At The Playground

Playgrounds are so much more than a slide and a set of swings. Today, the boys and I headed to a newly discovered play space in the next town over. It included a castle, a rocket and more slides than a baseball game (although one of those was happening in the next field over).

Once on a playground, introductions are unnecessary. Fun is required and chasing is a given. Within two minutes of the boys crossing the railroad tie boarder into the mulch, a game with no apparent rules that everyone understands. The boy in the black shirt chases my boys until they are blocked by the boy in the red shirt. Then my boys split, climb to the highest point on the play ground, and it all begins again.

This continues for at least a half an hour, until the boy in the red shirt falls and hits his mouth against a wooden beam. The game comes to an immediate stop and all of the boys walk him carefully to his adult and explain (even though she saw it all) exactly what happened. Only after they make sure he is in good hands, do the remaining three boys return slowly to the playground.

Play continues until I give the five minute warning. Then the boys explore to make sure they have climbed, slid, and crawled over all parts of the equipment. Once in the car, the play-by-play begins.

"Remember when the kid in black....."
"Yeah, and then the kid in red..."

The boys go over each action and reaction for 10 of the 15 minute ride back home. It only ended because Matt fell asleep mid-sentence. They played hard.

Maybe adults should follow playground rules sometime. Get right into the game. Play hard. If someone gets hurt, play stops until the injured party is in good hands and is going to be alright. Then play resumes. Everybody's friends.

Even the adults at the playground's edge have a set of rules. If the adult (mom, dad, grandma, babysitter, whomever) has a book or ipod, you leave them alone. They are probably using the time to escape. That is just fine.

Rule #2. Share your bench. One person does not take up an entire park bench. You have to be willing to share with another very tired and exhausted adult. You don't have to talk, but it would be nice if you gave a kind smile "hello" before you go back to your book or ipod.

Yeah, I could live by playground rules: be nice, play together, share. Sounds good to me.