This week we are on vacation in downtown San Francisco, California. We visited a playground for the second day in a row called Yerba Buena Children's Garden Playground. They recently opened up a "Tot Spot"- a section of the park specifically designed for kids two to five years old. My kids were instantly attracted to it and I enjoyed sitting on the shaded benches knowing they were safe to be kids and play independently without me hovering.
Today I watched in amazement and wonder as my two year old and four year old played with four other kids with varying ages probably somewhere between two and five on a merry go round for thirty whole minutes (an eternity in toddler time) with very minimal adult direction or supervision. The kids learned how to cooperate together to turn the merry go round, accommodate each others wishes to go faster or slower and figured out how to hold on and even hop on while it was moving from running by the end. My two year loved pushing the merry go round with the bigger kids and was hopping on like a pro. There were requests made known like "go faster", "slow down I can't run that fast", "stop I want to get off" etc.. Somehow these tiny little people all worked together to keep everyone happy and safe. No tantrums happened and no one was thrown off the merry go round.
As I sat there smiling at my kids learning these all important life skills I couldn't help but think that this is exactly why I am so passionate about playground in my area. Having quality playgrounds available and different playground equipment makes these moments possible at an early age. Learning these skills of cooperation, compromising and sharing will be useful in these kids lives now and in the future.
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