There's a new playground at Zachary's school.
It looks exactly like a typical playground found in any park in 2010 in the USA.
It's all plastic.
And he is not allowed to play on it.
It's too dangerous.
Only 3rd - 5th graders are allowed on it.
If younger kids play on it they may bruise their elbows or skin their knees
or something horrific like that.
Please.
I wish my kids knew the joys of an old school playground.
You know, the ones we grew up on.
Threw up on.
Cracked open our heads and knocked out our teeth on.
The goldmine of all playground equipment was the merry -go -round.
It was especially fun if recess came right after lunch.
Who didn't enjoy jumping off the seesaw as it lowered
and watching their partner slam to the ground, nearly breaking their tailbone.
I busted my lip open on one of these.
What fond memories.
I miss this most of all.
The metal slide.
It was always strategically placed in the sun
where you could go careening down at 100 mph leaving a legacy of melted skin behind.
And my kids will never know these joys.
Perhaps I'll let them ride their bikes without a helmet on.
If they survive, they may get a small taste of what it was once like.
I so agree!! I remember the witches hat merry-go-rounds where the big kids could get on the inside and push the supports...you had to be careful not to get knocked down and dragged but boy could he merry-go-round fly. When the big kids had it going as fast as they could they would jump on and ride too.
ReplyDeleteI remember yelling "faster faster!" while my dad spun the merry go round. Did he worry about my safety? Heck No! He took that baby up to warp speed and I held on for dear life while centripetal force attempted to fling me off into the sticker patches and rocks! Good times.
ReplyDeleteI knocked my first tooth out of the old metal playgrounds and typically went sailing off the merry go round to land in the pebbles. Kids are much too protected nowadays. As far as I know, only one girl broke an arm through my whole elementary education. And that was because she somehow climbed to the top of the swing set and then promptly fell the ten feet to the ground.
ReplyDeleteThose pictures have brought back some serious memories ... I wanna come play (o:
ReplyDeleteStephanie ~ Life As Supermom ~ http://lifeassupermom.blogspot.com/
Oh yeah, those were Real Playground fun stuff.
ReplyDeletePlease leave the helmets...I knew a woman that fell off her bike...just riding along and bam, hit her head and died. :(
Have you read the website free range kids? I just stumbled on it, but you seem like you'd fit right in :) And I agree with you - I miss those old playgrounds. I was just on vacation in west virginia and the playground hasn't changed since the last time I was there about 15 years ago! I don't have any kids yet, but when I do I"m taking them there to experience a true playground experience :)
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