September 7, 2015
Play Could be Dangerous Work Sometimes

The other day while traversing the country side I noticed, tucked behind an old abandoned school building, a rusty child's metal jungle gym.  I couldn't help but imagine all those little tots once upon a time climbing up and clamoring on and hanging from..........and falling off of that jungle gym on that school  playground.  I could almost hear the thud and the cries of pain and fear that followed that fall as I was driving past.

Equipment like that has in recent years been condemned to the scrap metal piles of merely abandoned in a quiet school yard in favor of much better, newly improved, kid-safe plastic playground attractions.

And most likely for good reason.  Those playgrounds of old did boast some rather scary, treacherous features. But they were also lots of fun to us kids.

What of those metal slides that towered so high overhead.  Once one finally garnered the courage to tackle one of those, you found there were tiny little slippery pegs to climb to the top. Once (if) you made it that far without missing a rung and backsliding, the ride downward could be fraught with danger such as toppling over the thin edge of ripping your shorts or worse, you skin, to shreds on the sharp metal along the route.

Yes, there were countless perils on the playground when we were kids.  Take the ever-popular tether ball game.  It sported a pole and a ball that was attached to a rope.  The object of this delightful game was to be the first to swack that ball repeatedly until the rope was completely would around the pole.

I recall one time being in the wrong place at the right time when the ball had been thwacked by the strongest boy in the sixth grade.  It hit me right in the back of the head.  (Lesson:  never turn your back on a tether ball).  Such a dangerous game! Are they still allowed on school playgrounds?

Merry-go-rounds.  Whoever dubbed them this sure had the wrong idea.  I found nothing jolly or even close to frivolous about these.  Usually a spin on the merry-go-round found me with an iron grip on the handle cowering on the floor.  I was a nervous, dizzy wreck when it finally came to a speed slowly enough to allow me to jump off and stagger away.  

I will admit that I love the swing sets.  I loved to swing really high and in fact haven't outgrown that delight. Somehow I always felt like I could fly when I rode the swing set and though there were usually butterflies involved in the tummy, it was still quite the thrill. I hope they still let kids swing on swing sets.

Playground equipment has vastly evolved over the  years.  And why is that?  Do we know now more that they did way back then when those indestructible pieces of equipment were installed in the parks and school playgrounds? Who was responsible for banning them and condemning them to desertion and oxidization?

The other day I watched two young tow-haired sisters enjoying one of those new-fangled play gyms in a city park. The older girl, probably 7 or 8 years in age, traversed the entirety of the set-up with ease, scooching across the monkey bars, shimmying down the pole, and inching up the climbing wall with ease.

Close behind her was little sister, a few years younger, who clearly displayed some trepidation yet determination in following her sister's lead. As I watched, I was delighted to see big sis encouraging and assisting her sibling in completing the tasks.  It warmed my heart. It also was a relief to me that neither girl fell off or was maimed in their play.  

I guess the new playground equipment can't be all that bad.  Even though it IS made of plastic. You have to wonder where it will end up some day when it's deemed inappropriate for play.