Different Ages and Playgrounds
When traveling around I have been surprised at the lack of, if you like, communal playground areas. By this I mean playgrounds that are all together, young and older kids can run around the same area.
Obviously you don’t want a fourteen year old running into a four year old, they would knock them for six, but we could have one end for the bigger kids and one end for the smaller ones.
When I was a kid, many moons ago, there was such a place like this in a town near where I lived, the actual playground, had a big hedge around it, there where picnic benches in there, so all the family could sit and have something to eat, swings for the little ones where at one end, with slides, climbing frames and roundabouts, that none of the bigger kids wanted to play on. At the other end was where the older kids had larger pieces of equipment, swings their size, bigger climbing frames and things that the younger kids could not really play on.
I suppose one of the main points I am trying to put across, is that you don’t have to separate young from old in the play areas, its not just anti social, its silly when a brother or sister have to play in separate parks, because one is older than the other. You want your children to be able to play together and help each other. Sometimes siblings find it hard to get along at the best of times, but when you see them playing together, all those little squabbles and disagreements seem to vanish into thin air. When they are older still, your kids will look back on those times they played together, with fond memories, I know I do.
We have to bring back this type of bonding into our children’s play, as it can really effect the way they grow and perceive others. Something the authorities worry about is vandalism, but you would be surprised at the morals of these vandals when it comes to joint parks for older and younger kids. There is a park like this in another town near me, that has survived through many different local authorities, this park does have a bit of graffiti on it, but it does not receive the type of destruction that I’ve seen happen to other parks.
Give your kids the same kind of integration with others, that we had when we were younger and bring back more joint parks.
