Parenting at the Park

We spend a lot of time exploring the parks around our new neighborhood. I've really got to hand it to the city of Pasadena - they are doing an awesome job in the parks department! This city of just over 140,000 residents has 23 parks. Wow! (We've ventured slightly further afield to South Pasadena, and their parks are also pretty cool.)

Let me describe a typical park here for you.

• Two play structures - one for ages 2-5, and one for ages 5-12 
• Bark chips covering the ground
• Shade trees
• Variety of items to climb up, over, and through - plus slides
• Swings
• Maybe a sand play area, or water, or see-saw
• A couple driving wheels
• Nice landscaping
• Clean and well-maintained 

And don't forget all of this is outside under that gorgeous California sun! Can you tell I'm enjoying our SoCal lifestyle?? :)

Now, let's talk about what parents do at the park. Usually we encounter lots of other toddlers and preschoolers at parks, since we tend to go in the mornings. I've observed these cultural norms so far:

• Parent has a beverage with them, usually coffee
• It's not all moms. I see lots of dads, and some grandmas, grandpas, and nannies. And I see two parents more often that I would have expected on weekdays.
• Most people have 1 kid, some 2. We've actually met a lot of twins!
• Parent follows child around the play area
• Parent engages child in playing and talking 
• Many people speak languages other than English
• Parent feeds child a snack. Most extreme example of this I've seen was the dad trailing his kid with a yogurt parfait from McDonald's, trying to get the child to take bites while playing
• Child is often dressed more warmly than my kids (long pants/sleeves even when I think it's warm)
• Parent intervenes quickly in fights/sharing disputes amongst children
• Children in the sand area are expected to share their toys with others
• Parent takes pictures of child
• Parent intermittently looks at phone, but most parents aren't totally sitting on a bench zoned out in phone land

Meanwhile, I don't bother bringing any beverages with me because I need both arms free for catching my little daredevils! Gus totally flung himself headfirst down a big slide yesterday while Gibson was off and climbing up a 5-foot tall apparatus. At least I can tell they're getting better at climbing with all this practice, but more confident, too...eek!

toddler-friendly play area, except for that ladder-like part where 

Gibson got to the top and tried to jump off