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| Thursday, January 25, 2007 |
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Grown-Ups Turn Playground into Battleground
By gmontefusco @ 11:27 AM :: 759 Views ::
1 Comments ::  :: General News About Play
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 Leave it to well-intentioned but often misguided adults to turn a children’s playground into a battleground.
It’s happening again in New York City where proposals for a new kind of playground — oops, that should be “playscape” — have touched off a whole new series of philosophical and psychological debates. This is only the latest skirmish in continuing combat over how children should spend leisure time (when and if, of course, their jampacked schedules allow them any leisure).
In a new concept for downtown urban playscapes, traditional playground structures would be supplemented or replaced by areas especially designed for specific games or exercises. There would be a bit of running water, some sand and trained teams of “play workers” to direct and supervise the action.
Skeptics sounded the alarm almost immediately. Water! Heaven forbid. Don’t they know a toddler can drown in an inch of the stuff? Sand? It would just invite contamination by neighborhood pets in search of litterboxes. Structures? Perish the thought. Vandals and graffiti artists would ruin them in a wink. “Playworkers?” Well, of course, in this age of predator paranoia, they would have to be screened and supervised.
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| Comments |
 By
JEANETTE @
Thursday, January 25, 2007 5:13 PM
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THIS REMINDS ME OF MY FIRST PTA MEETING WHEN I SUGGESTED WE NEEDED TO UPDATE OUR PLAYGROUND, AS WELL AS WHEN I TRIED TO PERSUADE THE SCHOOL STAFF THAT THE KIDS NEEDED TO HAVE RECESS MORE OFTEN!
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