This Tokyo Playground Encourages Kids to Take Risks
I like to think of myself as an anti-helicopter parent, but when I first took my daughter to the playground next door when she was a year and a half, it sounded like I was watching a horror movie. “ Oh! Don’t go here! Don’t get your hopes up! Oh damn! Aha! Oh God! “She climbed only three steps, and I was ready to sit down.
There was nothing like this at Setagaya Play Park, which I visited when I was in Tokyo. In this adventure playground , the motto of which is “play free at your own risk”, moms chatted on picnic blankets while their children – ages 3 to 5, I guess – climbed up and down the structures. made from discarded pieces of wood, sawn wood. branches with real saws and helped to cook dinner over a blazing fire. While many parents could look at the scene and see the debris and lawsuits, those who were here seemed confident in their children’s abilities. “This is how childhood should look like,” I thought.
Adventure playgrounds emerged in Japan in the 1970s, according to Japanese Metropolis Magazine, as “a way to advocate greater risk and freedom to play in the overly scheduled and rule-bound lives of urban children.” Setagaya Play Park was created by volunteers to play after the 1995 Kobe earthquake. It was a dark time for Japan – some adults fought against the park and criticized the fact that children were “playing earthquake” on the playground shortly after the disaster. But experts began to realize that pretend play is good for children, especially after the tragedy. Pediatricians have begun promoting play to help children relieve stress and prevent PTSD. Today, there are several adventure playgrounds throughout the country. Community members are encouraged to donate tools and scrap metal to the park so kids can build fortresses, pirate ships and anything else they can imagine.
There are a growing number of adventure playgrounds in the US, from Berkeley to New York to Nebraska. Check out one if you can. Before you go, teach your kids the difference between danger and risk , brush up on some phrases to say “be careful” instead, and make sure to bring a change of clothes – your little one will get dirty.