Tag: #Playgrounds

  • New Mask Rules

    So, we don’t have to wear masks, pretty much, anymore. That happened a lot faster and sooner that I thought. Not that I am complaining, but if that is what science is saying…

    I am aware that you still need to have a mask on for public transit, and I’m cool with that.

    The funny thing is that yesterday, the kid and I decided to take the subway to a playground because, well, we can do that again. We can go out and explore our city. We found a playground that wasn’t too far away, but wasn’t too close. We masked up on the ride down to the park, and I kept mine on as we entered the playground. I found a bench to sit at, and took my mask off as I can, now. The kid, on the other hand, kept her mask on as she ran around and made new friends.

    We were there for a long time, as it was a nice day, and the kid deserved some freedom. As the time to head home neared, I got up, and put my mask on the cross the playground, and then SNAP! The elastic that fits around my left ear snapped. I was mask-less, and I didn’t have a backup.

    What an ironic conundrum to be in. Only an hour or two earlier the CDC had said that masks weren’t required, but I needed a mask to ride the subway home. The easy answer was that I just had to retie the elastic so it would fit around my ear, but for a minute, I wondered when will we be able to ditch all the masks?

  • Playgrounds and The Kid’s Mental Health

    Playgrounds and The Kid’s Mental Health

    Yesterday, I talked about how the virus may affect us and our kids in the future. I think about this often, especially when me and the kid head to the playground.

    When the playgrounds were closed in the City, it was awful for all of us. We tried to stay active by going for walks twice a day. The one nice benefit of this was that we got to explore all the streets in our neighborhood, but nonetheless it was not a substitute for a playground. Every time we walked through a park, and the kid laid eyes on the playground, I would get the question of, “When can we go back in there?” There was never an acceptable answer.

    With the lack of physically activity, and having no social contact with other kids, my daughter was starting to act out, and undertake behaviors she had never demonstrated before. She was more prone to scream, argue, throw things, and have temper tantrums, the likes she hadn’t done at least since she was three. We had been lucky in having a child that loved to sleep, and went to bed with no issues, but since April, she has been fighting going to bed, and getting up several times a night.

    Now that playgrounds have been open for almost a month now, it has made this situation more tolerable for the kid. Her behavior has gotten better, and she is generally sleeping solidly again. There are still flair ups, from time to time. I am sure that with the kid having a chance to be around other kids, and act out her frustrations and fears, that she is finding ways to cope with all of this stuff. It has been our one glimmer of hope in this season of unpredictability.