that anyone seemed to be judging.  In fact the other parents were perfectly friendly to me and Peyton.  But the dynamic is weird.  Especially when it's my kid following the girl around.  Really, he was just trying to play with her and she wasn't having it.  (they start young)  But, to my relief, another child showed up who was screaming.  I mean, SCREAMING.  All.  The.  Time.  At the top of her lungs.  She climbed to the top of the play structure and she screamed.  She slid down the slide and she screamed.  She walked across the rubber floor and she screamed.  And apparently she really does do this all the time.  She wasn't upset, just expressing herself.  Her daddy was really embarassed but clearly defeated.  He apologized to the rest of us a couple of times.  I really had no problem with his daughter.  I was glad she was screaming outside instead of inside.  It changed the thought from 'do these people mind that my kid is learning social rules with their kids?' to 'glad i'm not that guy'.   And the dynamic shifts.