Nation of whiners?

[Smurfette Principle]

I'm a '93 baby. Honestly, the one thing I remember about my childhood that makes it better than current ones is the toys I had. I had dolls that didn't talk and teddies and shit, but the playground we had was a series of wooden structures and slides and such that could literally be anything we wanted. There was a stage, some towers, bridges, a thing shaped like a boat - basically it was open for interpretation what you could play and it was awesome. And then, because it was filled with toxic chemicals and leaking nails, it got torn down and replaced with a tiny plastic thing with steering wheels and shit.

Also, the original playground could be played on by anyone. It was big enough to take middle schoolers. This new playground can only hold people who are, like, six or seven, max.

[The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist]

My elementary school had a pretty awesome playground. The equipment in the div 2 park was around 12 feet off the ground, with a huge arch that we could (and were meant to) climb over and dangle from (it also had a bridge thing hanging under it and some chain thingies), monkey bars, tight ropes to balance on (with hand rails on either side, of course), etc. We also had a tire park (equipment made out of unused, defective tires -- it was awesome) with what we called the "castles" -- you could climb on top, or drop through the holes and hide inside of them -- as well as a dragon shaped from the tires, tire swings, and giant, industrial tires embedded halfway into the ground to hide inside or climb on. The div 1 playground was basically a slightly shorter (but still pretty high off the ground) version of the div 2 wooden one. All, other than the tire park, were made of wood and metal. The main safety features were metal bars to hold onto and gravel on the ground.

They've since replaced it with a lame plastic version, with all the usual safety features. I wish I had pictures of the old playground. It was rad.

[Her3tiK]

My elementary school had a pretty awesome playground. The equipment in the div 2 park was around 12 feet off the ground, with a huge arch that we could (and were meant to) climb over and dangle from (it also had a bridge thing hanging under it and some chain thingies), monkey bars, tight ropes to balance on (with hand rails on either side, of course), etc. We also had a tire park (equipment made out of unused, defective tires -- it was awesome) with what we called the "castles" -- you could climb on top, or drop through the holes and hide inside of them -- as well as a dragon shaped from the tires, tire swings, and giant, industrial tires embedded halfway into the ground to hide inside or climb on. The div 1 playground was basically a slightly shorter (but still pretty high off the ground) version of the div 2 wooden one. All, other than the tire park, were made of wood and metal. The main safety features were metal bars to hold onto and gravel on the ground.

They've since replaced it with a lame plastic version, with all the usual safety features. I wish I had pictures of the old playground. It was rad.

Now those were some fun times. I feel bad for my cousins who get all this safe, plastic shit.

[RavynousHunter]

I'm just going to interject some bitching here, scuse me...

Those in it look like adults but "haven't become fully adult yet—traditionally defined as finishing school, landing a job with benefits, marrying and parenting—because they are not ready or perhaps not permitted to do so."

Uh...finishing school, getting a job, even marriage, I'll give you all that, but parenting?  Making a little sprog is not a measure of becoming an adult.  I know plenty of "adults" who are psychologically children who have, unfortunately, reproduced.  Popping out a kid isn't some magical doorway into adulthood.  Just like marriage doesn't prevent rape, STDs, or stupidity.

[SpaceProg]

I was born in 78, so... I don't really know what to say other than things seemed to be a lot less litigious in the playground world.  In fact, I remember a time when we played "Red rover, red rover EVERYBODY come over!"  Woo, that was chaos.  I wouldn't trade the memory for anything.

[Fpqxz]

I was born in 78, so... I don't really know what to say other than things seemed to be a lot less litigious in the playground world.

I was born in '79, in New Jersey.  When I was in High School, this place was still open.  And if ever there was a rite of passage into manhood, it was going to Action Park and getting drunk, stoned, injured, sunburned, and nearly drowned...and coming home grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

Sure, some people got severely injured or even killed there.  But them's the breaks.  For the rest of us, the park's fearsome reputation and virtually lawless atmosphere reminded us that we were ALIVE.  I personally know a guy who won a sizeable settlement after breaking his shoulder on the infamous Alpine Slide.  It paid for most of his college tuition!

I pity this generation of NJ teenagers that will never know the wonderful, horrible, surreal place that was Action Park.

I wouldn't trade the memory for anything.

My sentiments exactly.   

[SpaceProg]

I love it.  I just love it.

