Great article on Salon, via Common Good, about when adults make kid's spaces safe and risk-free maybe we take the fun out of them.
I think the above image would be heaven for my kids, rather than the sterile, homogenous play structure that my local park has to offer.
(Photo of St. John's Wood Adventure Playground, London in 1963)
There has to be risk, or the kids simply do not enjoy it. It is frightening watching your 3 or 4 year old try a move they have never done before, but they have so much pride when they have done it. My 3 year old loves 'teaching' her friends to climb trees, since she learnt the skill on an old Magnolia Tree last month. LEt them take the risk, theyhave an inbuilt safety mechanism that protects them whilst playing and that too needs to be developed for later life.
ReplyDeletethat is such a great pic! I think climbing is such a crucial skill and there is no comparing climbing on something natural or randomly put together with something engineered to be safe - crazy = as then they go looking for risk at other, far more dangerous times and places.
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