It was a gorgeous day today (don't worry all of you in the U.K.....we're getting rain the next 3 days no need to be jealous)....anyway back to our gorgeous day.....the sun was out, blue skies not a cloud to be seen - a perfect day to spend some time in the park.
There weren't too many children playing...I think most are back at school in our area so it was quite nice not to have the play equipment over crowded.
The little girl I take care of (I'm going to start calling her Ms. I) just turned 7 and is a huge fan of the monkey bars I think it is her proudest accomplishment at the park, followed closely by the fire man's pole. She was always afraid of both and struggled to pluck up courage to attempt them but at the same time showed great determination and never gave up trying. I am proud to say she is an absolute pro now. Pro monkey swinger (with calluses).
There was a very cute little girl at the park who was playing alone and befriended us. She saw how great Ms. I was at the monkey bars and really wanted to have a go herself. The little girls name was Olivia, she was 4 years old and she was at the park with her nanny (who was across the other side of the playground on the phone). She asked so politely if I could lift her up to let her do the monkey bars, I tried to explain to her that because I wasn't the parent in charge of her I couldn't help her but if she asked her nanny I was sure she would lift her up and hold her while she had a go.
"No she won't" was what I heard back. I tried to encourage her to go and ask her Nanny but again she replied
"She'll say no.....she always says no"
The poor little thing....all she wanted was to have a little go on the monkey bars.....I used to do that to Ms. I when she was small and hold her round the waist while she made her away across, far from dangerous.
Maybe I am judging the nanny badly....maybe she had a bad back and couldn't lift pip squeak little girls ummmm I mean heavy weights, it just broke my heart to see this cute little girl so sad at something that could have been fixed so easily.
I did think about lifting her up but I'm always a little wary handling other people's children without permission....you never know who's going to flip out and I know I wouldn't feel like I was doing my job properly if someone lifted Ms. I up for me.
What would you have done? Would you have lifted her up and let her have a go? I'm interested to hear other people's opinions on this.
hhhmmm...I am struck by the fact the nanny was across the park on the phone! Perhaps picking up the child and helping her cross once would have inspired the nanny to be more involved, if not-then perhaps she was not paying any attention and that is a bigger safety issue.
ReplyDeleteI find more often than not that most nannies and parents in the park are not as attentive as they should be....it's very sad....plenty of times I end up watching out for other people's children especially the toddlers high up near large gaping holes they could fall through.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment trail walker....it's a valid point.