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conuly
It's not a bad playground, really. It just scares me sometimes.
Of course, Ana thinks the world is her playground. I'm sure I've said before that in many ways, this is a city built on scaffolding. People like scaffolds. They keep the sun and rain away from your eyes.
Ana, of course, pictures them as the biggest, bestest jungle gym she's ever seen. Give her a second, and she's flipping up and climbing up and flipping AND climbing up. The other day, I showed her how to hang by her knees. She hasn't tried it again (I think she's a little scared. I got that idea when, right before laughing when she realized she wasn't falling, she went "I'm scared, I can't do it Connie! SPOT ME!"), but you know she wants to.
The child swings and flips and spins and climbs in her and her sister's hammocks all day long if I let her! She's really good, too. I have a friend, lamenting that both her children are climbers, and she can't get them to stop. I told her, listen, don't worry about getting them to stop. Teach them how to do it without falling and cracking their skulls, then you can sell them to the circus in a few years. (Actually, I said then they'll be safer, but you get the point.)
And really, worrying overmuch about safety is a bad thing, I see it myself. I'm so careful never to say "Don't do that, it'll hurt you" to Ana unless she's actually about to die or at least be seriously injured because I'm always proven wrong - if I say it too much, she doesn't listen. (Today, she had to listen, because hanging off the door of the fridge will cause the fridge to topple and kill her. She didn't try it again.) I've seen for myself that both nieces are more than capable of climbing to the top of various play structures without me hanging on to them. I see people holding on to their kids as they climb, saying "If I don't, he falls back!". Well, I learned myself that it was having my hand there that made Ana and Evangeline lean backwards and let go at weird times. Me hovering made them act unsafely and ultimately put them in danger.
But the rocks still scare me a little, even as I see dozens or more children go up and down and up and down and they don't get hurt.
Of course, Ana thinks the world is her playground. I'm sure I've said before that in many ways, this is a city built on scaffolding. People like scaffolds. They keep the sun and rain away from your eyes.
Ana, of course, pictures them as the biggest, bestest jungle gym she's ever seen. Give her a second, and she's flipping up and climbing up and flipping AND climbing up. The other day, I showed her how to hang by her knees. She hasn't tried it again (I think she's a little scared. I got that idea when, right before laughing when she realized she wasn't falling, she went "I'm scared, I can't do it Connie! SPOT ME!"), but you know she wants to.
The child swings and flips and spins and climbs in her and her sister's hammocks all day long if I let her! She's really good, too. I have a friend, lamenting that both her children are climbers, and she can't get them to stop. I told her, listen, don't worry about getting them to stop. Teach them how to do it without falling and cracking their skulls, then you can sell them to the circus in a few years. (Actually, I said then they'll be safer, but you get the point.)
And really, worrying overmuch about safety is a bad thing, I see it myself. I'm so careful never to say "Don't do that, it'll hurt you" to Ana unless she's actually about to die or at least be seriously injured because I'm always proven wrong - if I say it too much, she doesn't listen. (Today, she had to listen, because hanging off the door of the fridge will cause the fridge to topple and kill her. She didn't try it again.) I've seen for myself that both nieces are more than capable of climbing to the top of various play structures without me hanging on to them. I see people holding on to their kids as they climb, saying "If I don't, he falls back!". Well, I learned myself that it was having my hand there that made Ana and Evangeline lean backwards and let go at weird times. Me hovering made them act unsafely and ultimately put them in danger.
But the rocks still scare me a little, even as I see dozens or more children go up and down and up and down and they don't get hurt.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-12 05:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-13 07:27 pm (UTC)They have been, as I call it, 'dumbing down' the parks in my neighborhood. Have been since I was a child. Everything is so...safe now. What happened to real slides, swings that swing (but that's an easy WD-40 fix), those carosel things that you hold onto while running around then jump on and spin? We have one park that I've been going to my whole life, there is not one toy there from my childhood, at some point all the toys I played on as a kid were deemed dangerous and replaced by something 'safer'.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-14 03:41 am (UTC)The playground I love has a merry-go-round like you describe, but with bikes to pedal. It's really great.
What I miss, though, are real two person see-saws. Those are hard to find now!
no subject
Date: 2008-04-12 05:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-13 07:27 pm (UTC)They have been, as I call it, 'dumbing down' the parks in my neighborhood. Have been since I was a child. Everything is so...safe now. What happened to real slides, swings that swing (but that's an easy WD-40 fix), those carosel things that you hold onto while running around then jump on and spin? We have one park that I've been going to my whole life, there is not one toy there from my childhood, at some point all the toys I played on as a kid were deemed dangerous and replaced by something 'safer'.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-14 03:41 am (UTC)The playground I love has a merry-go-round like you describe, but with bikes to pedal. It's really great.
What I miss, though, are real two person see-saws. Those are hard to find now!