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"Playground Politics: Why waiting your turn ain&amp;#x27;t such a bad thing. You know how at the gym there&amp;#x27;s the treadmill rule--something like you can only use it for thirty-minute intervals if there&amp;#x27;s people waiting. Does that rule apply at the playground? I took JD to a park in Wayne over the weekend and we waited for one of the infant swings to free-up. No big deal. JD is super into the slide these days. Of course I support his waist between my hands, but he loves the quick rush of movement. He&amp;#x27;s also really into to just chilling on a picnic table and observing everything. He loves watching the big kids swing and toddlers trip over each other, falling into the cushy mulch. But, when an infant swing frees up we make a beeline because JD loves to swing and is fearless. If he could say &amp;quot;higher, higher&amp;quot; he would. About three minutes into our swing I noticed a grandfather, dad and two-year-old twins coming towards us. There were only 2 infant swings at the park. The grandfather put the little boy in one of them and as you read, JD was swinging happily in the other. I smiled at the family, then turned back to my squeaking baby. That&amp;#x27;s when I heard this: &amp;quot;What should I do?&amp;quot; coming from the Dad. &amp;quot;I mean, I don&amp;#x27;t know?&amp;quot; via the Grandfather. &amp;quot;I know you want to swing, but the little boy is in there&amp;quot; Dad to his two-year-old daughter referring to my JD. I smile at the Dad. &amp;quot;She really wants to swing.&amp;quot; Dad said to me. &amp;quot;Aw. I know. My son loves the swing, too,&amp;quot; and I gave JD a push. &amp;quot;We&amp;#x27;ll be off in a bit.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Well, looks like she can&amp;#x27;t right now.&amp;quot; Grandfather said. He was agitated. &amp;quot;I guess I can swing with her on my lap on the big swings. I don&amp;#x27;t really want to do it that way though.&amp;quot; Dad to Grandfather. My internal dialogue: Are you $%&amp;amp;#^! kidding me? Are you 12? Why don&amp;#x27;t you ask me when we&amp;#x27;ll be done. I&amp;#x27;m not surrendering the swing because your kid wants it. My kid is in it and we waited our turn. &amp;quot;How long has he (meaning JD) been in there?&amp;quot; Dad whispered to Grandfather, but he&amp;#x27;s standing right next to me. My internal dialogue: SERIOUSLY. SERIOUSLY? SERIOUSLY! &amp;quot;Just plopped him in,&amp;quot; I say. Is there such a thing as playground politics? It&amp;#x27;s not like we hogged the swing. We were in the same situation and found other things to do while we waited. His daughter didn&amp;#x27;t seem the least bit bothered. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/storked/2008/06/the-playground-diaries-install-1>