Anybody else have deadly playground memories?

[slick230]

You know, where you remember the playgrounds you used to play at in hindsight were deathtraps waiting to happen? Of course, I grew up in the time before litigation for the smallest thing became an American hobby.

But I remember the playgrounds being blacktop, not this wood chip or shredded recycled tires crap. When you went down during a game of tag, you got a nice battle scar to show off for your efforts. And the swingsets, covered with rust, were like shipwrecks in the ocean overgrown with barnacles. Tetanous shot? BAH! We fought it off with our bodies' immune systems, and we liked it. Was all a part of growing up strong and not a pansy like today's kids. Jungle gyms were like the Thunderdome, and whomever kept the high ground before the recess bell rang went back inside feeling like Achilles after he defeated Hector.

And then there was the "Merry Go Round". I remember us kids getting on, and a bunch of kids running around the thing spinning it faster and faster, until those onboard got shot off one by one onto the unforgiving blacktop.

::sigh:: I miss those days.

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: slick230
You know, where you remember the playgrounds you used to play at in hindsight were deathtraps waiting to happen? Of course, I grew up in the time before litigation for the smallest thing became an American hobby.

But I remember the playgrounds being blacktop, not this wood chip or shredded recycled tires crap. When you went down during a game of tag, you got a nice battle scar to show off for your efforts. And the swingsets, covered with rust, were like shipwrecks in the ocean overgrown with barnacles. Tetanous shot? BAH! We fought it off with our bodies' immune systems, and we liked it. Was all a part of growing up strong and not a pansy like today's kids. Jungle gyms were like the Thunderdome, and whomever kept the high ground before the recess bell rang went back inside feeling like Achilles after he defeated Hector.

And then there was the "Merry Go Round". I remember us kids getting on, and a bunch of kids running around the thing spinning it faster and faster, until those onboard got shot off one by one onto the unforgiving blacktop.

::sigh:: I miss those days.

You should move to England, most of our kiddy parks are still like you described.

 

[sixone]

Those were the days. We went everywhere barefoot. All over town, even under the bridge.

I remember those bars, three different heights that you could hang off of. The were right next to the edge of a big cement slab, that was about six inches above the dirt around it.

And the ball on a string, hanging from a pole. We'd bat that thing around, no telling where it'd go. I do remember taking that upside the head once. It was hard, volleyball hard.

 

[Evadman]

I miss the old park we used to have. now everything is plastic and coated in vinyl. All we are teaching our kids is that if you fall, you will be fine. Bull. You fall, it hurts, you do it again.

 

[slick230]

Originally posted by: Evadman
I miss the old park we used to have. now everything is plastic and coated in vinyl. All we are teaching our kids is that if you fall, you will be fine. Bull. You fall, it hurts, you do it again.

Yeah. God forbid Junior or Sally gets a splinter or abrades their precious flesh on the ground. Parents would be looking for the nearest schmuck to sue.

 

[sixone]

Originally posted by: slick230

Originally posted by: Evadman
I miss the old park we used to have. now everything is plastic and coated in vinyl. All we are teaching our kids is that if you fall, you will be fine. Bull. You fall, it hurts, you do it again.

Yeah. God forbid Junior or Sally gets a splinter or abrades their precious flesh on the ground. Parents would be looking for the nearest schmuck to sue.

Either that, or they'd be explaining to a social worker that Junior or Sally is just accident prone.

 

[calyco]

Ahh those were the days. I still remember I couldnt wait for school to end to get to my after school program and playing tag with my friends. We used to love running across a row of monkey bars, lol when I think back now it was like some sort of initiation into our group to show you werent a pussy. One time I accidently fell from like 10ft and landed right on my chest which knocked the wind outta me. The assistant teacher was like get up and just walk it off :Q

 

[Platypus]

I miss not having a care in the world as I was on a swing, each pass reaching higher and higher to the endless clouds and sunshine; as if I could touch them.

All my life I'd wanted to be older so I didn't have to wait to do the things I wanted to do.. now all I want to do is be 6 years old in a playground again, daydreaming about how wonderful life's travels would be; if I only knew then what I know now.

 

[Quasmo]

I died jumping off a swing

 

[sixone]

Originally posted by: CorporateRecreation
I miss not having a care in the world as I was on a swing, each pass reaching higher and higher to the endless clouds and sunshine; as if I could touch them.

All my life I'd wanted to be older so I didn't have to wait to do the things I wanted to do.. now all I want to do is be 6 years old in a playground again, daydreaming about how wonderful life's travels would be; if I only knew then what I know now.

Or didn't know now what you didn't know then, to quote a great songwriter.

 

[Rogue]

Ahhhhh...this brings back memories for me. I grew up a tough kid in the Army community. When everyone else had fvcking playskool color parks and swingsets, we had the old galvanized steel bars that probably were assembled by some soldiers who got their asses in trouble. Those were the days. Basketball goals with no nets on them and sometimes no rim at all. Gravel or plain old pavement to play on. Wood facades splintered and worn rough from neglect. Hell, I hate to admit it, but I got my kid spinning so fast on the merry go round here at the city park that she flew off and got hurt and deep inside I felt like it was a passage, a step to becoming a real, red-blooded American. I looked around to ensure there was no one there to sue me and took care of her, but at least she's experienced it. A few more falls, a few more splinters and a lot less coddling and babying like the rest of the kids in the city park get from their pussy ass parents and my kid just might grow up to be something.

