Over the weekend I made a trip to my old hometown with the kids & discovered that an old park that I used to go to when I was a kid had been remodeled. There was some really cool and unique playground equipment, and a unique sprinkler system that was added as well. Not just your ordinary spout & water, this was a huge circle w/lots of colors and a nice soft mesh surface. There were about 6 or so different sprinklers built into the ground. Some of them provided really tall spouts of water, some were light mists and others came at you like a fire hose. There was one huge rubber button that one lucky kid could run and hit as soon as they got there or when it automatically shut off.

I guess this small yet hugely fun new park feature left a great impression with me because not only was it the first I had ever seen of it’s kind, but it was also in a city park & it was “free”. Now as we all know, nothing is ever really “free”. There were city taxes well spent & there were bricks surrounding it with names, dates , and sentiments on them that were privately paid for. Yet, there really was something magical about something of greatness being at everyone’s disposal. The question that lingers in my mind, is why more towns & communities don’t offer more fun to children (and their parents!) for free. Sure, sometimes there are nice parks, but there seem very few free & fun activities or things to do that are available to the general public.

Let’s face it, for all kids - young & old, a main cause for getting into trouble is lack of resources (meaning fun/interesting/entertaining things to do) and supervision. If we want a better world & a better quality of life, we need to get on the ball & it’s not only the job of one parent or two. I know there are things like vandalism that is a concern, but there are solutions. There’s really no reason we can’t create great things that are accessible and “free”!