Postal Playground

Something observed in my neighbourhood: the kids simply love climbing on the super mailbox. This in spite of the fact that there is some perfectly good playground equipment located 100 yards from said mailbox.

While going for the post today, I decided to canvas the two wee children who were perched on top of the mailbox. I asked them why they weren't playing on the playground equipment instead of blatantly risking the mailman's wrath. The response was "it's boring."

Now I would be the first to agree that playgrounds aren't what they used to be. Remember how high we could get on the old-style swings, the ones with flat wooden seats that you could stand up on? Or how fast we could go on the merry-go-round, trying to jump on and off while it was whizzing around? And how about those great teeter-totters that let us give endless butt-numbing bumps to our best friends? Ah, those were the glory days.

Ever since "child safety" became such an unhealthy obsession, the spontaneous fun has been sucked out of a lot of things, including playgrounds. I kind of feel sorry for the bubble-wrapped, imagination-challenged, adventure-starved little 'uns, reduced to humping a Canada Post box for kicks. It's not right.

We need to put the thrills (and, yes, danger) back in the playgrounds -- before it's too late!