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Playground Lover

Playground Lover

I’ve been a playground lover for a long time!  I can still map out my elementary school playground and the games I played there. This photo was from the side/back of the school. On the other side of the fence is a horse trail and creek. We used to walk the trail and catch tadpoles in the creek. See that jungle gym near me? A friend fell through and got a bloody nose there. I know there was a sandbox nearby, too. Then the blacktop with rings! My favorite! We’d put our skinny little legs through and hang upside down, swinging.  There were rubber pads under the equipment, but we’d still get burns when we fell or skidded to a stop on them. Then there were all sorts of monkey bar stations leading to the big field. A very tall rope climbing station at the entrance to the wide expanse of lawn and backstops.

We’d pretend to ice skate on the lawn on frosty mornings when the field turned white. We ran cross-country on the horse trail outside the fence. I earned my nickname of “Hoover” from rolling down one of the shortcuts and coming back to the playground with a cloud of dust trailing behind me and weeds in my hair, looking something like “Pig Pen” from Peanuts. A scary Flasher dropped his pants one day while watching us kids from the hill above. We were playing kickball during recess.  We ran! I can see the whole group of kids dropping and running in a panic to the noon aids. The police came to our house after and we had to describe the guy. I didn’t really know what I’d seen. I just knew he was a bad guy, even before he dropped his pants.

Now we come back to the blacktop where there were basketball courts. “Nation” was my favorite game. We’d split the class in half and each team would take their place on half the court. We’d take a volleyball and “huck” it at each other to try to get people OUT. If you caught the ball, you weren’t OUT and it was likely you could get someone else OUT because you could just “huck” it right back at your assailant who wasn’t prepared to catch it.  Dodgeball was okay, too. But Nation was more fun.  There was jump roping and Four Square for the tamer set.  I liked handball on the two handball courts (skidzies and do over’s) are the only terms I remember from that time. Tetherball was hypnotizingly addictive.

I would shoot hoops before school started. There was a 6th grade bully who used to terrorize me. The solution? My parents coached me to tell him “Thank you very much!” every time he insulted me and then ignore him. Before long, he was shooting baskets with me and we had a grand old time before school started. His name was Danny.

My sis on the rings.

Sometimes I think we forget that the playground was not always perfect or safe. But I’d argue that we learned about the world on the playground — and how to deal with things that came spinning at us out of nowhere.

This is my contribution to Suz Lipman’s Photo Friday on SlowFamilyOnline.com (just for fun!). She had a great post about Groundhog Day this week!

Danielle

Tuesday 8th of February 2011

Cool memories! Hope our kids have those same memories of their playground days...not only PLAYING, but socializing (not at a Starbucks!) but having fun with their buddies outdoors. I laugh daily when my 7 year old comes home from school to tell me the things he learned from these outside the classroom chat sessions: "Mom, Spell I CUP"...ha, ha!...; "Mom, did you know Elvis died from constipation" (you should have seen the visual on this one)...Like you said - lots of life skills were learned on a playground!

Glamis Camping

Sunday 6th of February 2011

Awww, vintage photos! I've always wanted to install a little playground on our backyard, if not just for the swings, which in my opinion is the best thing ever.

lisa

Friday 4th of February 2011

GREAT Post!! Your little one has the same face! I remember the handball, thether ball & all the blisters from the bars. Thanks for sharing!

Gigi

Friday 4th of February 2011

If you make children happy now you will make them happy twenty years hence by the memory of it. - Kate Wiggin And here's your proof. In 20 years your kids will be remembering dragging a box to the beach!

Suz @ Slow Family

Friday 4th of February 2011

Oh my gosh! I love this post -- and your pictures! You brought back so many memories. I loved my elementary school playground. I remember the rings (and having blistery hands, which earned a sort of bragging right), and the monkey bars, and hanging upside down and doing flips off them. (This probably wouldn't be allowed today.) And all the games! Kickball, handball, four-square, tetherball. I don't remember the need for parents or teachers to intervene - just lots of play.

Later, when I took my daughter's girl scout troop on a camping trip, the girls ended up playing tetherball for hours! It was a reminder that such simple things can be a bit unusual in our kids' lives. Thanks for sharing from your childhood and offering a fun reminder about the importance of simple playground play.

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