Kid's Zone

There's a church a few minutes from our house that has a giant, indoor, public play area for kids called the Kid's Zone. It features a very large structure comprised of tubes, tunnels, a play house, and a big swirly slide, all suspended up in the air. You have to climb in one of two towers to get up inside the thing, but once you're up there, you have lots of stuff to do.

Grant has steadfastly refused to have anything to do with this structure. He loves kicking the balls around the rest of the gym, but once whoever he's playing with heads for the slide or playhouse up in the tower, he's out.

A few weeks ago, I was able to get him to climb up inside the tower, but once he got up there, he was terrified. It took me 20 minutes to "unstick" myself from the inside of the tower, but then once I got out, I had to endure watching Grant yell at me to come retrieve him. I delayed just long enough to give him time to pee everywhere. Nothing's more embarrassing than having to sneak out of a church due to public urination.

This time, I thought things would go better. A couple of nights ago, Grant informed me just before bed time that he was ready to go up in the tower at the Kid's Zone. I was thrilled. So yesterday, we made a return trip.

Upon arrival, there were several issues. First off, there was a lady in rubber gloves spreading saw dust around the adult seating area. Apparently one of the kids had lost their lunch, and the cleanup had begun. The thought of some pukey kid dragging her germs throughout the play equipment was bad enough, but then I looked up at the slide and saw some kid with his underpants around his ankles, scooting around on the equipment. Couple this with the fact that the last time we were at the Kid's Zone, another kid (not mine) had peed in the playhouse forcing its closure, and I was having a germ meltdown. The Kid's Zone was more like the Hot Zone.

Reluctantly, Grant and I made our way into the tower. Grant was not happy, and he kept trying to stall. Once the two of us got wedged up inside the thing, he decided he was even less pleased and forced me to sit with him on my lap as other small children ran past. I kept hearing things like, "There's a man in the tower!" and "Some giant kid is stuck in there."

After much stalling, Grant finally started climbing around the thing. After playing up there for a while, I made my way back in to meet him and go down the slide. This took a LOT of pushing. As I climbed up the final portion of the structure to get onto the slide, I realized, "Man, this is REALLY high." It wouldn't have been bad, but I'm fairly certain that the structure was not meant to hold a 6' tall adult, plus I was wedged in the thing. It was highly claustrophobic.

Eventually I shoved Grant down the slide, and as I followed after him, I discovered that the combination of my jeans and the plastic were creating some wicked static electricity. I'm sure if my iPod had been in my pocket, it would have been toast. At one point my foot touched Grant's face and a giant arc appeared. He was not pleased.

In the end, we were successful in getting Grant to face his fears, but I'm not convinced that he'll be asking for a return trip to the Kid's Zone any time soon.