Play Haters

“It’s not fair” is a common refrain amongst children. When in reference to a friend getting more money from the tooth fairy or a sibling getting a slightly larger scoop of ice cream, we adults tend to be dismissive.

But what six-year-old Laurence Howard finds “not fair” is a much more serious claim. A resident of Red Bank Run Townhomes in West Deptford, New Jersey, Laurence says of new outdoor play restrictions imposed by condo management: "It's not fair for all the kids, because we need to play, we need air, it's not fair because everybody has stuff to ride.”

Says Jeziah Lopez, "Being inside just playing video games, it's not good for your body."

"It's not good for our freedom," Antonio Leon chimes in.

According to 6 ABC Action News, children at Red Bank Run Townhomes will no longer be able to ride bikes, scooters, and skateboards in the parking lot and other common areas. Why? Because “the activity could be harmful and even dangerous to [the children] or to others.” From now on, all outdoor play will be relegated to a small playground in the rear of the complex.

It’s no secret that we at KaBOOM! love playgrounds. But we also support children playing in other public spaces, particularly when a playground doesn’t accommodate older children or provide room for bikes, scooters, skateboards and other wheeled devices. We also believe that a group of playing children is perfectly capable of sharing a space with attentive adult drivers.

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A city council in Canterbury, UK plans to build housing on a beloved playing field, but neighborhood kids are saying, "Hands off!"

Orla and Timmy, ages 10 and 11 respectively, attended a recent city council meeting to take a stand. Orla said: "It's not just for me and my friends but for all the people of the area who live and breathe better because there is a lovely empty green field nearby."

Said Timmy: "Often in the evenings, I go to the field and play football with my dad and brother. It's very easy to stay indoors and watch TV or play computer games. Please leave our field alone."

Council chief executive Colin Carmichael told ThisIsKent.com that neighbors were consulted about developing the field in 2004 when the plan was to build a primary school there. But the plans fell through and it was earmarked for housing instead.

Angry residents, who feel they were left out of the decision-making process, have gathered over 1,600 signatures on an online petition to save the field. The Canterbury City Council now has to delay its plans and refer its decision to an Overview Committee on June 13.

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Once upon a time, an elementary school in Davidson, N.C. had a lovely tradition. On Friday afternoons, fifth graders with parental permission left the confines of their classroom to play on the Village Green. And the best part? They did it all by themselves!

But the school has decided to ban on the longtime tradition—even with an OK from mom and dad, students can no longer walk to the Green from school. Instead, they must ride home on the school bus or get picked up by their parents. 

Why? The school’s interim principal told Davidson News that “students are too young to be out without an adult.” The ban was prompted by complaints about safety and unruly behavior.

Davidson residents used to see around a hundred students congregating on the Green and strolling down Main Street on any given Friday afternoon. But after the ban was enacted, the town center was “eerily quiet, with only a handful of students visible,” according to Davidson News. “One group of four fifth-grade girls said their parents had picked them up at school and dropped them off downtown. But playmates were few.”

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A tree house in Fairfax, Va. may soon meet an untimely demise. That is, if the Fairfax County zoning board gets its way.

When he left for Iraq, Mark Grapin, an Army aviation specialist, promised his two sons he would build them a tree house when he got home. He wanted to give them a special hideaway, the kind that he had growing up, when according to The Washington Post, he and his friends “built a tree house using bent nails, apple crates and whatever else they could scavenge.”

In this day and age, Grapin knew his childhood tree house would be a lawsuit waiting to happen. So when he returned from Iraq, he invested $1,400 to build a sturdy structure and made sure to contact the county to ask if he needed any special permits. He was assured he did not. It was only after he built the thing that the county board of zoning enforcement told him he had to take it down.

Why? Because Grapin owns a corner lot, and his backyard is actually considered a front yard, meaning he has to follow the zoning code. Merni Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for the county, told The Washington Post, “It’s no different from a shed or a garage or any structure.”

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