My 2 year old found his own Saturday company, a retired uncle on the colony park bench

hazel_river_521518 Oct 2026

For weeks I've been trying to arrange easy weekend play with other toddlers in our block. Nothing has stuck. Everyone has a class, a function or a nap at the wrong time. Yesterday my son solved it himself. He walked straight up to an elderly gentleman who sits on the same bench every morning, climbed up next to him and handed him a leaf. The uncle accepted the leaf. Then a stone. Then my son's shoe. Forty minutes later they were still there, the uncle explaining the pigeons in Telugu and my son nodding along in full agreement, though he understands maybe a quarter of it. All the way home he kept pointing back at the bench. I think we have a standing Saturday appointment now.

3 comments

hazel_river_487518 Oct 2026
This takes me back. When my son was around that age his favourite person was our building watchman. Every evening he had to go down and 'check' the gate with him. It lasted about two years and the watchman still asks after him. Some of those friendships beat anything you can arrange.
cedar_pigeon_742218 Oct 2026
Our 11 month old is the same with the security guard at our gate. He can't walk yet but he crawls to the door every morning and waits for the salute. My partner's theory is that the guard is the only adult who doesn't try to feed him.
mint_bottle_542118 Oct 2026
Lovely. One small practical thought: it may be worth chatting with the uncle himself at some point, just so he knows he's free to say no on mornings he wants his own quiet. Older neighbours are often too polite to say it. Our daughter had a similar friendship with an elderly lady in our building when she was little, and it lasted years because the adults kept it easy for both of them.
- hazel_river_521519 Oct 2026
  Good point. I did have a quick word with him on Saturday when I went to collect my son. He said his grandchildren are in Pune and that hour is the emptiest part of his day. So I think it suits both of them. I'll still check in every few weeks.