This isn’t like the 1950s. When I was Shannon’s age, my next door neighbor (an 8 year old boy) and I put a ladder up, climbed to the top of the house, ran and jump off the roof yelling “Happy Landings!” (It hadn’t been that long since WW2.) When she discovered what we were doing, my grandmother calmly took the ladder down and told us she didn’t want us up there because it might hurt the roof. We respected what she said. She may have worried about us, but she didn’t hover over us or treat us like Dresden China. We were a lot freer in those days than kids are today. We climbed to the top of every tree in the neighborhood. We jumped or dived off of 20 foot diving boards. We’d walk to the park and swing in those gigantic swings that were so tall you could really feel the wind rushing past you when you swung in them. Then, we’d jump out when we reached the highest point of our trajectory. It was FUN! Today, most playgrounds are lined with soft rubber mats sprinkled lovingly with soft recycled rubber. In the 1950s you sometimes had grass…. but more often than not, your ground was packed dirt, asphalt, concrete or even gravel. Eventually, every kid is going to go to school wearing bubble wrap and a helmet. There are actually signs saying “No Running on the Playground.” No running??? That’s what kids are meant to do. The actual reason our playgrounds have become child-proof isn’t because we’ve suddenly decided we don’t want children to get hurt. It’s because the slightest playground bruise can result in a huge lawsuit. If you were to travel back in time, the biggest difference also, in addition to the equipment, would be the lack of parental supervision. Not only were we swinging around like maniacs on all kinds of deadly steel contraptions, but we were doing it pretty much unwatched by adult eyes. Grown-ups of the 1950s had a tendency to just “let ’em play”. I’m glad I had that experience.
This isn’t like the 1950s. When I was Shannon’s age, my next door neighbor (an 8 year old boy) and I put a ladder up, climbed to the top of the house, ran and jump off the roof yelling “Happy Landings!” (It hadn’t been that long since WW2.) When she discovered what we were doing, my grandmother calmly took the ladder down and told us she didn’t want us up there because it might hurt the roof. We respected what she said. She may have worried about us, but she didn’t hover over us or treat us like Dresden China. We were a lot freer in those days than kids are today. We climbed to the top of every tree in the neighborhood. We jumped or dived off of 20 foot diving boards. We’d walk to the park and swing in those gigantic swings that were so tall you could really feel the wind rushing past you when you swung in them. Then, we’d jump out when we reached the highest point of our trajectory. It was FUN! Today, most playgrounds are lined with soft rubber mats sprinkled lovingly with soft recycled rubber. In the 1950s you sometimes had grass…. but more often than not, your ground was packed dirt, asphalt, concrete or even gravel. Eventually, every kid is going to go to school wearing bubble wrap and a helmet. There are actually signs saying “No Running on the Playground.” No running??? That’s what kids are meant to do. The actual reason our playgrounds have become child-proof isn’t because we’ve suddenly decided we don’t want children to get hurt. It’s because the slightest playground bruise can result in a huge lawsuit. If you were to travel back in time, the biggest difference also, in addition to the equipment, would be the lack of parental supervision. Not only were we swinging around like maniacs on all kinds of deadly steel contraptions, but we were doing it pretty much unwatched by adult eyes. Grown-ups of the 1950s had a tendency to just “let ’em play”. I’m glad I had that experience.