I worked from home last Monday morning since I worked most of last Sunday at the office. So in the afternoon Nikki and I took the kids sliding at the Kanata Rec Centre hill. Or should I say Kanata Wreck Centre?

Due to a lack of snow, we were forced to use the side of the hill at the top just to even find any snow at all. This certainly caused the problems in the first place. Two times while we were there, somebody slammed into the wooden fence alongside the top of the hill, the first time it was Jordy who (thankfully) only hit her hip. The second time I thought the little girl was going to be spitting teeth out for sure.

It’s a strange thing to have a wooden fence on a toboggan hill, I’m not really sure why it’s there, really. The children all survived as children seem to always do, but not without some bruises to show for it.  If I were slightly more concerned, this would be a call to action, asking parents to unite against the city to take down the fence.  As it is, the fence actually protects you from smashing into the metal light post on that side of the hill, so as a result I’m not sure which is worse.  Nikki and I couldn’t bring ourselves to actually say that the kids needed helmets to go sliding, but I know we were both thinking it.  It would be ridiculous in the extreme, and unnecessary, but completely indicative of today’s parental climate.  Just cue the crotchety old man voice: “In my day, we slid down hills covered in razor blades on paper sleds, and liked it.”

So there you go, an apathetic parental safety report.