Social Hierarchy on the Playground

Oh, bark chips. Yes, they cushion the falls of kids while playing on playgrounds all over the country. How many of us have said, "No throwing bark chips," on those playgrounds at one time or another?

I had a thought-provoking experience on our playground this afternoon. My four-year-old and some 10-minute old friends were playing with the spinning saucer. Do you know this newish feature of playgrounds? It looks like a teacup from Disneyland, but it's slightly askew. And it spins. So when your child is in it, and someone turns the cup, WHEE, the child gets dizzy. I talked about this with another mom last week. We decided that since they have removed all the 'dangerous' toys like merry-go-rounds and teeter-totters, all that's left is the opportunity to simply get dizzy.

Anyway, my son and three other children were grabbing mounds of bark chips and filling up the saucer. Now, as mentioned, my general rule is that we don't play with bark chips. However,  they weren't throwing them. No one seemed to want to spin. They were having a great time. Plus, my son was the last to enter the game. The other moms hadn't shut it down. So I deferred.  

Next, a different mom came up to the group, said something to them I didn't hear, and proceeded to shovel all the bark chips out. Wow. The faces of the moms of the boys in question probably looked just like mine: did she really just do that? Wasn't the group consensus that we had cleared this activity?

The truly interesting part was that none of the moms and I had said a word to each other. I didn't even know them. Yet, there was a clear feeling that the social code had been broken. And afterwards, all of us were much more picky about the kids playing with the bark chips.

It just made me realize just how much we learn on the playground--especially my kids. Not about how to climb, jump, and play although this activity is greatly valued. It's the social stuff too.

This brings me back to an article I saw today from Parents Magazine online: half of preschoolers don't get to play outside! To think of all they are missing, bark chips and all.