This is number one Granddaughter on the new playground near her home in Seattle.
The kiddie zipline is fun and she loves the place.
I found a photo of a playground I remember enjoying which was built by the WPA in the 1930s.

This one was clearly built before we had a surplus of lawyers and kids were sent out in the morning and told to be home by dinner.
I am curious as to the kind of nation each one creates.
Both deal with managing fears in exchange for adrenalin rush .
Both use group example to promote risk taking.
One clearly reduces risk by removing sharp edges, rust and mitigating falls from heights into sand, rocks and empty beer cans.
I do know the new one scares me a lot less when she is on it.
It probably explains why parents rarely hovered around back then.



Back in the day, parents had plenty of spare kids in case one or more broke.
Back then they could expect to lose one in ten to polio alone.
The 1903’s WPA playground rocks. I bet there weren’t a lot of little girls on that one.
That is the kind of playground that developed men who would later storm the beach at Normandy.
WWII had started. The young son of Polish immigrants (legal ones, too!) wanted to do something about this and longed to fly. He joined the service and was just about washed out – several times. He was told he didn’t have the knack for flying.
Somehow he got stationed in Hawaii, flying fighters for practice and chasing girls. Then came 7 December. Gabby Gabreski rallied his dorm and tried to save as many planes as possible. War was on.
Wanting to get in on the action, he talked to his CO, noting he spoke fluent Polish. The service, then not hidebound by PC, gave him orders to England, as liaison. Going into a pub where RAF crews hung out, he heard Polish being spoken, so he went over and introduced himself. For some reason the Squadron CO, a gifted flier and tactician, took a liking to Gabby and took him under his wing, allowing him to fly with them in a Spitfire. He got good at flying a Spit and learned the tactics even if he didn’t shoot down any Germans.
America now arrives on the Island, and Gabby gets orders to join the 56th Squadron, and a promotion to Captain. He thus becomes a flight leader and starts teaching his flight his “new” tactics. Pretty soon he has shot down his first German, and the flight is doing well. He becomes the CO and teaches the whole squadron the tactics. His squadron produces the first three American aces, each with 5 kills to attain the status. Gabby joins the circle shortly, still leading his Squadron, and then the 61st.
Gabby’s squadrons do remarkably well. In one February they down 1500 Germans, with a loss to them of 28 airframes. And in 1944 Gabby gets his 28th kill, making him THE highest ranking ace in the European Theatre. This from a guy who was told numerous times he was unfit to fly. But tenacity, will, and work got him where he was. And risk taking. He had a reputation in the squadron of almost flying into the Messherschmidts or Folke Wolfs before he fired, conserving ammo and insuring his kill.
?Now which playground do you think Gabby would have played on.
Great story, Dev.
I was thinking of my childhood. I used to like jumping off a swing. Depending when you jumped off you could go for distance or height. For distance you jumped off at the bottom when you had the most horizontal speed. For height you jumped off just before it started to slow down on the upward arc.
My brothers and I even jumped off the garage. None of up broke an arm or leg in childhood.
Is that a swing set or is it gymnastic rings?
Would love to have scampered on either. She looks like a sweetheart – and is having a great time!
Titheness, I’d have thought you liked chutes and ladders – more rock ’em, sock ’em sort of stuff. :-)
Wonderful story, Dev!