Teetering on the end of danger

Do you remember those teeter-totters we used to play on? You know, the ones they had in EVERY playground when we were kids growing up?

I remember playing on them with my on-and-off-best-friend Molly and bouncing each other high up into the air by hitting the ground hard. These teeter-totters never seemed the least bit dangerous to me. No more than the rest of the playground equipment perched on top of cement and gravel, anyway.

Until last weekend, that is. Because there was yet another open house in our home, we drove up to a resort called "Debrova" with Stefan's parents. There we met "Pop," Stefan's famous-barber-grandfather and enjoyed some traditional Ukrainian food (including buttery pierogies drenched in... butter) and some downtime with the kids.

I intended to sit back and let them go play on the structure... but when I saw what Alex was drawn to, I had a quick jolt right in the middle of my rib cage. He wanted to climb all over thing, this once-innocent playground staple of my youth, that now looks like a SUPER DANGEROUS PIECE OF EQUIPMENT. I mean, why would they put this thing on a playground? It seems a better fit in a construction zone. How easy it would be to get smacked in the head, or get legs pinned underneath it, or any number of other crazy injuries.



And so I turned into a helicopter parent for a few minutes, until I realized that he was being fairly safe. He didn't see it as something to use with a partner for brain-jarring fun, but instead as a make-believe flying broomstick from Harry Potter.

Except for a few jumps, which I just had to put a stop to. After a few pictures, of course.

But then along came Jameson. How in the world do you keep a toddler safe on something like this?? You might as well ask him to sort your knife collection while you are at it.

But we don't like to deny anyone the opportunity to experience something new, so we hovered with the best of them and let him try it out. Notice his little legs wrapped tightly around the bottom of the board! He was a little worried to be up so high. Luckily Alex was too heavy in comparison, so those little legs didn't get squashed underneath the board.

And so the afternoon passed, and I stopped hovering and just let the boys play. Alex never left the teeter-totters, and managed to stay somewhat safe despite all the apparent danger. Jameson found the swings much more interesting, and so dragged his Papa over again and again. "DOM ON, Papa, DOM ON." (Come on, Papa, Come on)

I can't help but think there's a reason those things disappeared from our playgrounds, though.

Click here for more pictures.