Dear fellow mamas,

Please raise a nice kid.

I took mine to the trampoline park today.

It was our first time back there since the onset of the pandemic.

They were so excited.

Mine were one of the few in a mask.

So be it.

No big deal.

I expected it.

I prepared them for it.

And they honored my not so loose request that they wear it while we were inside there.

My kids had fun.

They bounced, cart-wheeled, climbed, jumped, and dodged their way through the facility. But what they (or I) couldn’t maneuver around were the rude and generally unkind as heck children roaming around.

From the kid hogging the knock-off beam to the kid knocking down toddlers and laughing.

From the teenagers slamming balls at the younger dodgeball players to the kids trying to tell my kids what they can and can’t do.

They were everywhere.

And I know because I was everywhere.

Watching my kids.

Hovering? Yeah, kinda.

Helicoptering? Pretty much.

But it’s important to me that my children behave.

That they follow the rules.

They they treat others with respect and kindness.

That they aren’t a bully.

And here I am, frustrated, and wishing other parents would do the same.

The world can be a cruel place, but it shouldn’t be when you are a kid.