Remember Roller Slides?

I was talking to my best friend last night about her new neighbors who put a Tupperware looking swing set outside her window. We started talking about the awesome swing sets we had as children that weren’t built to prevent injury, but almost to promote it. Swing sets used to teach lessons. I then started thinking about the playground my brothers and I used to beg to go to as children. It was at the local public elementary school (we went to private school) and we actually took field trips to it sometimes.

The playground had a stand up teeter-totter and a roller slide (among many other awesome things). If you don’t remember the roller slide, or never experienced it, you were missing out. It was a slide that was filled with a series of medal tubes that would rotate to propel you down. The tubes would get scorching hot in summer and would pinch your legs if you even thought of wearing shorts while careening down them. The slide was wide enough for two to go down side by side. It was extreme playing, and we LOVED IT. I know they took the roller slide out a few years ago—and I am afraid to go examine the playground now. I suspect it will be another Tupperware replica that makes playing so cautious it’s barely fun.

We wonder why children don’t want to be outside anymore. Playing isn’t fun if it’s totally safe.

Let’s bring back the roller slide, the stand up teeter-totter, the swings with concrete underneath them. Let’s bring back the pain of playing, the skinned knees. My younger brother broke his arm while playing on monkey bars in winter. It was an injury to be bragged of. Let’s bring back cast signing as a regular activity in classrooms.