Playground Movement Essay

What has become of parks in the United States has taken creativity and minimized its possibilities. A child’s advocate and architect, Lady Marjory Allen, commented her thoughts on what parks are like today. “Allen was disappointed by what she described in a documentary as “asphalt square” playgrounds with “a few pieces of mechanical equipment”(Rosin 4). When you describe parks as this it doesn’t sound fun at all, and certainly not to kids. Parks have been made to be all the same, the same swings, slides, etc.

The outside playground is fenced and separated from other age group. There is a slide with a wooden slope in a large sandbox area. There are plastic sandbox toys; shovels, buckets, and animal-shaped containers. On the soft-surface area, there are six plastic children’s cars. There are picnic tables and chairs, two easels, and small planters in the area. The majority of the playground is covered with shades, so children are protected from the direct

In Randol Contreras’s The Stickup Kids, Contreras explores the South Bronx through the lens of a sociologist. He describes the lives of the stickup kids such as Gus, Pablo, and other teenagers living in the South Bronx. Contreras uses the research method of ethnography to provide a sociological analysis of the drug trade and business in the South Bronx. His research shows how social factors impact the lives of these stickup kids to become active in the drug trade. Through his field notes and interviews with the stickup kids, Contreras examines in depth of how social factors such as, socialization, social class, the thrill of crime, deviance, and culture affect the individual.

Collectively, recreation centers or gyms have had an impact upon several collective lives, effecting our sociological imagination. As an example, a whole new

Physical activity is important to the short term and long term health and well being of children. In the short term physical activity helps children to build muscle, develops the skeletal frame, develops the heart and lung function and helps to prevent obesity. If children have enough physical activity a day which is said to be up to an hour it can help the children get to sleep easier and for longer periods of time, this can then lead onto long term benefits as if the activity is in the garden it will also help the child to build up a good immune system so they will be less likely to fall ill to the common cold or the flu. This outdoor environment helps the over all wellbeing of the children as the outdoors makes them

Sports for African Americans were played on the streets and in their own local recreation centers. These facilities were not abundant and therefore substantially limited African American access to organized sports. As organized sports began to flourish in the white communities, blacks began to organize and become more interested in participation in black organized sports. As the demand increased, a number of recreation centers and programs were instituted to keep blacks separated from the whites. For example, the YMCA was an established program in America that catered to urban white communities encouraging families to participate in all types of sporting activities. The YMCA programs offered sponsored teams and leagues to encourage a healthy lifestyle and provide an outlet for the average white American to participate in sport. The YMCA, however, did not include black Americans. In 1928, due to economic and political pressures, the YMCA was encouraged to provide the same outlet to black Americans, so it opened a “colored” branch. (citation needed) Due to the ever-growing and continued controversy of inequality, “the racial compromise was to build a YMCA on the Hill, designated as the ‘colored’ branch among the fourteen local facilities operating in 1928.” Even as the industrial growth surged in this country and more blacks were working side by side with their white counterparts, the segregation of

If we want our children to become more active then we need to find ways to provide areas where they can safely plan and interact with other children. We need to encourage community members to actively participate in opportunities to create a healthier community. A partnership with community members is needed to make the changes necessary to promote and provide access to safe recreational areas for children. In the short term while we are trying to find ways to clean up existing playgrounds and build new ones, we need schools to open gyms and sports fields during non-school hours so children can play safely after school, on the weekend and over summer vacation. Creating affordable after school programs, summer programs and free or low cost summer camps for low-income families is a place to start while working on building more and safer playgrounds. There are challenges regarding cleaning existing playgrounds or creating new ones. Neighborhoods or schools lack the resources to provide playgrounds, parks and after school programs and some neighborhoods are unsafe for children. Parents can become advocates for their children by writing letters to school administrators and board members. Encourage local officials to install park equipment, bike paths and safer

It is difficult to picture a city or town without a park or a playground for everyone to enjoy free of charge. This thought is not as far fetched, as some might believe. The massive movement for communities to provide public lands for relaxation, leisure and play has its roots in the Progressive Reforms around the turn of the twentieth century. The congestion of urban centers and the fading concept of child labor creates unintended consequences such as an increase in crime, lack of natural landscape and no place for children to play. To combat this problem cities across the country begin the process of implementing government inspired play to replace the open country that children generations before used as their playground.

Parks have been around for many years. They truly have impacted not only suburbs, but they have majorly impacted cities. Without the invention of parks it would be hard to escape city life. Cities are still changing from what they used to be and how they are designed. However the future of the parks is unsure due to funding and lack of maintenance. The first idea of a park was from William Penn in 1682. He created a plan for Philadelphia to have five areas of park - like land. Then James Oglethorpe had an idea in 1733 for Savannah. He established a system, where neighborhoods were revolved around a square (Schuyler, 2015). The first recorded urban park was Fairmount Gardens. It was created in 1812, in Philadelphia when they constructed their waterworks. The park first started off at five acres, surrounding the waterworks. The park had become so popular that in 1828 they expanded it to twenty-eight acres. In 1850, Lemon Hill and Sedgley estates were added to Fairmount, which made the popularity of the park increase. People thought the park site was chosen because of the class of people that lived there, but that was not the case. The land was chosen because it was too elevated. Since the land was so elevated that made it too hard to build and expensive to build anything there or to build roads on that kind of land (Schuyler, 2015). Parks then became very popular in cities. William Cullen Bryant and Andrew Jackson Downing became the faces

There is a contradiction in the mind of teenagers which has been difficult to transcend. The issue of making right decision on the activities they are to embark on and whose counsel to follow has been of high importance to teenagers. Teenagers in the present age find themselves in a tight situation with decision making in that their school psychologists made them realise that being happy is based on the ability to make friends and the development of skills. Meanwhile, teachers and parents advised that, happiness lies on competing and outperforming others.

8 multipurpose athletic fields • 4 basketball courts • 2 volleyball courts • 2 beach volleyball courts • 4 tennis courts • Enclosed skateboard plaza • Aquatic facility with lap pool and diving pool • Playground with water play area • Enclosed dog parks • Paved path encircling athletic fields • Restroom facility near athletic fields • 35,000 square‐foot community center with full gymnasium, fitness center, game room, dance room, and meeting rooms • 320 square‐foot • Police substation with holding facility in the community

The next time when you are out on your shopping trip, chances you may have support a business that exploits children. It is very disturbing and heartbreaking to learn many children are chained to looms for 12 hours a day because families need to have their child bringing home a small amount of moneys. Child labor has always been a difficult subject to address, the topic have become much more complicated and prolific.

With the expansion in technology, children are hastily becoming more and more inactive. In the past century, kids would play outside from sunrise to sunset. Little did they realize, that playtime served

Like most Americans, I expect to find in every city, every town, even in every village in the country, an outdoor recreation area or what is usually called a park; and I am seldom disappointed. No matter how new and unfinished a town may be, or however old and poor, I know that it will contain, wedged in among the crowded blocks of buildings, a rectangular space with grass and trees and meandering paths and perhaps a bandstand or a flagpole.

Let children be children, is not only a popular phrase heard in education, but it is also my motto. Yes, it is true, today’s children are tomorrow’s future; but how we choose to raise our children determines the outcome of our future. Many believe academics should be stressed more in schools, taking away from children’s playtime. I feel that play is what molds a child. Play allows not only a child’s imagination to run freely, but builds and strengthens children’s motor, language, cognitive, and social emotional development skills. I believe that play; along with parental involvement forms a child’s identity. Play is what makes children: tomorrow’s future.