Surviving the Urban Jungle: City Playgrounds

City playgrounds came up recently while I was on Twitter. I know that there are playgrounds in suburbia because I grew up in that setting.  However, city playgrounds are an entirely different animal. Case in point, one of my suburban mom friends asked if I disliked playgrounds because they were boring.  I wish!  It's not the boredom - it's the chaos.  I freely admit that I really don't like going to the playground when older school-aged kids are there after school. I won't go as far as my friend Carol who declared that city "playgrounds are the place where parents go to die", but they are crazy.  It's as if all of the kids' pent-up energy from being cooped up inside all day is released.  There's yelling and screaming and running and pushing.  Inevitably, someone ends up getting hurt or crying.  It's nerve-wracking, but I still go each day that the weather permits.  Personally, I think that the reason city playground visits are so intense is an issue of space.

Personal space is at a minimum in the city.  For one thing, there is less space in the schools.  Due to that fact, many kids don't get to attend gym class every day.  My family moved to our neighborhood for the excellent schools, but my son's school only offers gym once a week.  It is a small wonder that these kids aren’t bouncing off the walls by the end of the school day!   Secondly, there is not a lot of space in our homes.  Most of us live in apartments, condos or co-ops.  The largest ones are miniscule in comparison to suburban homes.  There is not a lot of room for kids to play.  Even when there is space for the kids to run around, we have to be considerate of our neighbors.  We live directly on top of and next to one another's living spaces, so we need to keep our noise to a minimum.  (For some reason, many New York City neighbors still expect for kids to be "not heard".) Added to that is the fact that most of us don't have backyard areas to let our kids run wild and free.  The parks and playgrounds are our backyards. That is why we moms go there...and suffer in silence.  Living in a big city has many wonderful benefits, but a city playground isn’t a top one.