And I Thought Girls Were Dramatic

We went to the park yesterday. We just have to take advantage of any even semi-nice days to play outside. We went early in the afternoon and there weren't a lot of kids (once school gets out, the playground fills up quite a bit more, though). Kaden was very sad that there "wasn't anyone to play with." He was on the verge of tears. I told him I'd play with him, but there were a few kids he could ask to play with, too.

I played with him, then the playground started to fill with more kids. Kaden found a boy that he wanted to play with (6 years old, but roughly the same size as Kaden) who was jumping off stuff . They played great, until Kaden jumped and bonked his knee. He didn't want to play with that boy anymore. Drama and tears. Once I told him that they don't have to jump off stuff to play, they started up again.

So, he and this boy started to play hide and seek. Kaden still doesn't quite understand the hiding concept, so I helped. That did not go over well. He didn't really want to hide. I think he wanted to play chase. So, hide and seek was a dud, and again, he didn't want to play with this boy. Again, drama and tears.

A few minutes later, he decided he DID want to play with the boy, so they started playing "surprise." From what I could gather of this game, the boy would climb up the slide, Kaden would go up the steps, and they would "surprise" each other at the top. They were doing fine, until the boy told Kaden to climb up the slide. For one, Kaden hasn't figured out how to climb up the slide. Second, he knows he isn't supposed to climb up slides because there were a lot of kids playing that would run him over. You guessed it, more drama and tears.

It was at this point Kaden was ready to end the friendship completely. He came to me in tears saying no one would play with him (even though it was Kaden who decided he didn't want to play with the boy). I pointed out that there are a lot of kids here, and even a boy he knows from nursery was there. Nope, no one to play with. He asked a grown up if she would play with him. He was devastated at her response of "I would love to, but I need to go find my kids."

Kaden walked around pouting, until he spotted a girl. I don't know if they even talked, but all of the sudden he started chasing her, and she let him. Life was good again. Well, until the boy wanted to chase them too. This time, it was the girl who didn't want the boy to play chase with them, and Kaden was quite upset. Not sure if it was because the boy even asked, or if it was because the girl rejected his former friend.

The girl took off running, but the boys didn't follow. The boy went to Kaden and said, "Hey where did your girlfriend go?" Kaden responded with a loud, "SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" The mother of the girl and I couldn't stop lauging. The exchange between these kids was just hillarious!

At one point in the running around, the boy and girl collided. She laid on the ground for a few seconds while her mom came over. Kaden just stood there like, "Umm, hello, we're playing! Get up!" Then he pouted and walked away. I explained that it wasn't his fault, no one was mad at him, and they could still play. The girl did get back up, and they kept playing. Life really was good.

Until we all had to go home.