There's a bully on every playground

While our running in our neighborhood (still the temporary one) we discovered that there is a little park near by. Since most of Mason's play has been limited to the apartment or occationally our courtyard or out on long strolls around town just riding in the stroller, I decided he deserved a trip to a real playground. So yesterday we set off for the playground. When we arrived, I was even more pleased to see several other children playing at the park. Most of them were of course older than him and we quickly discovered that it was some kind of organized group or class that was there on a break. (I of course got several questioning looks by the 3 Fraus monitoring the children.)

So we pulled into the play area, I parked the stroller next to a bench and set Mason free. What is interesting about all the playgrounds we have seen in Germany so far is that they are usually made mostly of wood, have pretty high structures and would be deemed "unsafe" by most American standards (see pictures of another playground we went to). This particular playground was no exception as one of the main structures at the playground was a fairly high platform with two straight up ladders to get onto the platform and then a slide at one end and other aperatuses on the other that appeared to be for pouring sand or water down a shoot.

Mason is not quite coordinated or tall enough yet to be able to climb these ladders so I was helping him get up to the platform and then nervously walking along the side until he got to the slide and sat down. I should mention that there were four posts in the corners and a top railing going around it, but nothing but the four posts supporing it so a child could easily fall out the side and far to the ground. Mason was really enjoying the slide and we had gotten a couple consecutive "runs" in while the other children were distracted for a moment on the benches with a snack.

We were in the process of climbing the ladder again when the children ran back to the play equipment from their break. Two boys quickly assended the "tower" and were at the top of the platform before Mason reached the top. This of course made mom nervous that the children might accidentally bump him on his walk to the slide. So he started to walk across the platform to the slide and just as he was about to get to the slide, one of the boys moved over directly in front of it. Another boy pulled in close too, but with some hesitation, to block Mason from using the slide. Normally at an American playground I would simply say something like, "excuse use" or "he's little please let him pass" but that was useless since I didn't really pick up the lingo for child playground etiquette from the Rick Steves' German phrase book. Clinging close to the side of the platform and reaching up as high as I could to keep arms ready to catch in case this "bully" decided to push Mason off the platform I did what any other mother would do, I reverted to french. I started saying "attention, attention" (read with a french accent) and motioned Mason to continue to the slide. The one boy quickly moved out of the way, but the other stood his ground. Some other children started to arrive at the top of the platform close to Mason and his Goliath and one girl rambled something off in German in which I picked out one word "tot". I can only guess, and hoped at the time, that she was lecturing the bully to watch out that there was a small tot trying to get to the slide. The bully slighly turnd away from the slide entrance just enough for Mason to get seated on the slide but enough for him to give the appearance that he was "standing his ground".

So Mason ended up finally getting to go down the slide and we moved on to a different toy. Shortly after the ordeal the other children all got called away to go back to their school and we continued to play in peace. Today we tried out another playground that we had to take the train too. Andy and I had discovered it when we went out on a movie date over the weekend. These playgrounds were much like the one in our neighborhood, but this one in particular, was much higher in areas and seemed to look more like an army training ground with rope walkways and handles that you would expect to find in some remote jungle to cross a 500 foot drop to a canyon with aligators below. Mason's favorite is the platform swing used to train fighter pilots against motion sickness :)

The pegged slant board with a rope to pull on for assistance gave Mason some challenge and needed help. But the rope web on the other side, not too much of a problem (with a little help from mom). Once to the top of that platform, he wanted to go across the narrow rope bridge. I knew it would hold me, as I tested it out, so I figured I could go across with him and still have a pretty firm grip. As we started across his little feet just went smoothly one in front of another as he held on to the ropes and me barely having to hold on to him. He was a natural balancing across the narrow aperatus. You can see in the picture the smile on Mason's face and the fear on mine. I just hope with all these experiences and training on German playgrounds that he doesn't become the "bully" when we get back to the States.