It’s very important to me that our kids spend time outdoors, away from IPads, TV and other technology. We want our kids to be active and play. We want them to experience their world in an unstructured way so they can learn to navigate it for themselves. I enjoy playing with my kids sometimes, but I firmly believe that they need to learn to play by themselves and that someone should not have to be entertaining them constantly. Some of the best parts of my childhood were the times spent playing in the backyard with neighbors and friends with very little parental involvement. Our parents were there of course, but they were not constantly planning out every minute of every day. Today our world is different and we would likely have CPS called on us if we dared let our kids play outside without us watching them at all times. It’s very nerve-wracking to constantly feel like you’re going to get in trouble if you don’t have your eyes on your kids 110% of the time. But I digress…
We like for the kids to be outside as much as possible. We don’t have a swing set and we do not have plans to get one any time soon, if ever. We are park and playground people. I’ve been taking Evie for walks in the park since she was a month old. I don’t have the opportunity for park walks much these days since at 5 & 3, neither kid wants anything to do with the stroller. While I miss these walks, I don’t really want them sitting in a stroller anyway. They are both old enough to walk and the point of the park at this age is not to sit around and be lazy anyway. The point is to run around, play, explore and (hopefully) wear themselves out!
Parks require you to be somewhat social. I’m not an incredibly outgoing person around people I don’t know, but the social aspect of a park really appeals to me. You never know who you might meet at a park. The area where we live is fairly diverse, especially in certain areas, and I really enjoy that. Evelyn is my little social butterfly. She loves the park because she loves making new friends. She's not afraid to walk up to a child and say 'Hi – do you wanna play with me?’. I love that about her! Mitchell is slightly more reserved, but I’ve noticed him becoming more social since he’s started school.
On a personal level, I love taking the kids to the park because it gets me out of the house. It’s not that I mind playing in our own yard, but more often than not, the kids end up playing while I pull weeds or clean something. It’s nice to step away from all of that. I’ll usually snap a few pictures of the kids while they play on the playground, but I do not look at my phone while we are at the park. I watch the kids, push them on the swings and sometimes even engage in a rousing game of Tag if it’s not too crowded. As I said before, I’m not great at initiating a conversation with people that I don’t know, but at the park, there are often opportunities to connect with other parents.
We are very lucky because the Northwest part of Columbus, where we live, is home to many fabulous parks. We live within a few miles of at least 12 different parks. Some are small, with just a few benches and some playground equipment. Others have nature trails and lots of green space. A couple are near the banks of the Scioto River. I’ve recently made it my mission to visit a new park every week.
We went one recently in Dublin near the river called Scioto Trail Park. The kids explored the riverbank, rolled down a hill, climbed a tree, performed on the stage and had a grand time. We stumbled upon Deer Haven Nature Preserve during a drive a few Sundays ago. It is such an awesome place. We wandered through a trail in the woods and then took a stroll through the wetlands. We met a man and his son that were catching some tadpoles and other things that grew and lived in the wetlands. The man was high school science teacher and he was getting some samples to teach his class. He took the time to show the kids what he found and explain a little bit about them. They were enthralled. I love going to Schiller Park when we are in German Village and over the summer we ventured to Homestead Park in Hilliard. It’s gorgeous, but it was massive and crowded and I was a little overwhelmed trying to keep track of the kids by myself. My little train lover Mitchell’s favorite park is a little further from home. It’s the Choo-Choo park in Erlanger, KY. I’m not even sure of the real name, but it has a train playground and real trains go by. To Mitchell, that is heaven. Evelyn is partial to Perry Park or as she calls it “the spinney park’. It’s about a mile from our house and it has these things that you stand on while you make yourself spin around. Evie likes to pretend she’s a figure skater or a ballerina. And both kids enjoy the park next door to my parent’s house aka their neighbor’s swing set.
Wherever we go, we try to have fun. I’m looking forward to exploring some new parks soon!
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