The Great Playground Hunt

Thank you, Lorin, for this opportunity to guest blog!

This weekend, I spent some time swinging, see-sawing, and flying down slides. No, I don't have kids. And no, I am not a crazy person.

(This last point, I admit, is debatable.)

A little back-story: I work at the National Wildlife Federation, in the same department where they publish the nature magazine Ranger Rick.

It's great -- from my cubicle, I can see the photo editor's monitor, always brimming with close-up photos of flamingos or otters or wolves. Sometimes I hear things like, "Does anyone know what month we last did a story on the blue-footed booby?"

It's a fun job. Right now, I'm working on a project with another non-profit, Kaboom!, to map all of the playgrounds, parks and other places to play in the U.S. It's simple: find a playground, take a picture, and upload it to the online map.

I need to practice what I preach, so this weekend my husband and I went playground hunting.

Sadly, of the five playgrounds, only one had actual children playing on it. The rest were empty, despite the sunny weather. Actually, I was a little relieved. I worried that parents might look suspiciously at a strange woman taking pictures at a playground for no apparent reason.

At one playground, we did see two boys on a motor-scooter driving through mud-puddles, using the playground as an obstacle course. At least they were outside!

I tried the see-saw, with my husband on the other end -- and realized it had been a very, very, very long time since I'd been on a see-saw. I actually got a little motion-sick. And I was terrified of falling off. But I laughed harder than I had in a while.

This is, in fact, a perfect activity for me at the moment. You see, I've reached my crisis-limit. The most recent national emergency, the swine flu, pushed me over the edge. I was already anxious about the terrorist threat, the failing economy, and global warming. When a possible pandemic influenza strain came knocking, I just let it all go.

And reconnecting with playgrounds has made me realize that adults should play more often. I've always been a fan of the idea of an"adult" recess. Instead of boring coffee/watercooler breaks, we could all run outside and play tag, wall-ball and capture the flag.

Hard to imagine? I bet the national stress-levels would sink dramatically.

Let me know if you want to join me in this "adult play movement" -- I, for one, am ready for it!