Today we took the kids to an indoor playground called Balls of Fun.
I have to commend the ingenious idea of the people who invented these indoor playgrounds. They are fantastic, and we’ve been taking the kids since they were toddlers to this, and similar places.
Sure, we still play outside. Sure, we still take outdoor excursions. Sure, nothing beats the pebble beach, the sandy beach, the forest, the rails, the bike lanes, the lake, the front and back yards. But sometimes I don’t want to wear 17 layers and roll around with small children. Sometimes I don’t feel like getting whacked with a soccer ball. Sometimes I don’t want to stand around and watch kids yell across the playground. Sometimes I want to sit and have a chat with an adult while the kids amuse themselves.
This is what we did when I was a kid. No one supervised me! Parenting is so different today…
Balls of Fun is geared toward kids ages up to 8. The toddlers have a separate area where they can play undisturbed, and our kids, my friend’s and mine, roamed and ran and climbed and tossed and kicked balls of all shapes and sizes for four straight hours. Given that our younger ones are 5 and not toddlers anymore, we didn’t even sit inside the play area on the beanbags since we didn’t really need to supervise them anymore. We sat in the snack area, barely kept an eye, and had a lovely, long chat. A mostly uninterrupted one.
This is the kind of thing I love. We’re doing something with the kids, they’re having fun and burning energy, and we could catch up and do some casual planning for the future summer vacations.
A great way to end the holiday break.
I spent many a day at Balls of Fun and it was especially nice when the boys got older and I could enjoy a coffee