The joy of playgrounds
Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I once had the confidence to interview politicians and leading dignitaries when I now don’t even have the nerve to approach another female in the playground. The thought of asking another mum if their child would like to come for a play date with mine can break me out in a cold sweat.
I feel intimidated by the groups of women who huddle together around their designer buggies. More than once I’ve tried to stroll over, smile and shoot the breeze only to be blanked. And this has often been by women I’ve had lengthy chats with on previous occasions. However in my neck of the woods it seems to be acceptable for people to ignore each other and avoid all eye contact when it suits.
Ridiculous isn't it? Yet one mum came to collect her little darling from ours and then afterwards began to blank me in the playground. What had I done? I anxiously sat and obsessed over every detail of the brief conversation I had with her. I had smiled and been friendly, didn't have spinach stuck in my teeth or food in my hair. Blanking seems to have become the norm.
Even the commute to school can be stressful. But what should be a fairly pleasant ten-minute walk has become a competition for survival of the fittest.
It’s like sharing the pavement with frustrated racing drivers – who are steering Bugaboos and Phil and Teds and have a steely glint in their eye. I’ve had parents cut me up with their buggies, elbow me and my little ones out of the way so we’re all practically spread-eagled in hedges – all in their ambitious strive to get ahead and be in the playground first. And as for manners? Forget it. It’s little wonder their little darlings don’t know how to say please and thank you. It’s just like being on the Tube.
I personally prefer not to be in the playground early at the start or the end of the day. It can be excruciating. There are countless occasions when I’ve felt like a complete and utter spare part. I end up checking texts that aren’t there and also tend to engage in intense conversation with my youngest – even if she is asleep in her buggy. It’s like regressing to childhood again. I now feel like the little girl in the playground. Though I don’t ever remember encountering such hostility when I was that age. You just got on with it and walked to school on your own.
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