 

[MartyMcFly3]

Yeah I miss the days of if you get injured you suck it up... Screw suing. Its for wusses.

 

[xSkyDrAx]

Amen brother!

 

[grrl]

It's amazing how many survived playing without parental supervision or cushioned landings. I still remember swinging as high as I could then launching out of the seat!

 

[Rogue]

Originally posted by: grrl
It's amazing how many survived playing without parental supervision or cushioned landings. I still remember swinging as high as I could then launching out of the seat!

Ahhhh...that dull vibration in your bones when you hit....damn that felt good!

 

[slick230]

Originally posted by: Rogue

Originally posted by: grrl
It's amazing how many survived playing without parental supervision or cushioned landings. I still remember swinging as high as I could then launching out of the seat!

Ahhhh...that dull vibration in your bones when you hit....damn that felt good!

Yes, all these sensations, the pain, the jarring impacts, the sore limbs later that night... they made you feel ALIVE. Now kids are too hopped-up on Ritalin and the ADHD drug of the day to even notice the real world.

 

[desk]

Originally posted by: Evadman
I miss the old park we used to have. now everything is plastic and coated in vinyl. All we are teaching our kids is that if you fall, you will be fine. Bull. You fall, it hurts, you do it again.

that was profound.

 

[mobobuff]

Originally posted by: sixone
Those were the days. We went everywhere barefoot. All over town, even under the bridge.

I remember those bars, three different heights that you could hang off of. The were right next to the edge of a big cement slab, that was about six inches above the dirt around it.

And the ball on a string, hanging from a pole. We'd bat that thing around, no telling where it'd go. I do remember taking that upside the head once. It was hard, volleyball hard.

Whoa, it's almost like you went to the same school I did :Q.

Oh, and I was awesome at teatherball. We had tournaments during every recess and I'm pretty sure my record was untouchable.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Quasmo
I died jumping off a swing

You want me to push you off again?

:|

 

[nageov3t]

I remember once I was playing with my older sister and her friends in the "big kid" playground at school (I was in kindergarten while she was in 2nd grade). I somehow got hurt while playing with them in a tire. I don't know how exactly, but I remember being in a lot of pain.

I went to a teacher that was monitoring the playground to see if I could go to a nurse or something, and she just yelled at me for not being with my own class.

what a b!tch :frown:

 

[Mill]

Yeah, everything we did was dangerous back then, but people were hurt a lot less. You know why? We didn't have to fill out fvcking forms for a scratch, but now-a-days you do for liability reasons. Kids are pussies these days.

 

[sixone]

Originally posted by: mobobuff

Originally posted by: sixone
Those were the days. We went everywhere barefoot. All over town, even under the bridge.

I remember those bars, three different heights that you could hang off of. The were right next to the edge of a big cement slab, that was about six inches above the dirt around it.

And the ball on a string, hanging from a pole. We'd bat that thing around, no telling where it'd go. I do remember taking that upside the head once. It was hard, volleyball hard.

Whoa, it's almost like you went to the same school I did :Q.

Oh, and I was awesome at teatherball. We had tournaments during every recess and I'm pretty sure my record was untouchable.

Teatherball...that's the word I was looking for!

We weren't that serious about it, we mainly just wanted to see how fast we could get it spinning around, and who'd have the guts to get in there and try to hit it.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

once, i tried to shoot a rubber basketball the wrong way on a chain link net. it impaled itself and died.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: slick230
You know, where you remember the playgrounds you used to play at in hindsight were deathtraps waiting to happen? Of course, I grew up in the time before litigation for the smallest thing became an American hobby.

But I remember the playgrounds being blacktop, not this wood chip or shredded recycled tires crap. When you went down during a game of tag, you got a nice battle scar to show off for your efforts. And the swingsets, covered with rust, were like shipwrecks in the ocean overgrown with barnacles. Tetanous shot? BAH! We fought it off with our bodies' immune systems, and we liked it. Was all a part of growing up strong and not a pansy like today's kids. Jungle gyms were like the Thunderdome, and whomever kept the high ground before the recess bell rang went back inside feeling like Achilles after he defeated Hector.

And then there was the "Merry Go Round". I remember us kids getting on, and a bunch of kids running around the thing spinning it faster and faster, until those onboard got shot off one by one onto the unforgiving blacktop.

::sigh:: I miss those days.

When your first child falls off something high and dies, you can read this thread and tell yourself, "At least he/she was manly"

 

[Supermercado]

I remember when a girl fell off the monkey bars and broke her arm. No lawsuit against the school. And when our kickball wound up over the fence and a semi truck flattened it (not really a cause for a lawsuit, even today, but I still wouldn't be surprised). And when a friend of mine kicked a pebble off this pedestrian walkway that crossed the same road that the kickball got run over on, and it cracked the windshield of a passing car. The driver was mad, yes, but I don't think there was any lawsuit. And we played dodgeball. And swung as high as we could on the swings. And yes, half of our playground was blacktop. Man, I miss those days. We had some good fun on the playground.