I decided to go and pick Rebekah up from school a little early today. Thought I’d watch her play in the playground for a while; you can so much insight about your children by watching them when they can’t see you. Anyway, it seemed a good idea at the time. However, I actually felt a little nervous as I walked onto the school grounds. I wanted to watch Rebekah without her seeing me, that was key, but I decided I couldn’t kind of hide, that would look suspicious. So I had no choice but to view from a clear open vantage point and hope that Rebekah wouldn’t notice me, kinds often don’t living in that strange world of theirs.
I think it took about 2 minutes before one of the playground assitants came over to me to question my motives. Now she never actually said anything like, “Excuse me sir, but just why are you stood in the school grounds watching the children playing?” But I knew that’s exactly what she was thinking when she asked me, “Are you ok, do you need any help?” And that was it, I didn’t really feel like being there anymore, but couldn’t exactly retreat back to the car without raising concerns and a possible child security scare. So instead I stood there like a lemon, a bitter one if you please, and watched Rebekah play uninterestaded until one of her friends notified her that I was at school and she came over to talk to me… you can guess how well that went down with the nervy playground assistant.
What I did wonder was; had I been a women, would anyone have come to ask me what I was doing there?