Unspoken rules of the playground

My best friend and I were recently hanging out at the indoor playground at Memorial City Mall. In all honesty, this is one of the better indoor playgrounds because it is clean, monitored and totally gated off. So unless my kids are kidnapped and taken out screaming, they are decently safe. As we were sitting there, I noticed many of the parents breaking some of the"unspoken rules" that all parents naturally know and follow. In case you are living under a rock missed them, let me recap.

1. If your kid is walking around screaming and being generally annoying just for fun, stop them. I know kids scream sometimes, but we have all been around the kids who scream just to be loud and annoying. These are the kids that scream and then look around to see who they have annoyed. Interestingly enough, I get to deal with these kids when they grow up and hit middle school and let me tell you, it is just as annoying in a school hallway as a playground. So please try to take care of the issue now. K, thanks.

2. If your kid is walking around and hugging/hanging on random adults, deal with the situation. Hello...stranger danger anyone?

3. If you walk behind your kid handing them snacks every time they slow down for a second, stop it. We all know they can't eat in there. Don't take it a step further and follow them around feeding them. You know what happens when crumbs and chunks of food get stuck in the little crevices of a playground? Roaches. And rats.

4. If you watch your kid go tearing through the playground and then plow some little kid over, take care of it. This should be obvious.

5. If you intend to take your child to the playground and leave, don't. At one point, I walked out the gate to get something (my friend was still in there) and the guard actually had to stop me and ask "where are your kids? You know you can't leave them here alone right?" Uh....yes, I am fully aware that this is not a free babysitting service. Obviously there have been enough parents who didn't realize that because he felt the need to say it. Yikes.

And I promise that I observed every one of these on Monday. All of them. In one trip. Come on parents, get with the program please. If we work together here, we can all enjoy the indoor playground this summer while the outdoor playground rivals the surface of the sun.