We found a park near us that has a covered playground (if you’re not familiar with these, let me just tell you – they’re AMAZING!)

Anyway, I took Jacob the other day – he loves going and it’s great for us too because it tires him out and he ends up napping in the afternoon. (We always bring toys for him to play with, but all the kids just end up playing with each other’s toys and leaving their own toys in the sand)

We were having a great time! There were a lot of kids there with their parents (mostly moms, but I’m happy to say that I wasn’t the only daddy) and the kids were running around with each other. They ranged in age from infants to toddlers and even a couple of older kids (5-6 years old). Naturally, a lot of the toddlers (Jacob included) still put things in their mouths – seriously, I can’t wait for the oral phase to end. Kids are brave, man. Watch a kid chew on a shoe they just pulled off of someone else’s foot, and you’ll get what I mean (no, we don’t let Jacob do this, and yes, he’s tried. He’s getting his last molars now and I can only imagine the pain in his mouth). I was watching the kids play with each other’s toys and try to chew on them, while stopping Jacob from doing this too, and that’s when I saw her.

She must have been 3.5 years old. She had green crap coming out of BOTH nostrils and her upper lip was red and irritated. I instantly became quietly enraged. Who the hell brings their sick kid to a park full of other kids?!?! What a disrespectful, irresponsible parent! I watched in horror as Jacob almost touched her. I made sure he stayed as far away as possible.

At this point, you may be thinking that I was over-reacting. After all, we were outdoors, right? Wrong. On so many levels. Remember the oral phase?

But, Adam, surely you realize that your kids have to come into contact with germs so they can build their immune systems, right? Not the point.

Look, both of the above statements are true – we were in open air, and Jacob does need to build up his immune system, but that doesn’t excuse that mother from bringing her sick child to a park full of kids. There are enough germs that our kids pick up (literally) just by virtue of chewing on random things when we don’t stop them in time. We really don’t need a sick kid running around to make things worse. (I saw the little girl walk up to her mom, watched the mom wipe away the green goo, and then saw the girl a few minutes later with more green goo. Ugh!) Couple that with the fact that when your kid gets sick, the whole household gets thrown for a loop. Green Goo? Stay HOME!!

It’s simple, really. If you must go out, go somewhere that isn’t crowded with other kids. That woman’s kid was a petrie dish.

I guess I’m ranting here, but for good reason. All of our kids are going to have some kind of cold/sickness as they grow up. We all do and it’s part of life. When we have green crap coming out of our noses we don’t go into work and wipe it on our peers’ things, do we? No. Of course not. Then why is it ok to bring your sick child to a play area where lots of other kids are playing?

Exactly. It’s not. When Jacob has been sick, we’re super aware of it and we keep him away from other kids.

Bottom line: if your kid is sick, keep him/her AWAY from other kids. Seriously. You owe it your peers.

Thanks in advance,

Jacob’s Daddy

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