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Across the Fence: Playground Preferences

January 29, 2021 By Susanne Bacon 4 Comments

The other day, on a walk around Chambers Bay Golf Course, I came past the playground and pondered with how much love it has been set up. There were quite a few kids playing there, not all of them physically distancing; but in one corner, on a swing, sat a little girl all by herself, seemingly all self-content in twisting the swing and enjoying the circular ride. It somehow reminded me of my own childhood and made me ponder what it was about MY playground preferences back then.

At my kindergarten, some architect had come up with a so-called snail house concrete construction. It was about double my height, and at one point in the spiral, the architect had put round holes to climb to the top. It looked just gray and totally dreary. From today’s perspective, I think that architect must have had a secretly sadistic streak in him. Imagine a child climb up that thing (and we did) and fall down (which, somehow, we didn’t)! Or what a perfect bullying device it was, as the center had no outlet, and other kids could hold one literally hostage in there. There were some mean little girls who did this – they walked around, calling “who wants chocolate?” (and who didn’t?!), then lured their victim into the spiral center, and told the kid they’d never let it out again. It happened to me once. At another time I went in with a little friend of mine, and she showered me with jewels. When I came home and I showed my mother the treasure with gleaming eyes, she found that every bit was the real deal! My little friend had ransacked her mother’s jewelry box. Of course, I had to return the pile. The concrete spiral certainly had me wary after that. It was a place where no good things happened.

Seesaws represented the imbalance between the bullies and “the other ones” for me as a kid. (Photo: Markus Winkler @ unsplash.com/)

Another playground peeve to me was the seesaw. It was an equipment that always seemed to be on the bullies’ side. They could have you sit up in the air for seeming ages, then just jump off and let you down the hard way. It was never a tool of finding a balance. Merry-go-rounds? To a point they were fun, unless a bully made you go faster and faster by pushing it and not being on the ride themselves. I remember one kid falling off such a device and come away with a hole in the head. Not sure whether you can find any of such playground equipment anywhere anymore. Kids back in the day certainly had to be somewhat tough. How often did I come away with scrapes and splinters from the playground?! We even had something called “adventure playground”, where you went with a hammer and nails and built your own fort – well, I think that was supervised by adults, at least.

Merry-go-rounds were only fun when everybody joined in on the ride. (Photo: Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

My all-time favorite equipment was a horizontal high bar, from which I could let myself dangle, knees hooked over the bar, watching the world from an upside-down angle. Quite intriguing. And peaceful, as I did it all by myself. And swings. They came pretty close to flying, and it was me who could decide how high I wanted to go up (high!). I could even feel these little butterflies in my tummy sometimes. And I could invite a friend to share the seat. Swinging in twos was quite some fun.

Swings always felt like flying – all alone or with a close friend. (Photo: Markus Spiske @ unsplash.com/)

The playground in front of the house in which I grew up was little cared for. It was a big sandpit (which was loved by all the cats in the neighborhood) with some climbing equipment and formerly mentioned high bar. There was a point early in my childhood when it became less and less luring. Though the equipment actually was repainted at one point. They took down the seesaw which had been broken by some wild abuse, and never replaced it again. A swing would have made all the difference for me.

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About Susanne Bacon

German-American journalist Susanne Bacon is also the author of the Wycliff novel series (available in local bookstores or on Amazon). The latest, published in 2020, is Suddenly Snow. Her Suburban Times column “Home from Home” is also available as a book now. Its German title is “In der Fremde daheim". She lives with her husband in Lakewood, Washington. You can contact her at Facebook. If you are interested in an express delivery of Susanne's columns, subscribe to her Bacon's Bits email, delivery free to your inbox. Click here to sign up.

Comments

  1. Jaynie Dillon Jones says

    January 30, 2021 at 4:15 pm

    An architect with a “secretly sadistic streak?” Not so much. It seems blatant. It sounds more like a Halloween House of Horrors.

    As for those “mean little girls” who would lure you in with “chocolate?” Sheesh!

    More than enough memories for a lifetime, that’s for sure.

    But the retelling of how you were showered with jewels is a real treasure! If only that could have had a fairytale ending. It’s too bad that you were scolded and plunged back down to Planet Earth after having had a happy experience for once during that visit to the playground.

    Everything you write evokes memories for me and — I think I can say with a fair amount of certainty — that your stories must surely resonate with almost everyone, who has had a childhood.

    Reply
    • Susanne Bacon says

      January 30, 2021 at 5:21 pm

      I was not scolded for bringing home the jewelry, Jaynie! And, of course, I understood that I had to return the jewelry after my mother saw what I had brought home. You don’t take something that is not yours. And you can’t take a gift that was not to be given in the first place. I was raised the right way – so when my mother said that it was not my little friend’s jewelry but her mother’s, I was appalled by the breach of trust my little friend had committed against her mother.

      Still, it is a heart-warming memory of a girl that showered me with the best gift she could think of … and I just hope that her mother didn’t give HER too hard a time.

      Reply
  2. Tim Gerrish says

    February 1, 2021 at 8:53 am

    Hi Susanne,

    Great post. I design playgrounds every so often. Luckily merry-go-rounds have returned and are popular though expensive. They work great for wheelchair bound players! Swings will always be popular.. kids love to be “high” thus the popularity of the high climbing towers. There should be more “adventure playgrounds with a little supervision. Kids do well at policing themselves when given the chance. They are popular in Europe.

    Reply
    • Susanne Bacon says

      February 1, 2021 at 10:54 am

      How fun, Tim! I’m thrilled. Not sure that there are adventure playgrounds in Germany anymore. I believe, they were a thing of the early 70s when the anti-authoritarian raising of children was a thing. These days, I’m sure, parents will deem playgrounds like these too dangerous.
      I love the angle about merry-go-rounds for wheelchair-bound kids! Thank you.

      Reply

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