Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Playgrounds

[Fred H Olson WB0YQM (fholson]

Jerry Callen JCALLEN [at] APTINC.COM S: jcallen [at] world.std.com
is the author of the message below but due
to a listserv problem it was posted by the COHOUSING-L sysop (Fred).
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>The obvious questions are :
>
>- Does your child only go to the playground when you take her?

Yes. (BTW, it's "them" - I have a boy, 8, and a daughter, 5.)

> Studies show that young children will only walk a maximum of 75 feet away
>from their home in order to become involved in activities.

If you mean "walk by themselves" then this might be true. We go out as
a family, though, and walk a variety of distances (varying between 4
and 10 blocks) to get to the playgrounds. We started this at an early
age (when my son was about 2 and a half), using a stroller at first.

Between us and the playground are a variety of walls for the kids to
walk on and gardens to look at. It's very pleasant. 

>- What does he or she do the rest of the time for play?

Sometimes they play in our (tiny) back yard. Usually they play indoors
(at our house or a friends).

>- Do you have a front lawn or garden?

None to speak of.

>- What does your child play on when at the playground?

Everything. Mostly we run around on the wooden climbing structures,
playing various chase games. But the swings are popular, too.

>- What activity does your child like to do most of all at the
   playground?

Run around.

>- What are the rest of the children doing who are not at the
   playground?

I don't understand the question. What "other children" are you talking
about?

Playgrounds vary in their ability to draw people. I think an important
and easily overlooked issue is that the needs of the accompanying
adults have to be met: it's nice to have benches to sit on, for
instance. Shade is important in the summer. Also, the playground has
to have a variety of activities and be visually appealing. Most of the
playgrounds around here have large wooden climbing structures with
lots of slides, "monkey bars", tire climbs, etc. that the kids love.

Time of day is important, too. If you set up a camera to go off every
ten minutes you may not be as impressed by the peaks in activity that
occur, say, right after supper. 

What "studies show" is interesting, but for me not as interesting as
my own personal experience, which is:

 - Our kids like to go to the playgound. We enjoy taking them.

 - Our kids' FRIENDS like to go to the playground.

 - Lots of people I don't know take their kids to the playground. Over
   time, we've come to know folks who visit the playgound on about the
   same schedule we do. I can't say that we've made any good friends
   that way, but casual acquaintances have their place.

I'm not about to claim that playgrounds are always and everywhere a
good thing. But it's equally wrong to state that all playgrounds are
"little reservations for children and [have] nothing to do with play."

-- Jerry Callen
   jcallen [at] world.std.com

   "The best lack conviction, given some time to think,
    and the worst are full of passion without mercy."  -- Joni Mitchell