Playgrounds

I love playgrounds. I love ones where kids, adults, and those inbetween ages can all play together, but hate it when teenagers intimidated young kids... and I am happy to say that many playgrounds here draw people of all ages. I've witnessed some lovely intergenerational interaction between adults, kids, teenagers, and toddlers.

Here are the playgrounds at the Wellington Botantic Garden. Notice the height of the slide. Just behind it is a fairly long flying fox thing that reminded me of the zip line my dad built me as a kid. Its a good 4 feet off the ground from the disk you sit on and draws kids of all ages. It was great seeing teenagers helping little kids. The little kids weren't getting to take cuts, but the big kids were also making sure they got their turn – even if the little ones were too squirreling to properly wait in line.


Playgrounds are an easy place to spot Americans. We're the ones open mouth, gob smacked, staring at the 'dangerous' items. Those who aren't speechless are found muttering “well you wouldn't see this in America” over and over again. I met a doctor from Seattle in this manner. After taking turns with his preschool son on the slide, I joined him muttering about how you'd never find such fun contraptions in America. Kids do fall here. I'm sure some get hurt unfortunately. But I also see a lot of kids just bouncing up and back to play without a tear.


Here is the playground in Karori; 

its next to the field we see from our deck,

Little footpaths lead to it from different directions,  this one goes by a preschool.


Items that would easily be classified under “never to be seen in litigious America” include the 1.5 story slide, the 15 foot high fireman's pole, the splinter hazards everywhere, and the multiple places you could fall from higher than your own height. I loved it!



Another interesting thing is how adults are comfortable helping and interacting with other people's children. You often see strangers helping children on to swings, pulling them back over fences a kid shouldn't have climbed over, and reminding kids to be careful. At the bus yesterday I saw a 7 and a 5 year old running down the street from the bakery. No parent in sight. A grandmotherly figure who was chatting with me at the bus stop called after them to be careful. They continued sprinting, but stopped without reminder at the street corner. The older one grabbed the young one's hand and they masterfully crossed at the crosswalk. At least 5 adults, unbeknownst to the youngsters, were watching them ready to jump in if needed – but the kids were fine and carried on home to their parents with the bread.