Neighbor Wars·
SOAPY PARK SLIDE
At a quiet neighborhood park, a family's plan for a normal day turns when soap-coated slides invite back-and-forth chaos, online backlash, and a stubborn, grime-ridden playground.
Was she right to push back at the park?
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A neighborhood park turned into a "slip n slide" the moment one family brought their 3-year-old there.
The poster, her husband, and their daughter go to this park every day, so it was supposed to be a normal stop. Instead, they arrived to find two separate groups of adults having picnics while their kids played. The children were in swim trunks, and every slide in the park had been coated with water and dish soap.
The poster says her daughter's favorite thing is the slide. She and her husband watched older boys launch themselves down the soapy slides and shoot straight into the woodchips. With their toddler in tow, they started trying to protect at least one slide so she could use it safely and without getting drenched.
The poster says she made comments about drying one off. One child eventually grabbed a towel to help. After that, she stood in front of that slide until her daughter was finished. According to the poster, the parents at the picnics did nothing, and the children kept going back for more soap and water from them.
The couple made comments that it was inconsiderate. They were ignored. They didn't want to escalate it in front of their daughter, so they kept it to remarks about the mess and the safety issue.
Later, the poster took the issue to the neighborhood Facebook group, asking people to be more considerate and suggesting they use a splash pad or rec center instead of turning a public park into a soapy playground. The response, she says, was immediate and negative. One comment asked, "why didn't you let your kid just join in?" Another said, "sorry you didn't have a good experience my boys have been cooped up and they had a blast." The poster replied that they were "truly baffled by this response."
In an edit, she clarified that she didn't say anything directly to the kids, thanked the one child who offered the towel, and didn't know whether the park was cleaned up afterward. She also noted there were six slides total, and all six were covered in soap and water. In another detail, she said they are one of only two non-Mormon families in the neighborhood who are actively avoided and not invited to neighborhood activities.
The next morning, she went back to check. The park still hadn't been cleaned. She found "slimy grime" all over the jungle gym and slides, and said that if it rained, it would become a serious hazard.