another playground rant

I have blogged about this before, but I can't help myself after my failed playground visit yesterday.

Why do mothers insist on ruling the playground? Why can't they just leave the kids alone to get on with it? Why does every single run up the darn play structure and down the sodding slide have to be supervised an inch away from the action, neurotically cheered on in a shrill voice and coached through as it was the Olympics?
God forbid we should miss a second of precious little Sam taking yet.... another step. Guess what? He'll do it again.
Intervening, interfering, we're not letting kids have a go at working it out it for themselves. That goes for both motor and social skills.
When I was a kid my mom packed a basket with a thermos full of black coffee, a book and her knitting. In the park she sat next to all the other mothers on a bench and she didn't bat an eyelid unless I had literally cracked my skull open. Bruised knee? Go on - get back and play. Hungry? Sure, dinner is ready in two hours. Mommy just needs to gossip away some of that caffeine rush first.
OK, so I am exaggerating a bit (kind of) but seriously: we need to stop mollycoddling our kids.

They will survive, they will not have to go in to therapy and they will not hate you if you leave them alone to figure it out for themselves for a while, in fact, they might even thank you.