Why? Several reasons:
1. Playing with a bunch of other kids on the playground is like sending my kids to a class titled, "Behaviors You Wish Your Children Hadn't Picked Up". Playgrounds are where my kids have learned to spit, call other kids names like stinky-head, stick their tongues out at other kids, block other kids from going past them in the tunnels or on the bridges, and tackle kids on the slides. I feel like I have to retrain them once we get back home.
2. There are always those parents who have their nose stuck in a book or who are chatting with friends. In the meantime, little Timmy is tackling other kids or Susie is throwing sand at my kid's face. And I'm left trying to explain to my boys why I don't really want them to play with Timmy or that maybe we should stay out of the sandbox for a while. And yes, my boys behave poorly at the park sometimes. I have to correct their behavior or remind them of our park rules. We even have an occasional time-out and there have been times when leaving the park seemed like the best idea. Every child misbehaves and has bad days. I just don't want to have to deal with it from kids who aren't mine. I want the parents to occasionally look up from their book and check on what their child is doing.
3. I'm convinced that the majority of playgrounds were designed by people who never had kids. Metal staircases? Openings for ladders that allow a toddler to step off into space from fifteen feet up? Wooden tunnels and towers that make it impossible to find your kid and that are way too big for an adult to get into? Add to that a bunch of other kids who are running and not completely in control of themselves and it's an accident waiting to happen. On second thought, maybe playgrounds are designed by health insurance companies looking to make a few extra bucks.
To be continued...
photo by erink1976 http://www.flickr.com/photos/42046355@N06/5545197659/
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