You just got to tell a grandma

Today was Slade's fourth birthday party! It was a wild and crazy fun time at McDonald's. Before the lunch and cake there weren't many kids there so the "party kids" pretty much had the run of the playground. While Slade's guests were filling up on yummy Happy Meals and cake, the saturday afternoon lunchers were piling in, bringing children of all ages. I guess the tension I was feeling b/c of this was outwardly visible, b/c many people asked me what the matter is. I've never been able to hide my feelings.

After Slade had his fill, he got to open a ton of presents, it was so fun to watch, yet every child, including Slade was ready to head back to the play place, and that they did once the unwrapping ended. And my oh my! It was a jungle out there, and I'm pretty sure I'm not exactly built to deal with that. But I let my oldest run along into the world children to make her own way. Still visibly tense, but oh so relieved to see that all my middle child wanted to do was hang around her daddy and play where only the tiny tots are supposed to, and my very youngest we nestled very comfy, on one hos his cousin's shoulder. Ok, I was going to take a deep breath and try to relax, when Thing 1 approached, eyes full of tears, yet not quite crying. "They won't let me go down the slide" she said to me. My heart broke. I felt very much like I was in middle school and mean girls were giving me the stink eye. You never really get to leave those feelings behind. But I'm a mom, and Thing 1 depends on me to tell her the answer to this problem. After discerning what kind of person is telling her she cannot go down the slide, I said, "You just tell him, 'Yes I am going down the slide, MOVE!'" I don't know for sure if this is right, but I don't want my little girl to get pushed around, and I didn't tell her to deck him which I very much wanted to do. So, I sent the little thing back into to jungle, and my heart broke a little more. I then eyed the slide looking for her, I saw several kids I knew, coming down, but oddly enough they were all boys, however little. So I was wising up. Whoever the bully was,was gender profiling. Then I saw my little girl come out the entrance about lost it. Just going off telling everyone who asked exactly what my problem was, "There's a boy in there who won't let Ethne down the slide". And the other mothers seemed upset by it, but in a calm,rational way. So I was wondering what was wrong with me a little bit, but mostly I didn't care, I was just plain mad. I could see several kids in the pipes of the play area who really seemed too old to be there. I'm all for older kids having fun and hanging out, I'm just not sure it's should be in the play area of McDonald's. It they want to sit and chat, there are perfectly good tables and even the floor. They don't need to be congesting the area where my little one, and other little ones want to crawl, play and explore. I am so proud of the older kids from Slade's party who were chilling out together very comfortably at a table. I must remember to thank them for that.

I told Thing 1 it was time to go, but she didn't want to leave without sliding, and I couldn't blame her. That's the whole point right? The awesome slide at the end of the adventure throught the pipes. So I just told her to try again and push the bully out of the way.

Then I noticed another little girl with tears in her eyes telling a woman she couldn't go down the slide. The woman said, "Just say excuse me". I had to pipe up. "I don't think that is going to work, I've sent my daughter up there several times and they won't let her through either." "That's just senseless" she said and removed her shoes and headed in, my daughter and the other little girl in tow. And a quick minute later, Thing 1 came whizzing down the slide with her new comrade right behind her. Then out out came the hero of the day, " Turns out," she informed, "there are a couple big boys up there blocking two of the pipes, not letting little girls through, they said to me, 'I didn't know parents could come in here', I said, 'well, sometimes they have to when there are means boy in here being mean to the little girls, I didn't tell them I was a grandma!"
So, maybe next time my little girls is struggling in the world of little men, I will be brave enough to climb into the jungle and help her though a bit, or find a grandma......