Up The Slide
Everytime I take Damian to the park or some type of playground I'm always confused by the other parents there for one reason. Everytime their children try to climb up the slide, even the smallest slide there, the child is told no and told to go down the slide instead. Now, I can understand this if there's someone wanting to go down the slide at that time. In that case it becomes a matter of taking turns/sharing and it makes sense. But I'm baffled by this rule when the slide is completely clear!
Why can't these kids climb up the slide? Didn't their parents climb up slides when they were little? I know I sure did! It was part of the games we'd play, going down and then climbing back up. Sometimes we'd have races up the wide short slide because there was room for 2 or 3 of us to run up it all at once.
There seem to be a lot of other rules enforced at the playground too. Everything part of the playground has a specific way you're supposed to play on it and if you climb in a spot you're not supposed to you get corrected. If you want to climb on the little play house area instead of pretending it's a house you're told that's wrong. I've even seen kids scolded for screaming during their games. Not sad screaming, the happy highpitched play screaming you do when you're running from a shark or a monster.
But as the parents seem to be closer and closer to my age, the rules make less sense. Damian is allowed to go up the small slide if he wants. He's allowed to squeal and jump and run and climb on anything that's sturdy even if it's supposed to be a pretend house. It's not a very tall "house" so he won't get more than a little bump if he falls (not that he ever would since he's so good at climbing now). And I don't care if he puts wood chips on the little "table" in the house and then bats them all off and laughs. It's a very common game from what I've seen and he learned it from other kids. I don't get it but that doesn't matter! As long as he's sharing with other kids, taking turns and so on, he's free to play however his heart desires.
The point is I feel like I've watched imaginations dying because of all the rules. When you put so many limits on play so it all needs to be a certain way and any variation is against the rules, you limit creativity. Suddenly the sky can only be blue when you color a picture and a cat can't be purple and a tree must be green. And the playground becomes just a playground and will never be a boat sailing in the ocean or a space ship again and a house becomes just a house. I think it takes some of the joy out of being a kid. You're only young for a short period of time. That playground turns into a playground way too soon as it is. Kids grow up faster and faster and why do we want them to? What's the point in being so serious and structured?
I've never asked one of these parents why their kids can't go up the slide. They always glance at eachother like "sorry" when they need to correct their kids, as if I should understand why they're sorry their child wanted to go up the slide that no one was waiting to use. And I just shrug it off like whatever because I don't know how to reply. But I'd like to ask sometime. I'd like to know if these parents ever climbed up a slide, or climbed a tree, or even gotten dirty or fell down or anything. I'd like to know if they remember the games they played. I remember. I can still see that big slide turning into a treacherous mountain and I was the climber about to conquer it. I remember the view from the top of the tree I used to climb at the park too. I remember being a unicorn and a talk show host and a monster hunter and a fairy and all sorts of things and I remember my friends becoming those things. And I ache inside sometimes because I know that no matter how much I try to play those games it'll never be quite the same now that I've grown up. Now I know what imagination is and once you know about it you notice when somethings pretend play. I can't really be a doctor just by putting on a toy stethoscope and a white jacket. But I used to be a doctor when I'd do that!
I know it's an odd random thing to wonder about but I have to because if I don't then I could fall into the trap of being just like those parents. So I sit and I wonder for the sake of figuring out why children need so many rules and I guess maybe one day I'll figure it out. Or maybe I'll just go with the flow as Damian grows up and it won't matter because at least he got to have fun and that's the point.
I dunno.
Why can't these kids climb up the slide? Didn't their parents climb up slides when they were little? I know I sure did! It was part of the games we'd play, going down and then climbing back up. Sometimes we'd have races up the wide short slide because there was room for 2 or 3 of us to run up it all at once.
There seem to be a lot of other rules enforced at the playground too. Everything part of the playground has a specific way you're supposed to play on it and if you climb in a spot you're not supposed to you get corrected. If you want to climb on the little play house area instead of pretending it's a house you're told that's wrong. I've even seen kids scolded for screaming during their games. Not sad screaming, the happy highpitched play screaming you do when you're running from a shark or a monster.
But as the parents seem to be closer and closer to my age, the rules make less sense. Damian is allowed to go up the small slide if he wants. He's allowed to squeal and jump and run and climb on anything that's sturdy even if it's supposed to be a pretend house. It's not a very tall "house" so he won't get more than a little bump if he falls (not that he ever would since he's so good at climbing now). And I don't care if he puts wood chips on the little "table" in the house and then bats them all off and laughs. It's a very common game from what I've seen and he learned it from other kids. I don't get it but that doesn't matter! As long as he's sharing with other kids, taking turns and so on, he's free to play however his heart desires.
The point is I feel like I've watched imaginations dying because of all the rules. When you put so many limits on play so it all needs to be a certain way and any variation is against the rules, you limit creativity. Suddenly the sky can only be blue when you color a picture and a cat can't be purple and a tree must be green. And the playground becomes just a playground and will never be a boat sailing in the ocean or a space ship again and a house becomes just a house. I think it takes some of the joy out of being a kid. You're only young for a short period of time. That playground turns into a playground way too soon as it is. Kids grow up faster and faster and why do we want them to? What's the point in being so serious and structured?
I've never asked one of these parents why their kids can't go up the slide. They always glance at eachother like "sorry" when they need to correct their kids, as if I should understand why they're sorry their child wanted to go up the slide that no one was waiting to use. And I just shrug it off like whatever because I don't know how to reply. But I'd like to ask sometime. I'd like to know if these parents ever climbed up a slide, or climbed a tree, or even gotten dirty or fell down or anything. I'd like to know if they remember the games they played. I remember. I can still see that big slide turning into a treacherous mountain and I was the climber about to conquer it. I remember the view from the top of the tree I used to climb at the park too. I remember being a unicorn and a talk show host and a monster hunter and a fairy and all sorts of things and I remember my friends becoming those things. And I ache inside sometimes because I know that no matter how much I try to play those games it'll never be quite the same now that I've grown up. Now I know what imagination is and once you know about it you notice when somethings pretend play. I can't really be a doctor just by putting on a toy stethoscope and a white jacket. But I used to be a doctor when I'd do that!
I know it's an odd random thing to wonder about but I have to because if I don't then I could fall into the trap of being just like those parents. So I sit and I wonder for the sake of figuring out why children need so many rules and I guess maybe one day I'll figure it out. Or maybe I'll just go with the flow as Damian grows up and it won't matter because at least he got to have fun and that's the point.
I dunno.