Yesterday, we took Seth to a neighborhood playground about a mile away. We put him into a "bucket swing" (basically, a rubber bowl-shaped swing with holes for legs) and let him swing a while.He loved it - in stark contrast to the plastic swing we tried in our front yard about a month ago, which just seemed like another place to sit and look around. So now we're thinking that The Boy is ready for a swing at home.
This actually presents a bunch of options:
- Buy a swingset and assemble it
- Buy lumber and other supplies and assemble a swingset
- Come up with plans, buy lumber and other supplies and build a whole playground, including swings
I'm really considering all of these options. I'm hesitant to just build a swingset because it would require cementing into the ground, and I'm not sure we want to give up yard space permanently - not to mention, having no idea what would be the effect on our home's value. I'd love to build a more elaborate playground, most of which could sit above the otherwise-useless slope in our backyard, but again there's the question of impacting our property value -- not to mention the question of allowing my son to risk his life on a contraption that I built myself.
I guess option #4 is to walk a mile to the playground whenever he wants to play... not a bad fallback for the time being, especially considering the price.
3 comments:
The last option seems to be the best - not only is it free (well the word "Free" is relative - since I'm sure your tax dollars helped to build the playground) - but there's another greater benefit in that you also get the exercise, walking and pushing the stroller, there and back. You get the exercise, and in the middle of his walk, Seth gets to play.
I tend to agree w/ Ellen - - having a school with a good playground is a nice option to have, especially in walking distance. One of the issues w/ building your own (besides from the safety issue for Seth and any other child who uses it!) is that you want something that will accommodate kids of all ages, not just babies. You don't want to buy/build something now that Seth's only going to like/use for a small amount of time. He will get bigger soon and will be interested in other things - climbing equipment, regular swings, etc. And....by the time he's ready for the more "grown up" playground stuff, you may have another little one running (or crawling) around. So....at this point, I would just go for the walk and use the school playground. Shira liked it when we went with you and it seemed to have enough stuff to keep both a toddler and school-aged kids entertained too.
We have been contemplating the same thing as you about a playground and I have done a lot of research on costs etc. The positives are that you always have a swing available to use, slide, and other activities. If you have another child and the baby is napping yet the toddler needs an activity a mom or dad can do both. The down side is you don't socialize with other parents potentially, get exercise as both Ellen and Aliza have mentioned. I think it is a tough call. I will say that many of my neighbors have them and we have a great playground here and I often don't see kids on their own swing sets. Good look with the decision!
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