Parents at the Park

The older I get, the less interested I am in small talk. Unfortunately, small talk is virtually unavoidable when you're a parent at the park. A few weeks ago I was swinging my daughter at a beautiful park overlooking Lake Michigan on a gorgeous Fall day. I'm normally pretty extroverted, but this day I really just wanted to appreciate the nice weather and not have to pretend to care about little Keaton's developmental accomplishments or his unique name, cute shoes, fancy stroller, etc. There were two empty swings between us and the next kid. Another parent made her way towards the empty swings....

Perhaps it was my unfriendly demeanor or the fact that I was staring at the ground, but this mom took the hint and stealthily slid her son into the swing closest to the other pair, a middle aged stay-at-home Dad pushing his baby daughter. I breathed a sigh of relief and settled into ease dropping. The conversation they had was so predictable that the details don't really matter. Pretty much any parent who's been at the park recently can fill in the blanks:

Park Mom: "How old is your son/daughter?"

Park Dad: "X months/years. How about yours?"

Park Mom "X months/years. What's his/her name?"

Park Dad: "It's X"

Park Mom : "Wow, what a cute name! That was on our top 5 list."

Park Dad: "So does he/she sit up/crawl/walk/talk yet?"

Park Mom: "Oh yes, he/she has been sitting up/crawling/walking/talking since X months. What about your child?

Park Dad: "No, he/she doesn't sit up/crawl/walk/talk yet."
Park Mom: "Oh well that's fine. It's normal for him/her. My pediatrician said blah blah blah blah"

This is where I always stop listening because I am SO tired of hearing what everyone else's pediatricians think.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that Park Mom and Park Dad are bad people, or that I wouldn't want to be friends with them. It's just that some days I don't have the patience to wade through the small talk in order to get to the part where parents start being genuine with each other.

I mean, imagine what Park Mom would do if she asked "How are you today?" and I responded with "Well, I'm not so good because my baby was up half the night, so I finally took her into bed with me and then she puked all over my sheets so I had to get up and change them at 3 am, and then the next morning I got in a fight with my husband because he made the coffee too weak AGAIN!" Park Mom would definitely run away, back to Park Dad who makes a better show of being in control of his life.

Anyway, every time I hear a conversation like this between two parents, or participate in one myself, I secretly feel grateful for my husband, my parents, my sister, and all those real life "Park Moms" and "Park Dads" who have names to me, and who can relate to my daily struggles and lend me some supportive, encouraging words when I need them. I feel that these people understand and won't judge me for being honest about the difficult side of parenting. All I can say is that I hope that Park Mom and Park Dad have those people in their lives too, or they are on the fast track to insanity!