The Play Land Debate….in my own head

Fast food play lands are both a god sent and a nightmare. All kids love going to the play land. They just want to get in there, play with other kids, hear their screams echo and make endless trips around and around the same route up to the top and then down the slide. Kids don’t get bored with this, they could stay there all day.

Parents on the other hand like the fact they can sit and actually eat a meal while the car is not in motion and maybe check a few emails or just zone out for a moment in your own head. It’s a moment of peace in the most unpeaceful place on earth. If you can tune out all of those shrieks, the sound of all the little feet running through tunnels and the terrible echo that all of these places have then you are definitely a parent because no sane person could ignore those sounds and find any peace in this chaos.

Now I am really torn sometimes on how much I should worry about germs in these places. You can look at it in two different ways. One, just relax, all kids need to build up their immunity. What a better place to do this. They are potentially exposed to everything from the common cold, to the newest stomach bug, to pink eye or if your really lucky, lice. Second approach is try to keep your kids ingestion of these bugs limited. Sanitize their hands, your table and keep their shoes and jackets with you at all times. Sanitize again as soon as you leave. But if you go this route then don’t forget it does not do any good unless you plan to clean their hands every time they run over to the table to put a fry in there mouth. This also doesn’t cover the fact that while they are in the play land you have no control over how many times they rub their face, put their hand in their mouth or touch their eyes. There are no guarantees that your going home with no bugs.

I guess you just have to relax, let them have fun, enjoy your few minutes of peace and do your best to keep them somewhat clean by washing before they eat and after they are done playing. In reality it’s no worse than your next stop, the grocery store, where you’ll be exposed to a new variety of germs the second you walk in and grab your cart.

Enjoy it while you can though because before you know it you’re going to wish your child was young enough to get that excited about a couple slides, some cheap food and really still appreciate getting a day with mom. Everything is still so exciting. Kids aren’t picky, they just want to spend time with their parents and have their full attention. Appreciate all of the time you have with your kids. It’s easy to get busy and think you’ll make time later but before you know it they’re grown up and you missed it. Go hug your kid and be excited to go to that play land and listen to their laughs.