Playgrounds of the 60's: For love & danger!

A dear old friend of mine posted this

fantastic link to her facebook page this morning.

I'm going to take this title to MORE reasons children

of the 70's should all be dead - including me.

This is the Playground Edition & there will be more installments

addressing growing up in the 60's & 70's and

my view on loving living during that time!

(Thank you Robin Moody-Schmidt)

1. I remember the playground at Tillson Elementary School (Tillson, NY) very well.  There were 2 slides: a smaller one (the one nobody but the Kindergarteners & 1st graders would use) and the big, high, dangerous one - everyone used because of the peer pressure to face the demon.
2. I was NEVER one to shy away from the danger - ever. While I was a very girly girl in frilly dresses, I was also a voracious tomboy who loved climbing trees, riding horses, dirt bikes & playing the "ring & run" in the neighborhood. Therefore when it came to the playground, I was ALL IN!! There was no better feeling than sliding down that massive metal slide in the hot sun, in my pretty little dresses feeling & hearing the squeaking as I slid down, burning the hell out of the cheeks of my little ass! The slide is certainly not the ONLY thing that I've outgrown over the years but my ass, yes, I've outgrown my ASS - but I digress. The feeling that I kept up with the boys in their long pants, gave me great satisfaction back then & frankly I can still feel & hear that squeaking!
3. The "jungle gym" didn't consist of much but a lot of metal making up a few things like monkey bars, that should have been called "suicide alley". All metal pipes sitting on top of blacktop! That's right, blacktop! Not some cute little safe, squishy rubber to protect your little noggins but the hard, rocky stuff that covers the ROAD!
4. The swing set was probably the most dangerous apparatus on the property though. It was extremely high, or so it seemed in the 60's & was just metal seats held on with massive chain link, attached to a structure of, yep you guessed it, metal!  We would get the other kids to push us so hard that the challenge was to see how high we could go. These heights were massive as a kid. I was always the one to grab a spot on one of the high swings & get anyone to push me.  The dream was to go all the way around & I did exactly that at least once. 
5. Another of the fun suicidal games we played on the swings was go as high as you can, out as far as you could & JUMP! Yes JUMP onto blacktop! I LOVED doing that because it made me feel like I could fly! If you went high enough you landed in the messed up grass/dirt beyond the blacktop & wouldn't get as many cuts & bruises.
6. My compatriots of the era will feel the pain in their fingers when I describe the many blood blisters on our hands & fingers from getting caught in those enormous chains. Yes, I went there. OUCH.
7. The chains on the swings would get kinked up, especially when we had our friends turn us until the chain was twisted all the way to the top then in one push, get us going the OTHER way. My trick to surviving (& LOVING) this particular game, was to put my head down & close my eyes, that way  I wouldn't fall flat on my ass in front of my peers after surviving with all 10 fingers....barely.
8. Every piece of this playground was a first come, first served kind of deal. It required great amounts of pushing & shoving, and yes crying, to grab your opportunity of nearly killing yourself, with the help of your friends.
9. I spent a great deal of my childhood with band aids & mercurochrome (yes I KNOW my readers of the same age will know that word well) on my knees & elbows. Badges of honor I call them!
10. All of this went on with our teachers chatting or smoking over by the trees, barely watching or even cheering us on.

Reminiscing about these fantastic & memorable times has me singing "Hey Momma Welcome to the Sixties" from Hairspray!

* Welcome to the 60's where 3 year old boys got guns for Christmas! *

That's my family & I'm the curly haired cutie

giving some major "resting bitch face"!

* The 60's when boys wore TIES   *

Original article from which I gained my inspiration:

8 Reasons Children of the 70's Should Be Dead