A Puking Good Time

We've been going to the park these last few afternoons, and with the boy's level of motor skills, his options are: the swings, the slide (w/one of us at the top and one at the bottom), the see-saw (they have one of these new-fangled ones with springs so it's harder to hurt people), the animals on springs you sort of ride like a bull, and eating sand.

We usually do each activity until he seems dizzy, which seems to be the point of most playground activities. This never occurred to me until I was spending my time at the park watching a baby. It got me thinking about one of my favorites from senior year of high school (when we'd skip out on first period to go to the park -- yeah, we were rough).

I loved the merry-go-round. The idea is to spin it so fast that you either get flung off or you get so discombobulated that you can hardly walk. Perhaps that's why this local playground doesn't have one.

This gets me back to the see-saw. M-N seems to have been traumatized by a mutant killer see-saw when she was a kid, but I clearly remember liking them because of the trust issues. You don't go on a see-saw with someone you can't trust. Or, you try to coax someone on the see-saw who shouldn't trust you, then when it gets boring, you jump off while he or she is up in the air.

With the spring-controlled see-saw, this is impossible. I guess it's safer, but if childhood isn't about overcoming peril and rampant danger, then what's the point?