A team at Rovaniemi Polytechnic studied one group of 40 people, aged between 65 and 81, and found there were significant improvements in balance, speed and co-ordination after just three months of larking about on the climbing frames and play equipment.
Given that more than a third of elderly people say they are nervous moving about because of a fear of falling, these are statistics that interest people working with senior citizens.
Well, I think this is pretty cool. But one has to wonder about the playground brawls that might ensue.
"Get out of the way, Grandma, that's MY swing!"
Finnish playground manufacturer Lappset is already on board, creating "3 generational play" equipment, suitable for kids, their parents, AND their grandparents.
Many fear that corpulent, inactive parents will simply fall off the swings and see-saws and sue the council, or aggressive teens and 20-somethings will drive the toddlers from the park and vandalise the equipment.
Indeed, the Finnish manufacturer has found that it has to make its equipment extra sturdy for the British because of the levels of vandalism.
It seems it simply does not occur to Finnish youth to destroy things that are built for their pleasure.
There are also cultural barriers. In tests on groups from different countries, the Germans were found to be fondest of having the generations play together.
The French seemed to prefer to control children.
I think it all sounds like fun. But getting the world to agree...that might be a different story.
2 comments:
maybe this is a cultural thing because I really don't see any problem with the elderly on the playground. Isn't it natural, even? For grandparents often babysit the little ones and so a lot of the babysitting takes care on playgrounds. The thing is that often your kids are the only ones there and in order to be able to use the see-saw YOU or Granny are going to have to take the other seat! Or slide down together with your child because she's too scared to go down on her own, and so forth ... ;) ... okay, okay so I admit I enjoy playing with the facilities myself but at least the swing hasn't broken under my weight ... so far :p
I know my father-in-law would love this! I've seen the yearning, mischievous twinkle in his eyes while accompanying his grandchildren at the playground. He's worried that others might consider him rude to use the swing and deny a kid his turn. Good for the Finns!
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