Chimp Chat

Baby mommas love disco. Babies themselves are lukewarm.

I guess Baby Loves Disco is a natural extension of today's parenting approach ( which I am still trying to figure out day by day). I am totally willing to try it, but there is a part of me that wants to find something wrong with it.  I am so sleep deprived that I can't discern what peeves me most: the $12 cover charge, my nearly unflinching willingness to pay it just so I can have a few hours of nostalgic fun, or the fact that I didn't think of this idea myself.

The cover charge applies to all walking humans. I'm curious how the BLD people determine which kids are walking as their parents carry them in the doors. "That child in your arms looks awfully large... sure he isn't walking yet? Mind putting him down while I check his motor development. Whaddya know, he can barely crawl. Hmmm, I know that kids develop differently, but you might want to have him looked at."

I am not being critical... this kind of activity fulfills a definite need. As in "I need a reason to wear unstained clothing." Har har. Plus, it's fitting for these times. Paying for gym memberships, doggie daycare and online dating services are all normal nowadays. Plus, this sounds way more fun than the health club!   

Atlanta: a playful city

A friend of mine applied to get playful city status for Atlanta -- and she got it! So now Atlanta is officially one 2007's top playful cities.

According to the sponsor, KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America (seems like we should have that already, but sadly, no), these are the commitments that a city must make to being playful: 

1. Create a Local Play Commission Task Force
2. Design an annual Action Plan for play
3. Conduct a Playspace Audit of all publicly accessible play areas
4. Identify current spending on capital projects and maintenance of playspaces
5. Proclaim and Celebrate an annual “Play Day”
   

Together, the five commitments below create a framework for a successful agenda on play. And this friend of mine, well, she got all this done. What do you expect from someone with company called Making Cool Stuff Happen? 

OK, so that got me thinking about all this play stuff. As a new mom, what kind of play do I want for me and my family? What fun activities can we all do on a 90+ degree day when there is a smog alert? How do I help Atlanta stay fun?

I'm going to start looking around. If you spot anything interesting out there about play, let me know.