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.