An acquaintance of mine was asking me the other day if there was a park up on Hardwicke Island on the British Columbia coast where I have a log cabin. I looked at him like he was a bit strange. Why would anyone need a park on a raincoast island abounding in natural forest, beaches, birds, deer, critters of every description and a wide variety of geography?

Of course we have parks to protect and provide natural environment for numerous reasons. We add equipment, however, to playgrounds to enhance the circumstances for play. We recognize that a simple grassy lot is often not sufficient for our children and in our urban settings we have to add back a quality that would probably be there if there was plenty of varieties of ground to play on. And the scale of play changes as kids grow older. Kids need more room and more variety, they run faster, cover more ground and are in need of social "games" and more organization such as "sport." So we "design" more equipment and build more complex facilities such as sports fields to provide a blend of opportunities. It gets complicated.

The point of my little exercise here is that there is a contrast between my Hardwicke Island getaway where play emerges from the people and the natural environment, versus the more urban or suburban environments where we try to build special places to play. We adults have to be very conscientious to make these play opportunities available where kids live. That means playgrounds right down the street. Better playgrounds that the school might provide for their own purposes.

Isn't it too bad schools and parks aren't better integrated? It seems to me we have duplication of modest playgrounds instead of the creation of superior play areas which might emerge from combining the efforts of parks and school planners.

And where does the community come in? How do we ensure that our community planners have the option to cooperatively plan school, park and private playground opportunities? If this is done, the children will get better play areas that are located where they are needed.

This brings me full circle in my demonstration. Up at my island cabin, the few people that come up there bring with them their sense of play and the environment provides the opportunities. As our circumstances become more urban, we require special provision for play and the quality of life, because, as the little guys (the Ferrengi) on Star Trek might say "it's not profitable" to build pathways, green spaces, parks and playgrounds.

As a parks or playground person, you must advocate for these things. Play is a child's life. You can provide the home for this play.

this article courtesy of The World Playground, Park & Recreation Products and Services Web Directory

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