Did I hear someone say Stephen Foster Projects?

The fifties and sixties in the projects were wonderful.  I still have fond memories of hot summer days and in particular, of that huge rectangular wading pool that had four to six sprayers. It was placed behind the playground fence, between the buildings 70 Lenox Avenue and 70 West 115th Street.  All us crazy kids had a lot of fun running and playing wild, back then.

Unfortunately, by today's standards, that pool would have been closed. The

entire thing was made out of cement.  All you had to do was fall and you could not avoid getting a bad scrape or worst.  These types of injuries would happen often.  Adults would scream “Stop running, stop running” but how could they expect kids to be careful.  Hot weather and cold water had been mixed together. Half the fun was learning the hard way, why you should listen to your parents. 

Which reminds me.  Throughout the other playgrounds in the complex, there were these rectangular platforms that looked like three-step pyramids but were flat on the top.   Of course, all of these "objects" were also made of cement. 

Please explain to me the rationale behind using a building material like cement for kids to play on.  Wouldn't that be considered dangerous?  Oh yeah, cement blocks could last for a life-time. The playground apparatus were made to be durable so that they would endure long after the kids were gone.  In other words, children were considered secondary in this formula.

When I about eight years old, my older brother and I were having a great time, jumping around on this insanely durable pyramid.  Then while we were playing tag, he had to go and slip and then fall chin-first. At first, I couldn't understand why he stood up crying and screaming murder.  Then I noticed that he was bleeding like a pig and adding new color textures to the worn stone slab.  We had to go to the emergency room so he could get about ten stitches. Talk about a ten year old screaming his brains out, while others held him down so he could get this minor surgery. The big baby!   

 

My point is, a lot of that fun has been lost, just for a little thing like child safety.  Don’t today’s adults realize that all the rubber matting that's placed under every fun obstacle only protects children from getting hurt.  It does nothing to build character. The scars we used to get during childhood, helped us to grow up faster, a little crooked maybe, but we grew up, regardless.

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