Turning children into gerbils at Dulles Town Center in Virginia.
Turning children into gerbils at Dulles Town Center in Virginia.
ROTFL! I never thought about it that way before but you nailed it!
Societal Values and Policies May Curtail Preschool Children’s Physical Activity in Child Care Centers
How sad. Not a single slide that is suitable for use as a downhill ramp for launching a shopping carriage packed with four kids.
My kids were asked to bring helmets to a school rollerskating event at a local roller rink. We don’t even own helmets for biking - I was certainly not going to go out and buy some for rollerskating. What in the world??
I have learning scars from my youth and from what I’m seeing in the world around me, more kids need learning scars.
I used to love going to playgrounds back when I was a small kid during the 80s. That was back when playgrounds were still ‘how they used to be’. It seems something happened during the 90s. I could say that about a lot of things actually.
We were often told while going outside to play after lunch to “be home by supper”, without having any supervision or a tracking device strapped to our wrists. I feel like mine was the last generation that was still allowed to be a real ‘kid’ growing up, without all of the nanny state/PC bullshit. We try to give our kids as much of a free enjoyable childhood as we had, but the world is just too damn crazy and dangerous now, even in ‘good’ neighborhoods.
In my youth I would visit a playground in my parent’s hometown. The playground had the old equipment apparently until sometime in the last two years. I took my daughter there this past summer hoping to have her try just a little bit of it (though she’s too young for most of it). It is all gone now - I was disappointed to see it had all been replaced with the ‘new’ stuff.
I felt like Charlton Heston’s character in the final scene of Planet of the Apes.
We had to make are own rides when I was a kid. If you took the seat front wheel and handle bars off and flipped the trike over and put them back on so the curve was down instead of up you got something much like a big wheel.
We used to have one of these models in the city park all full of sharp metal, and fun.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_v93ffw5aYQQ/SbcP4wB6ZJI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/eGurmAh_SxM/s1600-h/RocketSlideWaterlooIowa1974.jpg
That has to be the wimpiest slide I have ever seen. That whole playground reminds me of the old board game “Mousetrap.”
Wow, you are absolutely correct! In fact, the local playground was used by kids all the time, made of wood, it was dangerous in old-respects, but after a tornado tore through the town, some funds came up and tore it out.
Now, no kids. Well, at first there was some curiosity, but now... I never see kids out there. You know where I see them, the old wooden teeter-totters out by the Lions shelter.
The things we did on high velocity wood and metal merry go rounds, it is amazing I didn’t witness multiple deaths.
And the children don’t ride bicycles anymore. Won’t wear the helmets.
We had one of these babies at my elementary school playground many years ago. A solitary kid, looking for diversion could play on it, but it was pretty heavy and two kids could give it a better twirl.
The real action started when children began to collect on the playground before the school day started and all ages were playing together. A mass of kids would mount the apparatus and another bunch would do the pushing. as it neared maximum speed a few, brave, older boys climbed inward on the radial supports and we all learned a little something about physics.
That mother picked up speed that we hardly believed possible. There were casualties nearly every day. Younger kids, overcome with the spirit of adventure, attempted the ride and discovered their physical limitations. Older, bigger kids discovered that you couldn't relax just because you had successfully teased the beast many times in previous days.
The teachers must have appreciated it because we would march into class, hearts pumping and ready for any challenge. The school nurse, in her starched white dress, must have enjoyed the job security every day. And we kids have never forgotten the joy of real play, exhilarating and challenging, requiring teamwork and occasional humility.
That beloved playground also included an excellent pair of long see-saws, a very tall, metal slide, and the tallest swings we would ever use.
What memories! Laurel School, four classrooms and a lifetime of experience.
My kids love these. They climb on the roofs and the outsides. Lol!
Kids aren’t the sheep that adults are. Give them Mooshelle-approved “healthy” lunches, and they refuse to eat them. Take away the old favorite playground equipment, and they will prefer to stay home and play the video games that are based on risky adventures.
Adults let the government nannies browbeat them into giving up their freedom by cloaking it in concern for health and safety. Kids are smarter than that.
Bring back the MONKEY BARS
Down metal sliding boards...sitting on a piece of wax paper.
The good old days...
Topping that, we lived somewhere where there were frequently winds out of the West at up to 80 MPH. Lived on a straightaway East / West street. Get 2 kids on homemade skateboards with a blanket on that street in a high wind and lots of fun ensued.
The problem? No forward visibility. Did it anyway a thousand times.
