Picnic at the park

We've had some beautiful weather this past week. Like sunny and in the 70's beautiful weather. So this morning Maddy and I packed up a picnic lunch and headed to the park with Kate. We haven't been to the park much since we moved to Macon. Mainly because it was hard with Kate. All she could do was sit in a stroller or back pack and watch. Which usually made her frustrated about 15 minutes into our playtime. Well Kate is pretty steady on feet now and wants to walk everywhere so she can finally "play" at the park.

The park is a great place for Kate to practice her moves because the floor is recycled rubber and there isn't any mulch or bark for her to pick up and eat. She was pretty cute trying to chase after her big sister.  There was a small area for "little kids" that had a slide and she loved going down the slide. It was hard to catch pictures of them playing (but I got a few) mainly because I had to keep my eye on both of them. Remember Maddy is my daredevil and will try to jump and slide down things she shouldn't. :-)

At one point Kate was taking a break in her stroller and I looked around the playground. There were several moms and lots of kids. All of the kids were running around playing and talking to one another like friends yet all of the moms were in different corners of the playground either staring off into space or busy playing with their phone. When we first got to the park I thought all the kids must have been friends because they were playing so well together but as I watched I realized that none of them knew each other before today.

As I thought about it more I also realized that none of the moms spoke to one another. What happens between childhood and adulthood that makes it difficult for adults to reach out and even say "hi" yet to our children it's so natural? I am not asking for you to be my best friend or come to my house for dinner but we should at least be able to say "hello" especially if our kids are playing together. I am guilty of it too. I could have just as easily walked over and started a conversation but I didn't. It's way easier to sit on the bench and talk to Kate than to put myself "out there" and risk being rejected or even worse having the other mom think I am "strange".... :-)

But next time I am going to put myself out there...Next time I am going to say hello. :-)