Children's Park

When you want to see many happy and content faces at a time, pay a visit to the children's park. It is a wonderful place to observe people, even adults, in a relaxed mode. You won't find any kid crying or any adult stressed at such a place; except of course that kid who is being ushered back home against his/her will. Then, you might see a full-blown tantrum or a really loud and piercing cry. Well, I and my husband are at the receiving end of the latter on a number of occasions. Our daughter simply NEVER wants to leave the swings! She might be tired; her eyes might be sleepy; or rest of us might be exhausted. But I haven't heard her say that she is done playing on swings and she wants to go home. Anyway, apart from those 5 very difficult minutes, she is also among the excited and content lot.
Unlike India, Qatar has a variety of playground equipments - swings, slides, climbers, see-saw etc. in almost all parks, even in the Zoo. It is a really good thing because otherwise, there are not many places where young kids can enjoy themselves to such an extent. Another good thing about these 'play areas' is that the ground is covered with sand and the area is properly sheltered, so that you don't have to worry much about the kids getting hurt if they fall or their getting exposed to sun. But of course, then there is the other worry - kids playing with this sand, rather than on the swings. Playing with sand is a favorite activity of most kids, especially the ones who cannot independently enjoy the other swings. Like my son...he spends 90% of his time at the play area with the sand.
I have visited a number of parks in Qatar and none of them have the identical set of playground equipment. Each play area in this country can boast of at least one unique kind, though it might just be a variation of another one somewhere else.
Yet, not surprisingly, the most sought after ones are the conventional swings and slides. You will find children of all ages swarming around these and patiently (sometimes, impatiently) waiting for their turn. But sometimes, this trend changes. Once in a while, one lonely kid might wander to a see-saw or a climber, which is unoccupied and stands lonely waiting for the kids to turn its way. This kid might be followed by a couple more because they found the queue at a swing too long. Suddenly, the other kids would notice a few kids gathering around something. So everyone starts moving in that direction to find out what interested the other kids. And hence, some lonely see-saw or a climber has its 15 minutes of fame. I say 15 minutes, as that is the longest kids can stay away from a conventional swing or slide.
While you are at it, you might also like to observe how, in a similar manner, some particular toy or a candy becomes the popular item of the day. The small shop selling this specific flavor of the day, try as hard as they might, but they cannot setup or even predict the trend of popularity of one toy or candy. One kid showing off something to another because of latter's success in getting hold of the former's favorite swing; or a parent's bribe to a wailing kid to soothe him/her; or just the fact that many kids simultaneously took a liking to that specific item, can be a trigger for establishing the trend. But as in the case of swings, this category also has all time favorites - the conventional huge pink cotton candy and balloons!
There are so many other things that you can notice in a children's park. Some of them are repetitive like kids speaking different languages understanding each-other perfectly well; parents and kids enjoying the swings alike; kids stepping off a swing to give another kid a chance; parents striking off conversations with total strangers because their kids like the same climber/slide, and finding some common ground later; people like me sitting there and observing others etc. Other events might not be so common. Like, the other day some child's ball got stuck on the top of the roof-like cover of that playground, and number of people trying various tactics to bring it down. Then, there was this one time when I saw one child bullying another, and before I could intervene, many kids came to the rescue of the victim. Another time, my daughter was having difficulty climbing one of the slides, and another slightly elder girl lend her a helping hand. Yesterday, my daughter learnt her lesson of smiling at the other kids when they approach her, and she was feeling so glad that she kind of stuck a friendship with this particular girl who smiled at her.
There are many other facets of human emotions that you get to see at a children's park and you would be amazed to see how all the kids of a specific age behave in a similar manner, irrespective of huge diversity in their culture, mother tongue or fatherland. How wonderful it is to see these kids smiling at each-other cordially, following queues without anyone telling them to, sharing their joys, just being themselves!
A children's park is a wonderful place to go to when you want to leave your worries behind and you feel refreshed by the beautiful sight they provide you with.