Yesterday afternoon we were mucking about on a wooden pirate ship next to a river. I was there with my daughter (5 yo) and a friend and his son. The two kids were playing happily on the top deck.
My friend and I decided to try and get our kids off the boat. We tried leaning over the side of the boat to pull them off. They clung onto the mast for dear life. It became a bit of a game to try to get them off and obviously there was a lot of argh-ing and we also placed ourselves tactically so that the kids were just out of reach for us. It was a laugh! Another girl was on the ship as well and she mentioned that she was only here with her nan.
We didn’t succeed in getting our kids off the boat. They were having too much fun and enjoyed the experience of us trying to capture them.
The other girl’s nan said it’s time to go because the girl’s dad was arriving soon. But the girl refused to leave the boat. No matter what nan said, the girl wasn’t leaving. Nan tried being forceful. Tried bribing. She tried saying ‘see ya later’ and pretending to leave. All sorts. Nothing!
Eventually the dad arrived in his van and called the girl from inside the van. But the girl wasn’t leaving the boat. Eventually he got out of the van and went to the pirate ship. She then clung onto the mast and smiled.
At that point it became clear: she wanted her dad to play the same game we played and through sheer persistence she got it. It was just fascinating to watch and made us smile.