Park Drama

This weekend we are taking a break from house hunting...I think we have seen absolutely every house in Fuchu anyhow (or at least the ones we were interested in) so I guess at this point we are just waiting and watching the market.

Yesterday Nanami and I had no plans, so we made some. I took my two year old to the fancy pizza place down the road where we had the usual, amazing stone oven pizza, with pistachio cake and milk gelato for dessert. They had a new waiter there, who forgot my ice coffee....so I had to slurp it down right at the end...which wasn't fantastic, but anyway...

After that, I took Nana to Fuchu no Mori park for some splashing in the kiddie creek, and a play on the jungle gym. She decided promptly that the kiddie creek was too cold, and her little lip was quivering, so I put her back in her clothes and off to the rollie slide we went.

Unfortunately on the playground equipment there is no "fairness police"...it is left up to children's parents to decide when to step in and properly discipline their child. Because of this, Nana gets treated badly a lot at the playground. She doesn't spend a lot of time with other children, thus, doesn't know how to fight for what is hers yet. She gets pushed out of the way, and looks at me, bottom lip shaking, and then busts out in a full roar, tears and all. Yesterday a little boy (about three and a half) was pushing Nana out of the way on the slide. He was excited, and just couldn't wait to go down again....I don't expect him to understand about a child being smaller than him, etc, but I was looking around for his mum, to step in and say something to him, or ask him to stop pushing my kid. I gave him a few "kyotsukete kudasai"-s but he wasn't having any of it.
Soon I heard a strong voice from behind....A-KUN...Jya..Kairou!..... obviously this boy's father.... He grabbed him off the slide by the arm and put him on the ground (not a very tall slide mind you, one of those long, conveyer belt ones with the roll bars). The little boy was walking along side his father, when WHAM, the dad swatted him SO hard on the bum that the little boy's legs flew out from under him and he landed on the ground. I have never seen this before from a japanese dad...after he swatted him, he picked him back up and dragged him over to the nearest bench to "talk"...which included a lot of pushing back and forth (he pushed the boy away and then dragged him back towards several times) ...I HAVE seen this before...and I don't understand it.

All the mums were sort of looking around like someone forgot their iced coffees, and making that teeth grinding face that you do when there is an akward moment in progress. At least I wasn't the only one who felt bad for the little guy.

Happy Saturday.