To parents who bring their kids to the playground

I am thankful I have a job that allows me to leave the office at 5:00pm so I can have time to bring my toddler to the playground. No, my job is not easy. In fact, it's very challenging; but, it gives me flexibility so I can spend quality time with my son.

I've been bringing my kid to the playground for two years now and I've observed a lot of things happen there especially on how parents and kids interact with each other. I've learned valuable lessons too.

Here's my unsolicited pieces of advice to parents who bring their kids to the playground and a reminder to myself as well:

1. When we're at the playground with our kids, let's be totally involved in being there with them. Unless we're taking videos or photos of our kids (which we also need to limit so we'll have more enjoyable time with them), let's put down our phones. Please.

2. Play with them! Having a toddler is having the greatest opportunity to be a kid again and to be better at it! Pretend you're a pirate who is waiting to capture them down the slide or a dragon who is running after them. Sure, you'll look stupid but who cares? To your kid, you're a rock star!

3. Praise them for their accomplishments. If they were able to enjoy the swing on their own (of course, ensure to provide support for younger kids or if it's their first time), or go down the slide with minimal supervision, appreciate them!

4. Challenge them to try new things. There are tube slides at the playground here at our place that are for older kids and whenever my son wants to try to slide down there, we used to tell him "no". But, there came a point when we know he can already tackle the slide so we challenged him to go for it. The result? He went up and down that same tube slide for about 20 minutes in one afternoon and he didn't even use the ladder/stairs! They need to know you are confident that they can handle new things.

5. Watch them carefully. In my recent article, I shared about my kid being bitten by an older child in a tube slide while they were there for less than a minute. So, we should be all eyes especially for toddlers who can't communicate yet if they're injured or if someone hurt them.

6. Communicate appropriately. It broke my heart one time to see a mom yelling at her 2-year-old kid for going somewhere dangerous. Yes, what the kid did was not acceptable but the public didn't need to hear all the yelling. When there's disobedience, let's talk to our kids privately and properly.

7. Teach them to make friends. Encourage them to talk to other kids or just say "hi" or play with them. Especially for toddlers who aren't schooling yet, the playground is the best place to socialize.

Kids grow up so fast so let's enjoy every play time we can spend with them.

When your kid is bitten by another child

My 2 years and 5 months old Quest was bitten by an older kid at the mall playground this evening. I was watching him closely as he played when I saw an older girl (about 7 years old) hold Quest's hand and pulled him inside the tube slide. I thought it was sweet that he has a sort of a big sister at the playground.

 After about a minute, I saw Quest come out of the tube slide crying in pain. I quickly hugged him and asked what was wrong. My mom suggested to check Quest for any injury and that's when we saw two bites on his right arm. It broke my heart. I asked the girl but she said it wasn't her fault and she didn't know about it. We even talked to the father but we were just told, "where's your proof that my kid did it?" I said his girl was the last person my son was with in the slide and he came out with two bites. My Mom still wanted to discuss with him but the moment the father asked for a proof, I knew it's not worth talking to him.

 To all parents who bring their kids to play dates or to the mall play ground, especially if your kids are toddlers, I suggest:

1. Watch them very closely and look in the tube slide or at every corner of the playground. Make sure you know what your toddler is doing and where he or she is all the time. We were confident that Quest can play along with older kids but we never thought of him getting bitten.

 2. Unless your taking pictures or videos of your kid at play, put down your phone. I wasn't using my phone when the bite happened.

3. Be strong for your kid. Pain is inevitable. And the moment they are in pain or injured, they need to know they can depend on you to assure them that there's nothing to worry about.

4. Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Please view this link also for Babycenter's advice on Human Bites: http://www.babycenter.com/0_human-bites_11228.bc.