Play area pet peeves

Yesterday we were out looking at an item on Craigslist and we decided to head to the mall to let Adele burn off some energy in the play area before her nap time. While we were there, Adele loved running around, observing other kids and mimicking them, climbing, jumping, etc. My girl loves to play.

We decided she's the perfect age for play areas such as this. She's not too little to get trampled on, but not too big to worry about her trampling on others.

This reminded me of another time we were at the play area in the mall, and what I have come to recognize as two of my biggest pet peeves: kids who wear shoes in the play area, and kids who are too big to be in the play area. (Big kids wearing shoes are the worst.)

There are reasons for rules.

Big kids play differently than the little kids. They have a tendency to be rougher, more wild, and not be cautious of the other little kids trying to play nicely on the toys. Often a rowdy game of TAG gets going with big kids. (I'm sure there are big kids who play calmly in play areas too...but this has not been my experience.) When Adele was a little younger and thus considered one of the little kids, I felt like I had to watch out for her more so she wouldn't find herself under the feet of big wild kids.

Which brings me to my second pet peeve. Kids who wear shoes often end up stepping on other kids. Obviously by accident, but it happens nonetheless. Any kid who can walk should follow the rule of not wearing shoes, because that kid can walk right on top of some poor little kid's hand.

When Adele was one of the littler kids, I would get so irked at kids who didn't follow these two rules. Unfortunately, my passive-aggressive side kicked in and I would find myself making these comments sort of loudly:

"Adele careful of the big kids running around; I don't want you to get crashed into."
"Adele remember when you're playing on the ground like that to watch out for your fingers so you don't get stepped on by kids wearing shoes."
"Adele why don't you play over here to stay out of the way of the big kids running around."

Naturally, I was hoping the parent would overhear and promptly realize their mistake and either remove their big kid from the area or remove their kid's shoes. It never happened, and I'm sure there are other ways I should handle situations like that without my irkness getting to me.

Maybe I'll figure that out by the time Henry is playing in the play area.