What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice. What are little boys made of? Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails. What are happy kids made of? Slides and swings and other park things.
A friend of mine recently asked me if I take my kids to the park seven days a week. I laughed. I don’t, but I can see how it might seem that way. Any half-way observant person will have noticed that a majority of my Facebook photo albums are filled with pictures of my kids on some type of play equipment. Yep, when it comes to the parks in the Saratoga area, my kids and I have just about done them all. If there was such a thing as a frequent playground club then Josie, Jamie, and Johnny would be card carrying members.
This is not without reason. Kids are happier on days when they’ve played at the park.
First off, park visits give us something to look forward to. Every morning when she wakes up, before she’s even rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, Josie asks me, “What are we going to do today, Mom?” If the answer is “stay at home” then her response is a dejected and downtrodden, “Ohhh.” But if the answer is “go to the park” then she replies with an energetic and eager, “Okay!” From then on, the rest of our morning moves quickly and efficiently since we know we have somewhere fun to be.
Today a trip to the fountain park on Beekman Street in Saratoga Springs was on the agenda. We met our friends there, donning swimsuits and sandals. Josie loves running around in the fountains. Jamie was more interested in the swings and the turn table. As always, Johnny was happy to just go with the flow and spent some time trying everything.
Mommies like me LOVE parks like this. We hardly have to lift a finger, except for giving the occasion push on the swing set and distributing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at lunchtime. For the most part I just sit back and enjoy the smiles on my happy kids’ faces. Park visits are about the closest I come to getting time off.
But the fun doesn’t stop there. On most park days the kids take better naps. Johnny slept for almost four hours after we got home this afternoon! And with a nice, restful nap comes a happy, pleasant evening. Josie and Jamie played a pleasant game of pretend in the living room together while Johnny helped me prepare dinner. Then everyone sat at the table and ate their food without complaints. Afterwards Mommy gave piggy-back rides to the kiddos (an activity for which she had the energy thanks to her restful break at the park earlier). When the time came for baths we all headed upstairs and washed up, then Josie, Jamie, and Johnny sat picturesquely in a circle on the bedroom floor, stark naked, playing with building blocks while I hung clean clothes in their closets. After dressing them in pajamas and reading them a short book I said “good-night” and closed the door, and I didn’t hear another peep before they were fast asleep. Surely, our day today was the type of day that young, naive, pregnant women dream about when they envision themselves as moms.
Days like today are great days and I have the park to thank for it. Parks make kids happy, which is the way that kids were made to be.
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