This morning we went for a walk to check out the new playground at Kitsilano Beach. Are playgrounds built to strike a chord of fear in the heart's of parents? I mentally mark the majority of playground equipment as, hazard, hazard, engage at own risk.
I have many memories of playground injuries; like when my brother broke his arm after being pushed down a slide. Or when I fell off a fence backwards and was caught by my pants, hanging upside down (Man, I was stuck. My teacher had to come and lift me off the fence). More recently a little girl up the street fell off a platform, resulting in a concussion.
Everything at a park seems to be built for falling, crashing and colliding while in motion and yet kids love going to the park. All around us at Kits Beach were pink-cheeked little ones laughing their beanied heads off. Thankfully, most new playgrounds in Vancouver are built on rubber-padded ground so that if a child falls on their head, there's a little more give.
As much as I fear the park, I have loved every moment of watching Levi grow and learn, experimenting with balance, hand-eye coordination and of course, falling and getting up again. As we grow older we begin to treat the whole world as our playground, tumbling around, once in a while getting hurt and then, we get back on our feet for another round.
You are a stylish family!
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Benji looks so dapper in that one!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I totally tried to do a spider man jump onto this post thing which was not meant to be jumped on at a park. Of course I did not make the landing and fell and broke my arm. And we were in the US at the time and ended up driving back to Canada overnight so that I could get my arm put in a cast where there's free medicare. After that I didn't really like parks too much.
Also I like your hat.