The Wrong Side Of A Slide

A slide is the quintessential toy in a playground.  Endless fond childhood memories are created here. 

Its classic triangular-shaped structure is supported with a step ladder on one side and a smooth surface on the other.  Each step higher brings a child closer and closer to the sky until she triumphantly reaches the peak.  There she anticipates anxiously for that precise moment as she lets her little grip free.  That rush down, however fleeting, is an accumulation of excitement and glee.  Then, making haste, she loops around to make rounds and rounds again.  

But what if that process is reversed?  What if she heads toward the bottom of the slide, looks upward then grasps onto the rail.  Her little feet inch upward the summit.  She might not reach all the way to the top when she decides to let go and drops herself to the bottom.  She might skip the ladder all together or even climbs the ladder downwards.  Would that be okay?  Would you let your children climb up the slide?

A while ago I witnessed a father with his two little girls playing on a slide at a park. This father, though sitting on a bench nearby, was anything but inattentive.  He donned an Navy Seal's approach to his daughters' playing on the slide.  Every few seconds, his authoritative directives bellowed out on the "right" ways of sliding down the slide.  He specifically prohibited them from climbing up the slide as if it were the crime of the century.  The girls obediently followed suit and even verbally repeated dad's exact instructions for a few rounds until they started to explore on their own and attempted to climb up the slide.  Upon seeing such "defiance," he, lovingly I'm sure, pounced and reprimanded their mistakes before repeating his rules once again. 

This scandalous scenario lasted for a good 10 minutes or so when another child joined the play.  The girls happily welcomed this new playmate, but not so the dad because this child, against his will, started to lead his girls climbing up the slide.  Not giving up on his original initiative, this dad interfered and drilled his instructions onto the three kids which ultimately intimidated and scared away this child and left the girls friendless and forlorn.  Interestingly, no other children came to play on the slide until this family left.  

I couldn't feel sorrier for these girls.  I did not concur with this father's intrusiveness on a simple child's play, and I certainly did not understand with his insistence on playing a mere toy "his" way.  I was not aware that a slide came with an instructional manual.  And I never knew there was a "right" or "wrong" way of playing a toy, let alone a slide. 

That is why I was indignant when my child was sent to a timeout along with a bunch of other kids in kindergarten for climbing up the slide - when no one was sliding down.  A group of them decided to play a game to climb up the slide, and the next thing they knew they were issued a timeout for the rest of the recess by their kindergarten teachers.  Sure, I get the liability issues on school grounds in terms of injuries.  But a timeout for climbing up the slide?  By punishing kids for the rest of their only recess?  Really?  Are we really doing what is best for our children by limiting them on playing?  Are our rules necessarily better for our children?  Are we overprotecting our children from experiencing life all together?

To me, a slide is just a plaything which acts as a tool that enables children to exercise their physiques, imagination, and social interactions.  A child pulling herself up a slide is an all around heavy work sensory experience that can increase attention and body awareness (proprioceptive input).  As she defies the gravity to climb upwards on a smooth incline, she is putting both her gross and fine motor skills to great use.

In addition to the physical benefits, playing a slide in a public area helps children foster social interactions.  It allows children to generate social rules that are acceptable to that particular playgroup.  They learn to figure out that rules can be changed based on different factors since rules don't always stay the same and aren't always black and white in real life.  They learn to be in control of the social rules they have set for themselves.  Slide climbing also gives children the opportunity to learn courtesy and accommodation for the well-being of other children.  They'd learn that it is polite to allow the children sliding down to go first before climbing up the slide.  It gives children a chance to be keenly aware and considerate the needs of other kids, such as younger children who aren't as skilled or independent on the slide.

Furthermore, playing the slide in non-convention ways contributes to stimulating their creativity and imagination by allowing them to physically experience that objects can be used in different and multiple ways.  Maybe they want to walk up the railings of a slide?  Maybe they want to slide down head first?  Maybe they want to slide down as a group?  Maybe they want to climb up as the other kids slide down as a competition of how fast they can climb up before they are met with an opposition?  When kids are allowed to take risks in their play, they learn to make choices.  They learn to judge risks and evaluate their limits.  When risk and safety is put into children's own hands, they tend to perform less risky behaviors.  Research from Adventure Playgrounds shows that accidents actually go down when kids are allowed to take risks in their play.  

So why rob away our children their chance to grow?  Let them play the slide a slide is intended to be played - by children, with their own rules and without much of our interference.  

Let it go, and let them climb up the slide already!