Our Trip to McPuke's

Last Friday was the first sunny day we had seen in a long time. Both kids were sick of being inside. We had overdone the malls, the bouncy castle and the library. Actually, I was avoiding the library. Six late DVDs = $9 in late charges.

After a failed attempt to play at a flooded out playground I took the kids to McDonalds. I don't like going there. The food isn't that great. I don't even bother to read the cheeseburger wrapper. Do I really want to know that it has 400 calories and 400 grams of fat?

Bear and Squirrel like to go because they like the taste of crappy hamburgers. Deep fried french fries sure beat my attempt at baked fries. And then there is that great big germ infested climbing structure. One of my kids peed in there once. We told the manager and a very grumpy teenage boy had to climb in there and clean it up. We wondered "how many kids have peed, or barfed up there, and nobody bothered to tell anyone?" I feel like slathering the kids with Purell when I get home.

I was happy to see that aside from us there was only a set of grandparents and their curly haired granddaughter in the room. The grandmother looked at me with wide eyes and a big smile. "They've blocked the top" she greeted me.

"The top?" I wondered. "You mean they can't climb up there?"

Her eyes grew wider and she said with a nod. "Yes, they've blocked it." She drew up the word 'blocked'. Blooooooooocked it.

"Why?" I asked.

Then both grandparents told me how unsafe it was - it could topple, the child could fall, blah blah blah. That's when Bear shouted "Hey Mommy, I'm at the top!" He poked his blond little head out a window of the house that was the top of the structure.

"How'd you get up there? Isn't it blocked?" I asked.

"I don't think so. I just climbed and got to the top! I'm sliding down now." and he squeaked down the slide.

That was the a-ha moment. Grandma's pants were on fire. I turned to here and she smiled weakly. "I guess its not blocked. I guess we were wrong."

Sure. OK. I thought.

"I guess so" I muttered.

She had a hard time explaining to her granddaughter why Bear got to the top, why she was wrong about it being blocked and why the little girl couldn't go up there.

"You'll get stuck. It's too hard" the grandmother said. I quietly offered to go up and get her if she did get stuck. The grandmother said that the girl better not. Then she told me this story -

Her grandson who was 4 had gone on one of the structures and was too afraid to come down. Personally I didn't blame him. I hate going in there. It's claustrophobic, sticky, and did I mention really, really, high? And that the big kids like to rock it sometimes? I don't know how kids do it.

Anyway, grandson is in the structure and was too afraid to come down. Daddy had to go up and rescue him. I think every parent has had to venture into that thing at one point, to the rescue. My dear husband plays in it for goodness sake. What she said after that is what upset me. When her grandson got home you better believe that he was spanked. She said this with an approving nod.

This made me angry on so many levels. For starters the little guy was spanked. Why people still think this is OK, is beyond me. If my husband decked me for making a mistake I can name ten people that would beat his sorry ass down. Not to mention, if I called the cops he would be arrested. It's called assault. If someone confides in a friend that they were hit by their spouse they are urged to leave, and leave quickly. Sadly, if a child confides in an adult that they were spanked, the adult would most likely ask "What did you do?" If your girlfriend got slapped across the face by her partner would you say "Well, what did you do?" No, you'd said "Lets chop of his balls."

For some very sad reason people think spanking is an appropriate tool for discipline. Some say it's biblical (it's not). Sure, the boy may have never got stuck in the climbing structure again. But at what cost? What sort of lesson does a child learn? That when you are afraid don't count on Dad to help you? If you make a mistake, don't admit it, because you'll get hurt?

Children are people and they deserve the same rights as we do. We need to be more vigilant about protecting those rights. They are too small to defend themselves.

I have to say that I was very relieved that they decided to leave at that moment. I wishing I had the guts to speak my mind, yet trying to hold back because I had a very nasty remark in mind.

We left soon after, and enjoyed the rest of our afternoon.

Getting of my soapbox to make some tea........