Playground Heaven...or Hell?
Our local council has just proved that old adage: if you build it, they will come. Two years ago, the good people at Thames Water dropped the ball and the local park was flooded with all sorts of unspeakable things. Of course, the worst affected area was the high traffic playground. Fast forward 2 years, numerous consultations (which never seem to work anyway) and about 40 trips to see if the replacement playground was ready and lo! and behold! it is. This quaint little park in the greenbelt conveniently located behind the house is now open for business. It's shiny and earthy at the same time, imitating nature with giant leaves acting as canopies and fish swimming across the matted floor. It has all the usual hallmarks of the playground: slides, swings, climbers and a little bit more. The roundabout is level with the ground. One of the slides is a tandem so it's twice the fun. The paint is glossy. I have to admit that I am really impressed with how far along playground design seems to have come. My little boy loves this new adventure oasis. Unfortunately, so do the local set of rough teens.
Now, I remember what it was like to be a teenager - or at least I think I do ;) I just don't remember the smoking, swearing and general mass disturbance at the ripe age of 13. My husband says that I have blocked out any ruffian-type behaviour that I engaged in, but I'm just not sure that I was as obnoxious as those that are already establishing a toe-hold on this local park. I like to think I'm not alone in having an issue with teens screaming obscenities at the top of their lungs? And call me a prude, but at the age of 13 (if that) is drinking a can of lager in the local park at 2PM really the done thing? Do these children have no respect, no morals...no parents?!!! A playground is for play and for children at play and hey, it's cool if they sneak in at twilight or rough about at night but not when my 18 month old is there in the full shine of day, thank you!
Do you agree? Or am I just totally old school?!
Labels: local parks, nasty teens, playgrounds
1 Comments:
Just came across the blog and I have to say that I totally agree with the teenagers at the park sentiment. We were down there yesterday and I couldn't believe that 8 teenagers had nothing better to do than monopolize the swings at a playground (perhaps a sad reflection of things for teenagers to do around here?).
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