A Dad at the Park

Yesterday, we went to playgroup at the park, and one of my friends, we'll call her "B", learned two things: a) never have five kids and b) never leave the husband alone with five kids.
I concur.
Playgroup started at 10:30. When I arrived at 10:45, B was already there -- she'd been there since about 10 a.m. She pointed out a dad who was there with his five, yes FIVE, kids. They ranged in age from about 6 or 7 to an infant in a carrier. B told me that the dad had been there since right after her 10 a.m. arrival, and had just then, at 10:45, taken the infant out of the car. She'd been in the car with the door open, screaming. B had told the dad, who had nonchalantly gone over to hush the baby up, and then leave her in the car again. Finally, he brought her out and set her carrier in the shade at the edge of the playground.
At one point, I could see Big Boy's feet on the ladder, and a pair of little arms around both of his ankles, leaning back against his body weight. Upon further inspection, my concern was validated: one of the dad's five children, a girl of about 5, was indeed trying to pull Big Boy's feet off the ladder, while he clung to a higher rung with his little fists closed as hard as he could close them. The dad was watching, but not saying anything. That's right. Watching, but not saying anything as my two-year-old struggles not to lose his footing on a metal ladder and fall because this dad's little girl is pulling on his feet.
As soon as I notice what's going on, Big Boy starts calling for me. So I'm walking over and the dad says, "Good morning." That's it. "Good morning."
"Good morning."?
How about "Sorry my kid's trying to kill your kid."?
I walk over to the kids and say, "What's going on over here?"
"She's pulling me," says Big Boy.
"He pulled me first," the girl said. Yeah, right. Big Boy hardly interacts with other kids at the park, unless his mother forces him to say hello, good-bye, or excuse me, I'd like to go down the slide.
And I'm positive that the little girl never held still long enough for my kid to pull on her feet, especially when the dad was watching her and her little sister climb up the slide while other kids waited to go down.
Anyway, I ask Big Boy if he'd pulled the girl. He says, "No, I didn't."
"Yes, he did," the girl says.
I believe him, because it's just not his style.
So I say, "Okay, no pulling, okay? Nobody pull anybody. Now go up the ladder and play."
As I walk away, the dad smiles at me. Seriously.
I'm not against people having five kids. But I concur with what B told me as soon as I arrived at the park: I will never have five kids. So I don't have to worry about sending my husband to the park with said kids. Thank goodness.