I have a feeling I'm going to regret a certain event that happened today for the REST OF MY LIFE. I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm choosing to immortalize said "event" by posting it on a public blog...that's on the Internet...that everyone can read.
I took Troy to the playplace today for lunch because he's been Master Pooperinthepotty lately and deserved a fun time out for doing so well with something that's been a real struggle for him. We pick a table outside the playplace and I position myself so I can watch him while he's running around with all the other kids.
Observation #1: He's one of the youngest and smallest kids playing. This isn't an issue for me, because all the kids look like they're playing nicely no matter their age. Troy doesn't care either, as long as there are kids to play with, he's cool.
Observation #2: The playplace isn't really "baby-friendly". Any kid that is still crawling on all fours and isn't able to keep their balance when amongst running, older kids isn't going to last long. And all the play area is up the stairs in the second-level tubes, which means that babies aren't going to be able to get up there to "play" anyhow.
Observation #3: Mama bears are watching...
So Troy's running around, having a fun time with everyone else. If you know anything about his eating habits, he's not one to sit and eat. It's a battle we've chosen not to fight with him at this point in time. He eats on the run. ...So he's in and out of the playplace enclosure grabbing a chicken nug here, a fry there... I see him start to come down the stairs, I assume to come out and get another bite, and there's a baby sitting in the way. The only way he can get past her is to carefully climb between her and the stair post, which he does, but it also means having to step over and around her arm and the rest of her body. The baby makes no move whatsoever and is blocking kids from going up and coming down the stairs. Troy has just made it past her (mind you, I'm watching this whole scene from a very clear vantage point) and the baby's mom goes over. Her back was towards me and I couldn't tell who she was talking to. But then I see Troy answer something to her, and she keeps shaking her head at him and pointing the the baby who is still sitting in the middle of the stairs. By this time I had realized that she was chewing him out for stepping over her baby and got up to intervene. I was few steps into my stomp when Troy comes out.
"What did that lady say to you?" (I was careful to keep my tone neutral; I didn't want him to think he was in trouble.)
"She said I can't come down the stairs."
"How come you can't come down the stairs?"
"I can hurt her baby and I can't come down the stairs." (Confused look on his face.)
"Did the baby get hurt? Was she crying?"
"No." (Which she wasn't, and hadn't ever cried, or even made a face that suggested something was wrong.)
I then told him that he was, indeed, allowed to come down the stairs whenever he wanted and that he hadn't done anything wrong. The last I checked stairs were considered two-way streets.
Going back to the Observations: Troy couldn't have been the only one posing a "danger" to this baby since he was in the middle of an older group. If you're going to chew someone out, then do it to a kid who is legitimately doing something wrong and can completely understand what you're getting at. Better yet, talk it up with the parent. Parents are just a leetle protective of their offspring and don't like to see random others attempting to discipline their kids.
And why was she letting her baby, who can't yet walk, or climb up stairs, or eat solid food, get that far into the playplace? With so many other bigger kids around? On stairs?!
So when Troy came out and we had this discussion I honestly couldn't decide what to do. It's no secret I've been a little hormonal lately, and even without the hormones I'm not the most sensitive of people when it comes to saying how I feel about things. I could not tell if this was a situation that required my further intervention in confronting this parent or not. Was I making too big a deal out of it? Did I really need to start something in the middle of Chick-fil-A? Was this nothing that I should forget about? I couldn't decide a rational way to approach this, so we packed up and left. It was time to go anyway.
In hindsight, I shoulda taken that mutha downnnnnn! I should have defended my son! What was I thinking?! My poor kid was so confused that he was told he wasn't allowed to go down stairs. So my regret is that I didn't do anything. I told Troy several times that he wasn't in the wrong and he probably forgot about the entire situation by the time we got home. I've been stewing all day. I should have said something. I have a few things from life that I regret, that I still feel bad about to this day even though the event was small and has been forgotten by everyone but me. I have a feeling this is going to stick with me like those others.
Do you think that random diner has any idea that another random mom from the playplace is harboring a serious grudge against her? Probably not, which means it's only hurting me. I just need to move on...
