Responding to favours

[Lia1977]

I am a regular user of Mumsnet and as I need input from other parents, I thought that this would be a good way to get your views.
I am completing a Masters in Anthropology and trying to do some research about Reciprocity (responding to a positive action with another positive action, rewarding kind actions, small favours can produce a sense of obligation to a larger (or not) return favours).
I am focusing on Play areas and I wonder if you have any stories that could help me. For example, have any of you have made friends with other parents/ carers through taking your little ones to play at the same play area? Even if these relationships don?t spill outside the paly areas, is there any aspect of reciprocity while in the pay area? Do adults look for each other?s children? Do adults exchange advice?
Please ladies, any input would be appreciated!!!

Speaking as an old Mum (DC are adults now), I would always alert a friend that her child was, for example, holding up the queue to get on a slide by being half-way up and screaming that she was scared.

If it wasn't a friend I'd just hope that the person who the child belonged to would keep an eye on them and realise!

In general, I would be wary of talking too much to random adults at a play place. I might be more keen to talk to a grandma in case she had some childcare-related wisdom to bestow upon me.

I definitely find that it is easy to have conversations with other mums at soft play centres - the play centre I am thinking of is quite small and cosy so there are fewer children there, so that is generally a friendlier environment than some of the bigger play centres. I find that mums are often keen to talk about their little ones - problems they might be having with creche or reflux or potty training - and advice often gets swapped. Perhaps some mums like the reassurance of being able to compare their child with others and get the advice of other parents? It is often a reciprocal thing - you get to talk about your own dc in return! I wouldn't trust anyone to watch my dc for me though, unless it was simply taking it in turns to keep an eye on a bunch of children playing to check that it doesn't descend into fighting. I wouldn't trust anyone to watch ds while I take dd to the toilet, for example! The other mutual benefit of chatting to another mum at a play centre is that you both get some adult conversation - that can be difficult at times if you are a SAHM or on maternity leave as I am, so a bit of chatting time to another mum can help keep sanity levels relatively intact.

I REALLY appreciate your answers.
I have been going to play areas and parents have not been keen in talking. I also struggle to carry out interviews as I am with my little one and he's a handful.

Does a playground count as a play area? I have made lots of friends at local playgrounds. Usually we find we have common friends anyway as it´s a fairly close-knit community.
I have had other parents asking me to keep an eye on an older child while they take the younger one home to the toilet (for 3 minutes).
About four or five times I have ended up with a mum who has seen that our children have become big buddies after 2 hours at the playground together (not in this weather!) giving me their phone number to get in touch to arrange to play together again. I often don´t get in touch. On the other hand, a few years ago my husband made a friend while our kids were playing together at a playground who we would now count as amongst our closest friends. Admittedly, the playground in question was in dh´s home town (small town) and we were all visiting grandparents and by coincidence, our family and their family both live in a big city about 6 hours drive away.
Another playground contact ended up as quite a good friend as we had a lot in common professionally and our children have birthdays one day apart (and they lived nearby!).

Your answers are so helpful and I am wondering if the fact that ppl are able to make friends through playgrounds/ areas make them feel more part of the community.