Photo by: Tom Check

Open Letter of Apology: To New Parents at the Playground

by Lynley Baker Phillips of "Save the Phillips Family"
Photo by: Tom Check

Dear New Parents visiting our Neighborhood Park Yesterday,

First, let me congratulate you on your beautiful three month old daughter. I am sure she is quite lovely, but the 3.5 second glimpse I was able to catch of her when not chasing my own children only told me she was wearing pink socks. They were nice.

Allow me to apologize for the fact that all the pictures of your baby’s first trip to the park will also include my son. Apparently he was quite excited to have someone else to share his new found discovery of a pine cone with other than his own Mommy. Years from now when you look back on little Susie’s first ride on the swing or trip down the slide and see a smiling, blue-eyed boy in the corner of all your pictures, please know that he was well-intended in his apparent endeavors to ruin every family photo taken yesterday. His name is “Isaac” if you care to simply write him into your daughter’s baby book.

Also know that if you are blessed with more children, you will likely allow number two (or three or four…) to sit in the wood chips and dig to her heart’s content. You will not panic when she decides to sample her surroundings, just calmly rake the wood chip from her mouth while continuing on with your conversation (I know witnessing this was a bit horrific to you at the time yesterday). If you are truly blessed to have children close together, you will simply look at the oldest with a confused expression when he too decides to eat a wood chip simply because his younger sister did (fortunately, he chewed his up).

Best of luck in parenting your new bundle of joy. The weather is predicted to be nice again today so perhaps you can re-do your park photo shoot minus my children.

Sincerely,

A Fellow Parent

Lynley Baker Phillips is a stay-at-home mommy to two, blogger, former special education teacher, and referee in all major toy disputes. Her writings have been featured in various publications and on her mother’s refrigerator door. Contact her at [email protected]

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29 Comments

This is such a cute letter! I know I always feel embarrassed when my 2 year old thinks everyone is her friend and she should get to play with everyone's toys!

Lynley,

Thank you so much for the laugh (okay and a few tears) this morning, it brought back many memories of our two boys.

Most of our friends did not have children till "later in life" so our two where the only ones around for a while and funny when they did finally have them things changed, they did not come to the annual Memorial Day Picnic because it was “too cold” or raining, but we took our kids out every year no matter what the weather...

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I hear you, sister!
I don't know how you feel about it, but often I will apologize for one or both of my kids even while I am secretly proud of what they're doing. For example: I am sorry that my oldest son pushed your son. (Really, I'm quite happy. Your son has been pounding him for the last 10 minutes, and my son just started fighting back...

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It's a good thing Nolan, my 3.5year old, and Isaac aren't likely to be playing in the same park any time soon or ever. A little Anderson Cooper with mismatched (on purpose) shoes, Nolan would provide painfully thorough commentary on everything he, Isaac, and all the other people and animals in the park are doing. "ThAt yellow hair boy is eating bark.I asked him his name and he said it is Sack. That's a silly name. There's a squirrel eating bark too...

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Loved your letter is was quite funny. I have an 18 month beautiful daughter, who has a full vocabulary and she is so friendly it scares me, she meets no strangers. She loves the park, actually she loves busy places especially where there are children playing. My daughter would have been in every picture as well saying, (cheese) with a huge smile- thinking the picture taking was for her. This us our first princess and w/ God's blessings we will have many more...

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That's such a cute letter, thanks for the laugh. And thank you for letting me know what I have to look forward to with my son. :-)

I don't know whether to be angry (at the other mom), hurt (for her misunderstanding) or simply hug you. I have been in this situation before.

Experience comes with time...and in time, one would hope that she too will see the beauty in "tasting" a bit of your surroundings.

Sending good thoughts your way.

And to all the mom's who are just trying to do the best they can...kudos.

I love this letter! I have a 2 1/2 y.o. little boy who is our oldest while being our youngest. We care for two of our older nephews as well as our own son (
they are ages 11 and 15).
The two year old is so friendly! Almost too friendly; he is always trying to hug absolutely every little kid he sees. I have an odd mixture of embarrassment and pride when my son is at the park, hugging and chattering away to complete strangers...

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That was really a very wonderful letter. I have felt that way many a time. As with Judy, I also had children before all of my friends. They had no idea what to think. It's funny when I look and watch them now going through that toddler stage and saying, "I just don't know how to control him." Half of their children are just trying to be inquisitive and they are freaking out. LOL. Well I have been the only one with children, and it's not so bad...

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I enjoyed this letter! Made me sit and remember back to my kids at that age. They are now 21 and 17. Hard to believe!! Thanks for the laugh!

I can definetly relate to this article.Having my son which is now 3 1/2, has changed my view of world! So many people are so intolerant of children. My son is very freindly and extremely talkative.....to everyone. He says hello to people in passing and introduces himself to people of all ages while we are in line at the grocery store, it blows me away at how many people actually look away and ignore him as if they will turn to stone if they acknowledege a little boy with a big grin...

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That is a very funny & heartwarming story. All of the comments posted since then are great, too! I so completely agree with it all! I have a 2-year-old son who does NOT meet a stranger & does NOT get embarrassed about anything. I have not potty-trained him yet (coming soon & dreading the task) & we were sitting in the doctor's office with my Mom last week & he told me he had "poot", his word for pooped & pointed to his behind...

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How adorable and handsome your Isaac is! I, too, with others here, am glad he's inquisitive and excited. I wouldn't worry about the others on the playground and hope you'll continue to explore and enjoy it regardless of others' menacing glance. It is a joy to have children. Rejoice and be glad in it!

I love this letter :). My first is 9 months old and we haven't had the chance to do the first park trip. I think after reading this I'll include pages like "My new friends at the park" lol. At a certain point everyone needs to just remember that kids are kids. They get into everything, they sample everything and sometimes just say the goofiest things! Its all part of the game!

I am chuckling reading this letter. So true..

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