Cops and Robbers

It was hot (again) today and since I kept Prayse in all day yesterday I decided to take her to the mall and let her play in the indoor play center. She had so much fun the last time I thought I’d let her run off some energy. There was a little 18 month old there who kept following her around and trying to give her hugs. She would always run off until one time he was going in for a kiss. All puckered up and everything. Prayse watched until he got close to her lips and then shoved him! Now, we don’t condone shoving, but she was just protecting her personal bubble. Daddy would have been proud!

There were also a couple of nine-ish year olds who first of all in my opinion should now have been running around and playing in this place. They were way too old and didn’t look out for all of the other toddlers who the thing was built for. I seriously wanted to ask them where their parents were. So I was watching as this nine-ish year old was trying to convince my one year old to get out of the car that she was playing in first. She gave him “the look” and just stared at him like he was crazy. It made me so proud. He kept looking at me and I knew he wanted to make her move but wasn’t about to push it.

His friend quickly informed him that in fantasy land the blue car was actually the POLICE car and that he needed to jump in the red car with him so that they could make their get away. I then watched this kid “pretend” to punch in the car windows of the police car, throw the invisible policeman to the ground and get in “speeding off.” This didn’t surprise only me, his friend watched him and commented, “Now you’re really gonna get arrested.” (which actually did make me smile).

But oh no, this kid was not done. He got behind Prayse and pretended the car was speeding off, shooting behind him yelling “Die Policeman! Die! Die Policeman! Die!”

Ahem, time for Miss P to find some other place to play.

Seriously?? I’m sure every single generation played their version of Cops and Robbers. This does not surprise me. But isn’t the cop supposed to win? Aren’t the cops the good guys? Someone give these kids a clue, it is NOT cool to hurt people and kill in make believe. Make believe so quickly becomes reality as evidenced in Von Maur, Omaha last December. (Granted, I know there were a ton of other factors in that instance, there always are).

It reminded me of this spring when Prayse, Raymonn, and I went to the park. We saw two young boys playing and one grabbed the others’ wrists to hold behind his back. The first young guy asked, “What did I do wrong?” To which the other replied, “I’m the FBI. You are a terrorist and you are under arrest!”

I walked away with tears in my eyes because that is what our kids see and the world that they live in. At least in that case, the good guys won. The kid today? Scary.