![\"village](\"https:\/\/mayahoodblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/village-3-boys-and-wagon-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThere seems to be a lot of negativity in the press lately. As a parenting blogger, articles that are specifically reserved for\u00a0parent shaming and bashing make the top of my news feed. While\u00a0the recent events involving young\u00a0kids and animals\u00a0are devastating in so many ways, I was mostly disheartened by how hateful everyone was towards the parents.\u00a0Obviously I don’t know the details of what transpired that day but what I do know is that IT IS possible. Kids, especially young kids, are single minded and can generally only focus on one task a time without taking\u00a0notice of\u00a0their surroundings. They are mischievous and explorative. They also have terrible patience. I have no doubt that all it took was one second of the\u00a0parents not looking at their children for all of this to have transpired.<\/p>\n
I know this\u00a0because just last week I found myself in a similar (but not life-threatening)\u00a0situation\u00a0(that did NOT involve a Gorilla or Alligator). Yet, there I was, solo-parenting for the night, at a local park with the three boys. Ryan had his soccer game at 5PM and Kyle had his at 6PM. I hauled all three boys down on the beautiful night to enjoy a few extra hours outdoors. What I didn’t anticipate, since this was the first game of the season, was that I would need to be in three\u00a0places at once.<\/p>\n
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This experience was one of those nights where the true meaning of “It takes a village” really resonated with me.<\/p>\n
While I was trying to watch Ryan play (and take pictures and videos to show his dad), I also had\u00a0to keep an eye on Nate to ensure he wouldn’t run down the hill or into the dog park or just run off. I also had to simultaneously feed him and Kyle. Same thing once Kyle was playing and I had Nate & Ryan. <\/span><\/p>\n A<\/span>mazingly, I had 20 other sets of eyes on my kids because of the wonderful people who live in my neighbourhood. Parents came over to play with Ryan while I was chasing Nate. Another parent told me each time Kyle scored because I couldn’t watch him play the entire time. Another parent fed my kids and another had their child play soccer with Nate. I also realized that I REALLY needed to change Nate’s soiled diapers but didn’t bring any spares or wipes with me. Luckily, a fellow mom from Kyle’s school\u00a0told me that I could use her stuff, no problem, just grab it from her stroller (total no biggie move)!<\/span><\/p>\n What\u00a0could have been a very stressful night\u00a0turned out to\u00a0be very fun\u00a0thanks to my VILLAGE! If there’s one take-away from these incidents (and there are probably 100 takeaways) is that can we please be a village? Can we please help out fellow parents and their\u00a0kids when we see that they need our assistance? Ask to help or\u00a0spring into action.\u00a0You never know what a difference you might make. Lets not make the term “it takes a village” an old folklore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There seems to be a lot of negativity in the press lately. As a parenting blogger, articles that are specifically reserved for\u00a0parent shaming and bashing make the top of my news feed. While\u00a0the recent events involving young\u00a0kids and animals\u00a0are devastating in so many ways, I was mostly disheartened by how hateful everyone was towards the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"Enough with the parent shaming. Instead, let's band together and be a village! Luckily, I've found mine! http:\/\/wp.me\/p3dEqj-2rI","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[137227404,5309],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Village](\"https:\/\/mayahoodblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Village-Nate-on-bleachers-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Village](\"https:\/\/mayahoodblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Village-soccer-game-1024x768.jpg\")
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\nYes, I still did a lot of chasing around and I did lose sight of one of my kids from time to time but there was always someone there to keep an eye on them when I couldn’t. <\/span><\/p>\n![\"village](\"https:\/\/mayahoodblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/village-ryan-thumbs-up-768x1024.jpg\")
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