“I’m not a park mum”!

[cookies79]

I’ve come to the realisation that I’m just not a “park mum” 😅

I try, I really do… but I end up feeling overwhelmed more than anything. The noise, having to constantly be “on”, keeping an eye on everything, making sure they’re safe, engaged, not wandering off it just feels like a lot.

I see other mums who seem so relaxed, chatting away while their kids play, and I honestly don’t know how they do it. Meanwhile I’m counting down the time until we can leave without it seeming too soon.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who finds it a bit much?

Exactly.

Whereas I hate crafting! But dont mind soft play, trampoline parks etc I love how we are not all the same!

Ahh I loved crafting with my DDs or playing with sulvanian families

I am too scared of them hurting themselves! And I hate people. We go early morning in the summer which is alright. If it’s just my 9yo I take a book to try and read in between the “mummy watch this” and “look at me!”. 4 yo tries to kill himself on everything so I try to take him with dh. He enjoys following him around and catching when necessary

Exactly this. There’s a weird tendency on some of these threads to assume all the other parents in the park or on the school run or whatever are having a ball.

When DS was that age we were the only foreigners on a spectacularly insular village, so, despite being a friendly, socially competent individual, my main memory of those after-school park sessions was freezing my ass off in the world’s most exposed park, getting side-eye from DS’s classmates’ mothers, all of whom had known one another since nursery, while DS lost shoes, gloves, hats etc.

I liked the parks in general. Plural because we got to know practically every one in North London over time. The rope climbing frame still gives me the shivers though. The one with a sort of maypole in the middle. Three year old twins were near the top when big sister decided to give them a thrill by shaking it vigorously. Think I aged ten years in thirty seconds.

I loved going to parks when my kids were small. But I’m also a bit crap socially, and never mastered the art of chatting to other mums while the kids ran about. Instead I would take my two to quieter parks and would run about with them. I preferred parks with botanical gardens or nature areas, where we could have a peaceful picnic and stay for hours and have some space to ourselves .

I hate the park too! Annoyingly there is one right next to my kids school so they are asking to go there daily!!!

I love parks, they're free and lots of space for thr kids to run round! Guess I've always been a park Mum, with dogs before/with DC. Always nicer when it's not the best weather as so much quieter. Xx

I can't speak for the OP, but I'm AuDHD and I get overwhelmed by the noise, erratic movements of people and animals, unpredictability of people running around and shouting. Also not a big fan of the cold 😂I was at the park with my 15yo the other day but I couldn't wait to get back into the city and into a coffee shop, I'm not a natural outdoors person at all