[RavynousHunter]

I can understand basic safety precautions...shortly after I left elementary school, they replaced the bed of really small rocks they had around their various sets of playground equipment with thick, bouncy rubber matting.  I can attest that those fucking rocks were anything but soft or safe, so can the small bald spot on my head where the staples went after I split it open like a head of lettuce.  Twice.

But, yeah, this whole overprotective super-nanny bullshit's really gotta stop.  Kids are gonna get injured, kids are gonna get hurt, its part of life.  Teach your kid to be safe and clean, sure, but at the end of the day, you shouldn't take away your kid's bike just because he fell off it and got bloodied up a little.  Give the kid some kiddie Tylenol, a bandage, and some Neosporin, and let him at it again when he feels up to it.  The only way you truly get good at something is to fail, and fail a lot.  I learned that with basic social interaction...and mine was not because of the overzealous helicopter parent bullshit, but because my dad drilled the idea that everyone was evil and untrustworthy into my head when I was but a boy, and that kinda shit's hard to break free from.

I still have a hard time trusting people, interaction's easier thanks to medication and a lot of hard work...both on my end and from the best girlfriend in the whole world, but I wouldn't call it easy, just yet.

The problem really isn't with parents and adults in general worrying about kids, we all worry about kids (ours or not), its part of being human, the problem lies with passing that worry on to the children in question.  They shouldn't have to worry, because, and I can attest to this personally, it will rob them of their childhood.  I didn't get to have one, because of the aforementioned paternal conditioning and because my family is a hotbed of mental illness.  My childhood was taken from me, and there's nothing I can do to get it back, no matter how much I wish I could...I don't want that to happen to anyone else.

[Distind]

Also, the original playground could be played on by anyone. It was big enough to take middle schoolers. This new playground can only hold people who are, like, six or seven, max.

You do know that's intentional right? All those shifty nearly teenage drug dealing hooligans, got to isolate them from the real children, got to make sure they have nothing to do but play the videagames and huff drugs.

Or at least that's all I've seen them leave.

Which drives me insane having heard the stories from generations before mine who were considerably more destructive, drug prone, and yet still active. Shit didn't get closed because a couple kids had a fight, the kids involved got smacked around for being idiots and no one got sued. Now, kids get into a fight some place, the owner gets sued by their parents, and anyone who used the place is now screwed.

As for safety precautions on a play ground, a bed of wood chips always seemed to be soft enough not to do lasting harm, but spiky enough to remind children that falling was bad thing. A day spent getting slivers removed from your back is a day well remembered...

[starseeker]

I was born in '90 but my parents were fairly laizze-faire, I remember my mates at primary school being amazed that I was allowed to go to town on the bus on my own when I was 10, they had to go as a (unsupervised) group. The roundabout in the playground was an old metal tube one with multiple layers of flaking paint that kids got trapped under semi-regularly but it was fun, now it's one of those stupid slow pedal ones, the old high slides were deemed too unsafe and the concrete boat was somehow deemed unsafe, but yeah the playground's only good for 5 year olds now. Learnt the hard way to not climb dead trees after falling 10 feet out of one. Only got a phone when I was 14 but I had a 7 mile public bus to take home (there were other kids my age on it too). At uni I got called once a week, and was generally expected to figure out paying bills and stuff by myself.

Just can't get my head around how sheltered kids are nowadays.

[TheL]

OMG, remember the big metal dome jungle gyms that were burning hot in midsummer but you played on them anyway?

And swing sets that you got in trouble for jumping from but did anyway so you could pretend you could fly?

And the GIANT SLIDE that felt like it went on forever?

And rope bridges?  And the ball pit at Showbiz Pizza?

And those stupid springy animal things that were supposed to rock back and forth but were so rusted-out they wouldn't move anymore?

))))

Frankly, if you can't break a bone playing on it wrong, it's not worthwhile.  No wonder kids don't want to play outside anymore.

[Her3tiK]

All these comments force me to wonder why more adults weren't caught playing on these things. I'll be damned if I wouldn't do it again, given the chance.

[ironbite]

Why do you think they went away?

[syaoranvee]

I remember the playground on mine had a giant wooden fort thing painted white, thing was fun as hell however by the time I got to the 6th grade they destroyed it. Why? Apparently the paint on it had decayed so far on it that it became a poisonous deathtrap or so I've been told.

[Auri-El]

so instead of stripping and repainting it, they just tore it down? Yeah, that makes sense.