A Mothers Frustration With Fast Food Play Areas
There is nothing much more wonderful than to see the excited faces a child as you drive up to the golden arches. I love to watch children run through the fast food restaurant and throw off their shoes and run through the brightly colored tubes, like a small hamster running through its cage.
When your small children run up to the Tyler TX play area, they look at it like a mountain they have to conquer. They bravely climb through the dark tubes until they finally find a small plexi-glass window to squish their little faces against to see if their parents are still watching. They finally see the bright yellow curvy slide which they cannot see the end. They slide down and come out a hero, proud of their great accomplishment.
But one of the most frustrating things as a parent is when your child, excitidely runs back up the tubes but finds older and bigger children taking over their defeated territory. Your children fearfully come back down away from the aggressive children. The older children began crawling past your young child, pushing them down. Disoriented, your child tries to find the exit. Your child cries are drowned out by the excited screams of the older children, whose parents are socializing to each other, not giving their children a second glance. They fight trying to find the yellow reflection of the slide. Finally, the slide was just steps away. As they slide down, hoping for the relief of the crowded play area, they slide right into two children climbing up the slide. They begin to yell at your child for running into them. They begin to scream that all the little children need to get out of the play area. Your poor child begins to cry louder for help as they are stuck in the middle of a slide. You have to get up and peal off the older children to free your child. Finally they get a breath of fresh air.
Frustrated you take your child and leave the play area, the older children’s parent still have not looked up to see their children bullying around toddlers and wrestling right in the way of other small children. Your kid cries harder as you leave, thinking that they are being punished for something because they can no longer play.
This is to all the parents out there, watch your children as they play on the play area. If there are small children being pushed and hit around by your kid, get them out of the play area. And if they are bigger than the height recommendation, don’t let them play in the tubes, especially when there are small children playing. Why have we lost the idea of manners? “Excuse me” and “sir, and mam” has been lost from this generation’s vocabulary. Teach your children to be kind to other children, and then maybe we would not have this problem.