Let's go to the park!
Those of you who've been reading this blog for some time know that I prefer a sedentary lifestyle---i.e., I'm lazy. I'd rather read, write, and draw than run around and play. But having two active boys forces me to get my muscles moving or get left eating their dust.
So I'm super glad that the place we currently live in offers a lot of public facilities for outdoor play. In summer there was a wading pool that was open for two months. It was about 12-15 inches at its deepest, but splashing around in the cool water was a great way to beat the summer heat. It doubles as a playground in the colder months.
There are also ponds where you can feed ducks, geese, and ginormous koi. But the sandpits are my favorite places. I guess little boys are just meant to get dirty. Hahaha! Whenever I send the grandparents photos they say my kids look like they've been toiling the fields.
But it all helps; all the visual and sensory stimulation within a natural environment is something that's hard to get within the concrete jungle. Having facilities like these at hand, with play furniture designed to enhance balance, upper and lower body strength (good exercise for adults too!), make me wish we had something similar in the Philippines.
Sure, there are basketball courts almost everywhere, but do you really expect a 3 year old to play basketball? We need more parks and playgrounds so kids will get their asses off their sofas and their heads away from computers and just run around and play. Sure there are playgrounds at school, but what about kids who aren't of school age? Sure there are daycares, but most are tiny spaces where the chairman or tanods nap after eating. Our daycare buildings are composed of spaces that have been appropriated from the sidewalk. How can kids run around in a 1.5 x 2.5 meter space?
I understand that space and budget are issues, but I think if a community got together and properly communicated these concerns to their barangay heads, maybe something concrete could be achieved. A play co-op for toddlers perhaps? A local grocery giving up a few parking spaces so a small jungle gym could be installed? Let's get creative, people!
And then maybe we'd hear the sound of kids playing in our cities again :-)