One day event....sun/summer....

[misstia]

aw, summertime....when some of us grew up knowing metal playground equipment would be hot to the touch but it didn't stop us....i think nowadays all of these in the ad would be considered lethal weapons and totally banned....sometimes i think wrapping kids in bubble wrap isn't a good thing....cuz eventually the bubbles all pop and then they have no experience when faced with reality.....

Comments

[calzephyr77.livejournal.com]

These look so fun! I completely forgot about slides that got too hot :)

[pronker]

These look fun and safe enough - at least they aren't refrigerators with latches! Our elementary school park had a gutted WWII bomber atop tanbark and it was great fun to sit in the cockpit, say "AHAHAHAHA!" as we machine-gunned the Enemy. Gads, I'm sure that thing was gone by 1975 or so. Also, it was a coming of age test if we'd grown enough to shimmy up to the tail assembly and then jump off onto the tanbark ... *shakes head at self*

[bradygirl_12]

Ouch, hot slides! :)

I approve of helmets for kids riding bicycles. Too many head injuries with bikes, but I do wonder if all the bubble wrapping for just about everything doesn't teach a culture of fear to kids? All kids have fears but mostly they're isolated incidents, not a constant state of fear (unless their home lives are nightmares). Are kids getting a message of fear today?

[misstia]

i think kids are constantly fed a diet of fears nowadays.....from the bubble wrapping to what is on the news, etc....it's permeating society.....i mean, even if kids don't watch the news, they have to see the commercials with "are eggs killing you?" "water, what you don't know will kill you" those type of hyped baiting lines.....then of course so many kids can't even just go AND PLAY....they have to have 'play dates'....everything is scheduled, organized, etc and kids need time to discover, day dream, play on their own without helicopter parents.....

of course nowadays child services will get involved if parents let their children walk home from somewhere a few blocks by themselves!!

i can't recall ever getting a head injury from a bike....knee injuries yes, not head injuries.....

[bradygirl_12]

We live in a society where parents are arrested for letting their kids walk through their neighborhood 'unescorted'! And people call the parents bad parents for letting their kids have freedom!

If a kid today sat down and watched an episode of Leave It To Beaver, they would find the clothes, cars, and slang to be different, but what would really blow them away is Wally and the Beaver and their friends able to freely come and go, have pick-up baseball games, stay out all day and come home only in time for supper, and cook up their own games and settle their own disputes.

Play dates would consist of a kid going over to another kid's house and asking if he can come out and play. There were organized sports in school, but a lot of a kid's time was spent choosing up sides and playing what they wanted at the local sandlot, and they had to serve as their own referees. Even girls, who often still wore dresses (!) out of school (though a lot wore practical jeans), got together with their friends and played and went down to the local drugstore for ice cream sodas. My sister and I during the summer went outside after breakfast and rarely went back in until suppertime.

[misstia]

i'm talking about the play dates that are scheduled in advance, such as jimmy will go play at billy's house tuesday from 4pm to 6pm doing activity X and at 5pm will have a snack of A.....there's actually kids raised today who have no idea about going over to someone's house asking if someone can come out and play and that's really sad.....your leave it to beaver example is excellent!!! even in the 70s kids go out wander around, 80s too.....

i'm sure you've heard of 'free range parenting' were parents basically let their kids have freedom....and there's a backlash and they're called bad parents....um, how many millions were allowed out all day and survived? who spent days making up games, daydreaming, etc?

in many respects, from my personal experience, kids in lower economic households have more freedom than wealthier kids....whereas they might not have all the toys, expensive clothes, etc they DO have freedom to go outside and see if anyone can come out to play, they can make up games and they aren't hovered over....the hood kids around here thru the years have played cops, secret service, they had a funeral for president ford (he's buried in my yard), they had 'cooking' contests making baked goods from mud, berries and flowers---i've got pix somewhere on my computer of that, there's been kick ball games, baseball games, science experiments---diet coke and mentos, can an egg cook on black top in 100 degree heat (yes it can), we've even had the robinette court olympics.......i don't think ANY of those things would have been possible if their play time had been by appointment and structured.....

[bradygirl_12]

Ha, that play date sounds like no fun! I enjoyed school well enough, learning to read and everything else, but the one thing I didn't like about it was I had no say in what to do all day long. I loved it when I was out of school and could decide for myself what to play or read.

That makes sense about kids not so wealthy having more freedom. I am glad that I grew up middle-class and had that kind of freedom. The kids you described sound like they had fun! :)

I think 'free-range' kids lasted until the 1980s, yes. Things started to tighten up around the '90s and of course are impossible now.

If the helicopter parents want healthier kids, kick 'em out of the house away from computer games and let them run around outside. We all know that more kids are obese these days due to lack of exercise. While I admire the NFL players for being involved in the 'Play 60' movement, I am always amazed that such a thing is necessary: telling kids they have to play for at least 60 minutes! My Baby Boomer mind boggles! :)

[misstia]

yeah, that's what 'play dates' are....scheduled, micro-managed 'play times'....if i hear anyone in a store mention such a thing i just give them a look.....

hood kids thru the years have had a lot of fun.....i even let them paint on my house one halloween----after checking with parental units and DRILLING into the kids that they could never EVER do such a thing to anyone else's house and if i found out they'd be in big trouble.....

helicopter parents obviously believe they are doing their best for their kids, but in the long run, when those kids are faced with reality, they can't cope well.....like all the kids who get participation trophies now, and everyone 'wins'....um, in the real world things don't work that way.....you learn that as a kid so you can handle things better as an adult.....when you have ZERO framework there, the real world is gonna be a very scary place and has been found to be for a lot of people raised that way....they can't handle job rejection, relationship rejection, anything not going right.....deadlines, responsibilities----that can't be changed.....parents try to shield their kids from all those things out of love, and in the end, in my opinion, those kids face a hard road.....

never heard of the play 60 thing---though i have no tv, etc.....it's sad that such a thing has to be drilled into kids nowadays....bring back kids being kids with FREE TIME!!!! everyone--kids and adults---needs free time.....

[bradygirl_12]

It's just astounding that our society requires star athletes to encourage kids to play! *shakes head*

It's true that kids raised with 'everyone gets a trophy' doesn't know what it's like to fail, and since life is pretty much failure much of the time, their psychological make-up isn't going to be too strong. Stories are out there of twentysomethings interviewing for a job and expecting big bucks right away and an important job, not some entry-level position. They are special snowflakes, after all!

Bet the kids had fun painting your house on Halloween! :)

[asphaltwanderer.livejournal.com]

I think this is the same set, long since abandoned. Way creepier.