Playground Equipment

A lot of people are concerned about the health and safety of American youth, especially since child obesity is on the rise.  Although there are many issues contributing to a less healthy lifestyle, including more processed/junk/fast food, television, and videogames, the motivation for kids to exercise is taken away by the very people who want to improve children’s health.

With efforts to make playground equipment more safe, they have only made it less fun.  I remember the merry-go-rounds that would spin extremely fast.  Kids would frequently be whipped off of them by centrifugal force, and get serious scrapes and bruises.  The danger involved in this playground activity is what made it fun; plus, the movement involved in spinning it up made it great exercise.  Nowadays, playground equipment is made so it is nearly impossible to get hurt without trying.  Slides and swings and little steppy things are fun, but they lack the excitement of older playground equipment.

But if someone gets injured and isn’t able to run around then they can’t really exercise until they are healed.  I guess I just feel biased towards the merry-go-round because I enjoyed seeing other kids get flung through the air.

The Classic Merry-Go-Round

“Little Steppy Things”