Playground equipment-Why it's time to bring back 'thrill-provoking' equipment for kids
Playground equipment-Why it's time to bring back 'thrill-provoking' equipment for kids
I’m sitting at the lake’s edge of our campsite reading a good book, when my 9-year-old and 6-year-old come running to my side.
“Mom,” my oldest daughter yells. “You have to come see what we did at the playground!”
“Yeah,” my youngest chimes in. “We got bored, so we made up our own ways to use the swings and stuff.”
As I watch my daughters climb up a tunnel slide together (on the outside!), I make a mental note that the playground equipment, which looks pretty standard today, isn’t challenging enough for my daughters.
Playgrounds have drastically changed over the years. Most no longer offer the same sensory and motor challenges as the playgrounds of yesteryear. Due to increasing liability and safety concerns over the years, we’ve replaced the metal playground equipment that towered over us as young children with brightly colored ultra-safe alternatives.
We’ve taken away merry-go-rounds and teeter-totters. Swing spans have decreased and slides and climbing structures are surprisingly close to the ground. Kids appear to master the equipment at a young age. When the equipment no longer presents an age-appropriate challenge for the children, they quickly become bored and indifferent to the plastic play pieces. Or worse, they use them in ways that they were never intended for – making the situation unsafe in today’s standards.
I’m sitting at the lake’s edge of our campsite reading a good book, when my 9-year-old and 6-year-old come running to my side.
“Mom,” my oldest daughter yells. “You have to come see what we did at the playground!”
“Yeah,” my youngest chimes in. “We got bored, so we made up our own ways to use the swings and stuff.”
As I watch my daughters climb up a tunnel slide together (on the outside!), I make a mental note that the playground equipment, which looks pretty standard today, isn’t challenging enough for my daughters.
Playgrounds have drastically changed over the years. Most no longer offer the same sensory and motor challenges as the playgrounds of yesteryear. Due to increasing liability and safety concerns over the years, we’ve replaced the metal playground equipment that towered over us as young children with brightly colored ultra-safe alternatives.
We’ve taken away merry-go-rounds and teeter-totters. Swing spans have decreased and slides and climbing structures are surprisingly close to the ground. Kids appear to master the equipment at a young age. When the equipment no longer presents an age-appropriate challenge for the children, they quickly become bored and indifferent to the plastic play pieces. Or worse, they use them in ways that they were never intended for – making the situation unsafe in today’s standards.
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