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"There were monkey bars, tether balls, angled metal slides and teeter-totters, and it was dirt and grass we played on top of, not rubber or wood chips."

Every summer I take my kids to visit their grandparents in Michigan. We enjoy going over to the playground at my old elementary school and climbing around on the equipment. I remember fondly two sets of monkey bars from when I was a kid in the early 60's. They were metal, and had been painted over dozens of times. They had a very distinctive smell in the summer heat - a mix of metallic smell, paint, and sweaty handprints from generations of kids. This past summer I was dismayed to see that the monkey bars had been removed. One more loss of innocent childhood fun. I'm sure it was some over-protective idiot who decided they were too risky, because I guarantee you, they didn't "break".

This past summer I was dismayed to see that the monkey bars had been removed. One more loss of innocent childhood fun. I'm sure it was some over-protective idiot who decided they were too risky, because I guarantee you, they didn't "break".

School and park playgrounds are rapidly disappearing. Why? Liability issues. Nobody wants to get sued when some kid injures themselves. On a related note, when was the last time you saw a diving board in a public swimming pool? Those are gone as well.

There is a small playground park next to my house. Due to a large municipal flood mitigation project the playground equipment from the fifties were taken down. The park become a construction zone. A few years ago, my husband and I were on the committee to return this area back into a playground. Needless to say the old metal seesaws, large metal slide and metal swingset with chains were not replaced. The committee chose a lovely climbing structure with safe plastic slides which ended in a soft bed of mulch.

Here’s the crazy “bubblewrap the children” part, when it was proposed to add in a modern safe swingset we were told that in order to have the “regulated free area surrounding the swings” we would have to cancel the climbing structure. According to state law, there had to be a sufficient area for the children to walk around the swings without chance of injury. The diameter of the area they required was unbelievable.
In other words, picture a park with nothing in it except a four-swing set. Let’s face it, put a swingset in the middle of a football field and the children will still walk in front of someone swinging.

So today we have a nice park but if one more mother complains that there are no swings, I’ll scream.