We took the kids to the children's museum for the first time a few days ago. To say they had a blast was an understatement. I have been to other children's museums in big cities and this one was at least as good if not better. Not bad for our small little town!
The biggest hit with the girls was something called the "cloud climber" - A three-story tall climbing structure. Ellie, the super cautious child, was a little nervous her first time through and at one point I thought I was going to have to climb in after her. I think having her fearless younger sister Eva with her gave her just enough courage to get through. After that first time, the girls went six more times!
At not quite three-years-old, Theodore was definitely too little to go up in this thing, so I took him to the special "under 5" play area. This seemed harmless enough and he had a blast mainly just going down a slide. As an excitable preschooler, Teddy would let out occasional happy squeals. An older kid nearby apparently didn't like this and I watched as he angrily pushed Teddy down and then covered up his ears. This kid was easily 8 inches taller than Teddy so I think it was safe to assume that he was at least 4-years-old.
Now, this place was swarming with kids and there was no way to immediately tie this kid to a parent. Theodore was laying on the ground crying so I scooped him up and told the bully kid in a stern voice "You don't push other kids! That is not nice." At this point his mother surfaced and asked me if her son had pushed Theodore and I told her yes. She made him get off the play structure and took him out of the area as she was reprimanding him. I'm very non-confrontational so to be honest I was just happy she didn't get upset with me for talking to her kid. I didn't really have time to think - I just reacted. It's amazing how that mama bear instinct kicks in when someone hurts your kid - even if the perpetrator is a 4-year-old boy. If I had time to think I would have told the kid to show me who who he was with and then gone and talked to them. Ah well, live and learn.
Teddy was fine after a few minutes and went back to playing. When it was time to leave he threw a massive tantrum with Daddy carrying him out to the parking lot. He had tears streaming down his face and kept repeating, "I was busy!"
The tantrum: A sign that your child was definitely having a good time and didn't want it to end. Apparently that bully upset me more than him.
And pictures from the museum for good measure:
The biggest hit with the girls was something called the "cloud climber" - A three-story tall climbing structure. Ellie, the super cautious child, was a little nervous her first time through and at one point I thought I was going to have to climb in after her. I think having her fearless younger sister Eva with her gave her just enough courage to get through. After that first time, the girls went six more times!
At not quite three-years-old, Theodore was definitely too little to go up in this thing, so I took him to the special "under 5" play area. This seemed harmless enough and he had a blast mainly just going down a slide. As an excitable preschooler, Teddy would let out occasional happy squeals. An older kid nearby apparently didn't like this and I watched as he angrily pushed Teddy down and then covered up his ears. This kid was easily 8 inches taller than Teddy so I think it was safe to assume that he was at least 4-years-old.
Now, this place was swarming with kids and there was no way to immediately tie this kid to a parent. Theodore was laying on the ground crying so I scooped him up and told the bully kid in a stern voice "You don't push other kids! That is not nice." At this point his mother surfaced and asked me if her son had pushed Theodore and I told her yes. She made him get off the play structure and took him out of the area as she was reprimanding him. I'm very non-confrontational so to be honest I was just happy she didn't get upset with me for talking to her kid. I didn't really have time to think - I just reacted. It's amazing how that mama bear instinct kicks in when someone hurts your kid - even if the perpetrator is a 4-year-old boy. If I had time to think I would have told the kid to show me who who he was with and then gone and talked to them. Ah well, live and learn.
Teddy was fine after a few minutes and went back to playing. When it was time to leave he threw a massive tantrum with Daddy carrying him out to the parking lot. He had tears streaming down his face and kept repeating, "I was busy!"
The tantrum: A sign that your child was definitely having a good time and didn't want it to end. Apparently that bully upset me more than him.
And pictures from the museum for good measure:
I love the pictures!
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