“We’re off to the game reserve to see what we can see…”
Those words float through my head as we arrive at one of durbans finest play areas for kids. However this is more like a jungle! There is the kamakaze pilot ploughing down into the ball pit! The speedsters racing around the track and sending feeble infants and unwise parents into a flurry! Not to mention the daredevils literally swinging from the ceiling on a trapeze made with nothing but rubber and nylon rope. Some mothers quietly slip panado’s into their mouths whilst watching the ongoings whilst others pretend to browse the products on sale in the hope that nobody saw what her kid just did.
As for my son, well being farm people you would think that we are tough. Ah ha, this is the first problem you see! We are not as used to so many kids as city people. So when my unseasoned toddler daringly flops into the ball pit and comes up for a breath, he does not expect the kamakaze pilot to touchdown on his head. Nor does he expect the wrestling match going on next to him. But he shakes it off and carries on. Next to the racetrack. Of course he is used to riding a stoot-toot, who isnt! What he isnt used to is the kid who knocks him off the bike and steals it before he can even bat an eyelid. No bother though, he just quietly picks up another one and keeps going.
I had to giggle at the little girl in the shop area. She wanted a toy and out of all the possible wonderful creations there for sale, the toy that she wanted the most… a broom! Can you believe it?? Talk about early gender stereotyping, my my my how she will regret that choice in 20 years time. Her father smiles at me gleefully and notes that he in fact never even had to encourage her to choose the broom – it came naturally! And dont forget the abandoned naked baby dolls lying strewn throughout the playground – this place really is the jungle! Sandpits of terrors, ballpits of death and trapeze artists flying overhead. I have to say though that I loved it and definitely would have stayed longer. My husband however nearly had a panic attack and his anxiety shot through the roof.
So we may be farm people that are seasoned to cow poop and AI’ing animals, but its a whole other world when it comes to the Kingdom of the Toddler. NOT for sissies I tell you! And this isnt even high school. Felt like i needed to prepare my kid for a knife fight just in case. “Hey Jem, you did good my boy! Now knock that sucker down – roar!” City kids, met Eish!
Farming Kids 