Still D.R.E.

My daughter’s school is over 100years old. The main building is brick with two woodwn framed additions and one portable. There is a large all weather field, a small grass field, and numerous paved areas for play. Of course there is a large playground too.

I was speaking with aMom J on the playground this afternoon. We were watching our kindergarten kids on the swings. With the removal of swing pushing duties it has left time fore more conversations. Mom J and I have spoked several times before and I just found out she was born and raised in Vancouver.

In fact she went to the very same school our kids are going to. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t gotten to this in our conversations. As things go when playing with kids at the park our conversation was interrupted by an important discovery at the monkey bars.

A few minutes later Mom J and her son had made there way to get the scoop at the yellow monkey bars as well. Once there a number of kids swung, jump and fell from the paint chipped rig. In this area of the playground there is a yellow rainbow shaped set of monkey bars and a yellow set of parallel bars too. They don’t really fit in with the rest of the park. So I asked Mom J if they were here when she went to the school and she said yes.

These three structures are home to some of the best movers on the playground. It starts with the littlest of kids simply hanging from the parralel bars and letting go and landing on their bums to the big kids swinging to skip a bar missing and landing on their backs. If you are scared to fall you won’t reach for the next bar. Learning to accept a fall and minimize the consequence of the landing opens up opportunities to try again. A key to motor learning for life.

As soon as falls become part of playing in this area the swinging starts. Again starting with the little ones swinging front to back to the big ones swinging front to back while rotating to reach. If you can’t hang with one hand you can’t swing. When learning kids are often scared to drop the second arm to reach because they don’t know what it feels like to hang on one arm. After a few falls they they figure it out and they move on to the next progression all on there own. The parameters for success are very clear you either crossthe monkey bars or you don’t. Instant and built in feedback is inherently valuable to improvement.

As moving across the monkey bars becomes second nature kids look to what is happening above the monkey bars. Starting with hanging upside down to walking across the top. Going upside down is disorienting and until a kid conquers being comfotable being upside down they won’t be able to climb through the bars to get their hips above the bars allowing the rest of their body to follow. Once on top balance is challenged with the added element of a fall from a height that is higher than they are tall.

While I was watching kids from kindergarten to grade 3 fire around these structures I could picture Mom J and her friends doing all the same things on the monkey bars. It is as if climbing, hanging and swinging is a skill that is hardwired into humans. No matter how modern parks get there must be monkey bars.