Swing, Swing, Scream

Mommy bought one of these swings for the kids at Home Depot. It’s a two-seat swing, perfect for encouraging cooperative play between two similarly sized children, such as the two boys in our home born three minutes apart.

Mommy’s dream was to give the boys something to enjoy together. They’d step onto the swing and rock back and forth, each helping the other swing higher into the air while both giggle the entire time. Abbie could use it too. Her weight difference is small enough that she should balance well with one boy. If she’s too heavy, she could push the two boys, which would make it fun for all three children.

With it recently attached to our play set, I took the children outside to enjoy it tonight after supper. I loaded Abbie and Tory into the seats. Ian watched from the ground since he was the last one to the swing, and possibly a rotten egg.

Within three swings, Tory was screaming. He’s too small to fit properly on the swing, and he didn’t appreciate the sensation of not being able to rest his feet on the pedals while his butt is in the seat.

I slowed the swing in hopes that Tory might find a comfortable position. Abbie immediately protested the drop in momentum. She wanted to swing, or, as Abbie might say, “I WANT TO SWING!”

Meanwhile, Ian was screaming at my feet the entire time. He’s too young to grasp the concept of waiting patiently for his turn, so instead he opted to vocally express his displeasure just in case I’d forgotten about him.

I pulled everyone off the swing and removed it from the play set. It’s in storage now and might return when they’re a little bigger. Our dream of them playing nicely together dissipated in a cloud of anguished screams rooted in three different causes. To put it another way, the two-seat swing is exactly like every other item in our house, unshareable.