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| Photo Credit: Hannah Rosin |
“The Land” in Wales is a playground
that could almost be mistaken for a junkyard at first glance. The playground is
filled with plywood structures, stacks of tires, tools, wheelbarrows and other
odds and ends. Adults (not necessarily the parents) keep an eye on activities
but stay on the fringe, keeping out of the business of play. Permissible play
at The Land even includes working with
fire and knives, hence the adult supervision. The philosophy of the playground
is to let children learn about physical threats and realities through play, and
develop risk assessment and caution throughout the process. Kids love it.
The Atlantic recently posted an article titled “The
Overprotected Kid”, in which it compared the autonomy today’s children are
given in their free time and play compared to earlier generations. http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/
Reading the Atlantic article reminded me of my own childhood
in a small town in the Midwest. There was a fort made of scrap wood, complete
with a rug and a discarded broom for sweeping out the pine needles that fell
inside. I’m sure my parents knew about the fort, but they certainly never
accompanied us there. My brother and I rode our bikes for miles with our
friends. We roamed for hours and had to be home by the time the streetlight
near our house turned on. There was an
old gas station turned dime shop full of “not-quite-antique” trinkets and
collectibles, and a campground that had a pool table and a selection of candy
for sale. There were also corn fields, train tracks, patches of woods, an
abandoned junkyard, etc. There were a few restrictions, such as the active rail
yard at one end of town. But we set pennies on rails for trains to flatten,
spied frogs and fish in little creeks, rode our bikes up the embankments below
overpasses and sheltered there during rainstorms.
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| Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons |
It’s a matter of trust. Not of mistrusting kids, but of
mistrusting the world outside to harm them through intent or accident. I don’t
know if I would grant the same level of free reign to kids of my own in the
same town today. But do kids suffer from being unable to build their
independence and judgment through free play? Is pre-fab play equipment enough?
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| Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons |
For 50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children
Do), read the book by Gever Tulley or check out the following website. http://theriskykids.com/50-dangerous-things/.
Pro tip- you don’t need to tape pennies to the tracks. They stay put.
Read more about The Land here: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/10/perfect-childrens-playground-the-land-plas-madoc-wales
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