I have been taking my son to the playground at our local park for more than a year and up until this week, I didn’t think much of it. I thought it was a nice outing that allowed us to get some fresh air and a change of scenery. It had not occurred to me to take any special precautions. He is, after all, just a toddler.
Normally, we go to the playground and there are only a few kids there. My son stays close to me and plays in the area designed for toddlers. I can see everything that is going on in the toddler area. It is a safe and fun outing that we enjoy.
However, this week the playground was full of kids of all different ages. I wasn’t too worried since my son had never really gone out of the toddler area before, but on this day he got brave. I guess he saw all the fun the bigger kids were having. My son decided that he wanted to check out the larger area of the playground. He followed the big kids and wandered out of my sight.
The way the playground is set up, there is no way for a parent to see everything that is going on at one time. When children are running and playing in the open area, it is very easy to lose sight of a toddler. When my son took off running to the other children, I panicked. It was at this time that I realized I needed to take extra precautions.
I had always been able to see my son every second he was playing. Now that he had ventured into the larger play area, he was going through tunnels and sliding down slides that took him to the other side of the playground faster than I had anticipated.
I began thinking of all the things I should have done. I should have told him exactly where I would be so he could find me. I should have warned him not to get in front of the bigger kids on the slide. I should have put an identification card on him. I should have my cell phone in my pocket instead of in the car.
Despite my worrying, the rest of the play time went just fine. My son went down the “big boy slide” and made his rounds over the entire playground. However, the next time we go to the park I will take a few extra precautions to avoid any problems.
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