Assumptions And The Judgey Mom At The Play Place

Today is my sweet baby boy's THIRD birthday. Can you believe it?

We have a big party planned for him this weekend but I asked him what he would like to do today to celebrate. He picked a play place and Adam took a half day off of work to meet us there.

When we got there, the parking lot was full so we had to park in the back and take the back stairs in. The stairs were dark, dirty, and kind of scary. Then once we got up there, the door was locked and I had to call for them to let me in. The whole thing was weird and I should have known we were in for some trouble right there.

I kept looking at the clock and wondering where Adam was. He doesn't have a cell phone so I couldn't check in. I got more worried as time went on.

Meanwhile, he was in the parking lot wondering where I was. He didn't see my car and didn't know about the parking area behind (I didn't know until today either.) It had cleared out and there was plenty of parking so it never occurred to him. 

So at the same time, he was in his car freaking out about what happened to us. And I was inside pacing and wondering what happened to him.

Finally he came inside...and there we were! So we all sat down in the eating area to have lunch together.

I was the crazy mom taking pictures of my child eating.

 I made his sandwich into a train and I was excited to see his reaction. 

 Of course he ate the raisins I used to add details and announced he was done with lunch. 

And here is the picture of him eating a few bites only because I bribed him :P

So clearly I was in my own little world. Meanwhile, Adam noticed one of the moms was staring at us and giving us dirty looks. Whatever. It's Jayden's birthday and we're having a good time.

As time went by, it became increasingly obvious this person was angry with us. It was so weird. 

After lunch, Jay ran off and I got up to follow him. As I start to pass the mom, she confronts me. She came on really strong and in my face. She pointed in the general direction that Jay was and asked if that was my kid. I said, "Why? What did he do?" She got louder and said "IS THAT YOUR KID?" and then I realized she was not pointing to Jay. I was so confused. I realized she was mad at me for not watching my child....but he was not mine!! 

There was a one year old up in the tree fort area and I guess she felt someone should be watching him up there because he was young. All this time she had it in her head that Adam and I were eating lunch with Jayden, but left our one year old up in the tree fort. Why us? I had one interaction with the child when he was playing with Jay earlier, but that was it. I had a similar interaction with many of the kids there. 

I don't know why she made this whole scenario up in here head. And she was ANGRY with us over it. Isn't it amazing what happens when you assume things?

Even if he was my child, approaching me like that was not okay. And her hovering over the child and making a huge deal about him using the stairs alone was plenty obvious. She didn't need to talk loudly about how nobody was watching him. 

The real kicker is that she never apologized to me. In fact, a little bit later when Jay was climbing on something, Adam and I were sitting on a bench nearby, and we got another dirty look from her! Apparently we are supposed to stand next to him at all times. This is a small play place that is completely fenced in. Everything is perfectly safe. And Jayden is basically a professional climber at this point. She may have felt it was dangerous, but it was the safest place he had climbed all week.

I don't mind helicopter parents. I also don't mind parents with cell phones sitting on a bench. To each their own. As long as your kid isn't beating up mine while you ignore it, I don't care. I tend to be more on the helicopter side when in public just because Jayden is a runner and I don't trust him not to run into traffic. But, in a safe environment, I can be the mom with a phone sometimes too. No matter what parenting choices I may have been making at the time, nobody deserves to be talked to like that. And I didn't enjoy the dirty looks while I was eating lunch just because she has an active imagination.