1. Merry-go-rounds (the kind that used to be on the playground)
2. jungle gyms
3. Red Rover, Red Rover
4. Dodge ball
5. cigarette shaped gum
6. see saws
7. picking up or dropping off someone at the gate at the airport
8. getting to see the cockpit of the plane when you're on a trip
9. riding in the back of a pickup truck
Okay, I realize all of this stuff is gone because it was considered dangerous. But I still feel like kids today are missing out. Some of the stuff on the list isn't too much of a loss. (The cigarette gum was fun, but I'm not mourning its departure.) I did love dodge ball and riding in my uncle's truck.
But I think it's the playground stuff I'm sad about. Do you remember pushing the carousel around? I remember us running as fast as we could, then jumping on and hanging over the side, holding on for dear life. I remember how fun and scary it was to hang upside-down from the very top of the jungle gym....then flip upside-down and drop down with no hands. I think experiences like these lay the foundation for later stuff -- diving off the high dive, riding on the biggest roller coasters, jumping off the rock at Waimea Bay.
As a Mother I'm glad these things make kids safer, but I'm also a little sad that they won't have the thrills.
2 comments:
That's so weird you say that because I swear that JUST TODAY I was thinking about merry-go-rounds and wishing that they still had them at playgrounds because I loved them and I know London would too. What's less safe about those than some of these 'slide for life' things they have on the playgrounds around here!?!
Every once in a great while you can find "old school" playgrounds around. There is a merry go round here that the kids have been on.
What about the teeter totters that launched you into the air? Or the slides that you clmbed up a ladder (not stairs) and were about 3 stories high?
And the kids have been in the cockpit several times on recent flights. I think they have relaxed that one a bit.
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