100 Reasons I love America: #3 Parks.

Of all the activities I can take my kids to, I like parks the least. I feel much lighter now that I have that confession out of my system. Before I dive into why I love parks in America, I guess I should touch upon why I would pick a book store anyday instead of a park. Here are my reasons:

1. It’s cold.
2. I don’t want to stand in one place and push the swing 200 times for my toddler.
3. I don’t want to stand at the bottom of the slide and beg my toddler not to slide backwards or standing up or use another kid as a base to slide. I could of course run behind my child to the top of the slide but then she often assumes, we are now racing each other and things end up much worse.
4. It’s cold.
5. I have to pee or my older kid has to pee or my younger one has to pee and the park restrooms are open only between 1 AM and 9 AM weekdays.

Hence, I don’t enjoy taking my kids to parks. I have become much better at handling parks now though. I spent a l-o-n-g in the park near Lake Elizabeth and turned to my husband and asked if we can leave since we had been there almost 2 hours and it was cold. He said we had been there 30 minutes. Time literally stands uncomfortably still for me in parks.

So, why do I love America because of parks? Because, my kids (including my husband) love parks! They love running on the green grass, chasing ducks in circles in some parks, flying kites in parks, coming down the slide lying down or backwards, throwing sand on each other or me — they just love everything about parks. And magically, they all leave the parks feeling energized and more likely to sleep earlier in the night. Win, win.

The children’s parks in America are awesome. They are clean, age appropriate, have safety features built in and always have a handy restroom nearby that is locked. There are some days (ok, more than some days. Ok, almost all days) when my husband and I are ready to call it a night but the kids are doing a karaoke-gymnastics-dance routine jumping on the sofa. On those days, parks are a God send. They can do their mad karaoke routine in the park (and people watch us with questioning expressions on their faces that say “Why are your kids so loud?”. But, that’s ok, people watch us like that even when we are at restaurants with our kids. Or anywhere else outside the house with kids. So, that’s ok.) and swing 200 times and come backwards on the slide. So much win.

Jokes apart, these parks are awesome. I love them. At least my husband and kids love them. That’s my reason number 3 to love America.