Blood ties
We got the gang out for sushi , good fun. Our mother had her chopstick technique refreshed, and did a fine job on a little plate of chicken teriyaki. Some of the party walked home via the old playfield from elementary school days, where old cement-based play structures and swings deemed too dangerous have been replaced with what our son termed "pseudo Art Deco trash." We examined the structures, tried to use them, and concurred that they were pretty much useless, and in some cases, riskier to fool around on than the old stuff. So often designers and architects go for the appearance, and not enough on the usable forms of structures. Whoever did this playground failed to consider how kids could actually play on it. Well, it looks kind of...design-y. And at sunset, it seemed to be attracting the usual bunch of suspects, we noted as we left.
posted by isabelita at 5:21 PM
6 Comments:
I seem to miss posts here. Not sure why that happens. I was glad to read that you had cake to honor your dad's birthday. A great way to remember and love.
Interesting observation of playgrounds designed for the design and not for play. Playgrounds after dark do attract those usual suspects.
Still cold here on this side of the sound.
Yes, some architects and others forget what, I gather, was once the mantra of all designers: Form follows function. I always took that to mean: first, pay attention to the use to which that which is to be designed is to be put and, once the functionality has been satisfied, allow the artistic elements to be superimposed on it.
With two young boys in our house we are very familiar with good and bad playgrounds...some of the older ones, do indeed, have dangerous elements to them, but what playground doesn't? I mean, if you climb to the top of some apparatus and then fall on your head, that's bad. It doesn't matter what the design looks like. User beware, I suppose.
we have a nearby playground that was shut last summer and is slated to reopen soon and we will give our thorough inspection and no doubt give it the thumbs up or thumbs down.
Like all kids, we have our favs....
Going hand in hand with the "pseudo Art Deco trash" is the prevalent attitude of certain mothers these days to get intensely involved in the correct way of using the playground equipment. Example: "You mustn't climb up the slide, Billy!" Methinks they will never raise brave rock climbers!
P. S. I have been driving through your neck of the woods daily to get to The Center of the Universe for my 200 hour yoga certification classes.
True. It doesn't really matter how well-designed the object is when you klonk your head on it. And heads will be klonked.
Most of us survived our childhoods sleeping on our stomachs, riding our bikes without helmets, and having drawstrings in our hoodies.
The favorite climbing apparatus at the park when my son was little was the vintage firetruck someone had constructed out of pipes and real firetruck parts. Of course, it is gone now, replaced by a plastic replica. But you can still jump off of the back and hit your head on the walkway if you try hard enough.
No, robin, I don't publish the previous day's post until the next morning, usually. Bit of a time lag.
Yeah, you'd think that, mfm, but htere's way too much emphasis on appearance these days, not enough on usefulness.
Right on, 'spike. I want MY playground, in the great outdoors! NOW!
What is this yoga certification for, babette? Are you going to teach?
True, true, kathyr. Did you ever see a Canadian comic, a woman, who had a great routine about how we survived teh olden days of playgrounds and Jarts? Hilarious!
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