I had lunch at a park recently with my mom. After looking around she said it isn’t right that they don’t have any swings here. She starts saying there were kids that did break their arms when they jumped back in the day, but it was common sense to know you were too high to safely jump. This led to a discussion of the plastic used to guard fingers from the chains.
We then started talking about the missing jungle gym that was taller than an adult, the monkey bars, the merry-go-rounds, and the tornado slide that was always placed in the sun that I avoided on really hot days, because I ALWAYS wore shorts.
I was in junior high/high school when my grade school got rid of the monkey bars. I realized I didn’t start gaining weight until after I stopped playing on the monkey bars. I still can bring back my monkey bar blisters after a few minutes of play. I would like to play on them again to naturally build up my upper body strength. My favorite machine at the gym is the one that you do the assisted pull-ups because it brings back the feeling of the monkey bars.
The monkey bars were not my favorite, but the swings were often taken, so I would go to the monkey bars or the pipe if I need to talk with someone. The pipe is missing to. It looked like something out of Super Mario Brothers. You could crawl in, position yourself like the letter “c” or "u" if you were not in a dress and take your chances of someone listening in or you could do the running leap on and jump on top. There you could position yourself like a lady then slide down or you could straddle it like a horse and play those hand games.
I know not all of the playground equipment is banned - just at the nicer parks. I came up with the idea of “Retro Park” where we bring back all the “dangerous” and banned playground equipment without the bouncy rubber mats surrounding it too. Either adults could relive childhood or kids could see what mommy and daddy played on. Only thing is you would have to sign a waiver not to sue Retro Playground if you or your child happened to get hurt – just like the good ole days of our youth.
We then started talking about the missing jungle gym that was taller than an adult, the monkey bars, the merry-go-rounds, and the tornado slide that was always placed in the sun that I avoided on really hot days, because I ALWAYS wore shorts.
I was in junior high/high school when my grade school got rid of the monkey bars. I realized I didn’t start gaining weight until after I stopped playing on the monkey bars. I still can bring back my monkey bar blisters after a few minutes of play. I would like to play on them again to naturally build up my upper body strength. My favorite machine at the gym is the one that you do the assisted pull-ups because it brings back the feeling of the monkey bars.
The monkey bars were not my favorite, but the swings were often taken, so I would go to the monkey bars or the pipe if I need to talk with someone. The pipe is missing to. It looked like something out of Super Mario Brothers. You could crawl in, position yourself like the letter “c” or "u" if you were not in a dress and take your chances of someone listening in or you could do the running leap on and jump on top. There you could position yourself like a lady then slide down or you could straddle it like a horse and play those hand games.
I know not all of the playground equipment is banned - just at the nicer parks. I came up with the idea of “Retro Park” where we bring back all the “dangerous” and banned playground equipment without the bouncy rubber mats surrounding it too. Either adults could relive childhood or kids could see what mommy and daddy played on. Only thing is you would have to sign a waiver not to sue Retro Playground if you or your child happened to get hurt – just like the good ole days of our youth.
Have you gone back to one of your old playgrounds? How has it changed? What was your favorite piece of equipment? What would you add to Retro Park?
-Disaster Chick, guest blogger
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