# The hell are you doing in a kid's playground without a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 9, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920 "2016-06-09T14:53:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/21 "2016-06-10T01:03:24Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Last time I checked, gyms are not free as they are privately owned and run. > > And no gym I’ve ever been in has swings, sliding boards, or sand boxes. > > There are also indoors. > > Smart ass. Is there any such thing as a “adult park?” I’ve never seen a park with pullup bars or swings that had a “no kids” sign. Kids get the kids-only park AND they get the whole park too. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/22 "2016-06-10T01:05:59Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I used to use this as a justification for all sorts of stuff. But then I realized, my tax dollars build a lot of things I don’t want to use (how 'bout that Agate Fossil Beds Natl. Monument in Nebraska?) or even deserve to use (“Hey, I paid for this women’s locker room! Yeah, and the showers…”). As I mature, I realize I’m fine with not using naive justifications like “I pay my taxes, dammit…” I don’t have a problem with an adult using a jungle gym when there are no kids waiting to use it. Do you? The park in my neighborhood is awesome because it actually has pull-up bars. But most parks in town don’t. I’m not going to give someone the stink eye for making use of whatever equipment is available just as long as they don’t hog it or act obnoxiously. Like the women in the OP did. Since I’m not arguing that a person is entitled to every little benefit their taxes support, I have little use for your lecture. Wanting to get the most out of your tax dollars isn’t “naive”. It’s simply not taking stuff for granted. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/23 "2016-06-10T02:05:42Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I used to use this as a justification for all sorts of stuff. But then I realized, my tax dollars build a lot of things I don’t want to use (how 'bout that _ **Agate Fossil Beds Natl. Monument in Nebraska** _?) … And you call yourself a Doper. What the fuck is wrong with you, man? You changed. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/24 "2016-06-10T02:12:58Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > They’re both equally creepy, but I think the guy is more likely to get a **reaction**. **Cough, splutter!** Oh, . . . _reaction_. Yes, well, quite so. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/25 "2016-06-10T04:09:50Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Why did you, an adult without a child, enter the enclosed toddler play area? Because I find children adorable and enjoy watching them play? What kind of society finds it odd or creepy for adults to simply take pleasure from \*watching children play? \* ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/26 "2016-06-10T06:55:06Z")
There are no swings in the adult areas. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/27 "2016-06-10T08:51:15Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > But he’s 2, he’s as likely to pet the doggy as to pull on his tail to see what happens! Or other parts. Why no, none of my cousins ever did that, why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/28 "2016-06-10T11:19:40Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > We could call them, I don’t know, “gyms”. A lot of London parks have [outdoor gyms](http://www.tgogc.com/) - exercise equipment designed for outdoor public use. No swings, I’m afraid, but usually pull-up bars, bikes and/or cross-trainers, some basic weights, etc. Also suitable for children if they’re tall enough. And I too endorse the OP rant, both because the idiot was hogging the jungle gym and because you don’t bring your dog into a playground and then demand that it’s the kids’ responsibility to avoid it. Keep your dog away from the kids! ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/29 "2016-06-10T11:32:03Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > There are no swings in the adult areas. You could go to more interesting clubs. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/30 "2016-06-10T11:37:04Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I would totally love to see parks establishing playgrounds devoted to adults. Maybe more grown-ups would actually visit the park if they could swing on the swings and slide down the sliding board without toddlers giving them the stink eye. Maybe we’d have better physical fitness and less neurosis if we had playgrounds made for larger bodies. There are hundreds of [fitness trails](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitness_trail) (also known as parcourses) across the country for adults to do a variety of physical exercises. There’s probably one near your community. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/31 "2016-06-10T12:07:41Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I don’t have a problem with an adult using a jungle gym when there are no kids waiting to use it. Do you? > > The park in my neighborhood is awesome because it actually has pull-up bars. But most parks in town don’t. I’m not going to give someone the stink eye for making use of whatever equipment is available just as long as they don’t hog it or act obnoxiously. Like the women in the OP did. > > Since I’m not arguing that a person is entitled to every little benefit their taxes support, I have little use for your lecture. Wanting to get the most out of your tax dollars isn’t “naive”. It’s simply not taking stuff for granted. It’s a **toddler area.** There is even a sign. You’re goddamned right I have a problem with an adult using it. “Your” tax money does not let you break all the rules and possibly the equipment. I would tell you to leave and threaten to call the cops. I just hope you missed that this the toddler area. And even then, I have to think less of you for making that shitty argument, where you pretend that money that never belonged to you is yours to manage. We all vote for where the money goes and how much of it belongs to the state. It’s NOT yours. That type of ownership of the money collected from you in taxes is a shitty Republican thing. I hate when you find out something shitty about someone you otherwise like. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/32 "2016-06-10T12:24:50Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I would totally love to see parks establishing playgrounds devoted to adults. Maybe more grown-ups would actually visit the park if they could swing on the swings and slide down the sliding board without toddlers giving them the stink eye. Maybe we’d have better physical fitness and less neurosis if we had playgrounds made for larger bodies. [… rushes off to Kickstarter…] ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/33 "2016-06-10T12:31:56Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > There are hundreds of [fitness trails](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitness_trail) (also known as parcourses) across the country for adults to do a variety of physical exercises. There’s probably one near your community. Paracourses and outdoor gyms are all very fun (used [the one](https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/CapeTownStadium3/Pages/img/venues/gpp/08.jpg) in our local Urban Park myself) but it’s often mirroring indoor gym-type stuff, and rarely is it there just for pure _play_. It’s exercise-as-result, with fun-as-side-effect. Sometimes, it’s nice _just to play_ with the exercise as a side effect. [XKCD gets it](https://xkcd.com/150/). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/34 "2016-06-10T13:56:48Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I would totally love to see parks establishing playgrounds devoted to adults. Maybe more grown-ups would actually visit the park if they could swing on the swings and slide down the sliding board without toddlers giving them the stink eye. Maybe we’d have better physical fitness and less neurosis if we had playgrounds made for larger bodies. I’ve seen several of those. The two I recall right now are one in Barcelona a couple of blocks from the Sagrada Familia (stuff both for children of different ages and sizes and for adults), and one behind the Old Folks’ Home in Tudela (super-low-impact exercise machines for adults right behind the Home, two parks for children within a few meters). The machines look mass-produced. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/35 "2016-06-10T14:41:13Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Is there any such thing as a “adult park?” I’ve never seen a park with pullup bars or swings that had a “no kids” sign. Kids get the kids-only park AND they get the whole park too. I guess Mustang Ranch is shut down now … and it weren’t ever free … ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/36 "2016-06-10T15:03:21Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Yep. Enclosed toddler play areas are not exactly taking over the city. There are lots of places for older folks to do their various things, and given that I expect parents to appropriately govern their toddlers in all those places–or exclude them, as the case may be–then it is only decent and fair to respect the occasional little corners where little ones can run freer. > [@Zsofia](#): > > Yeah, I was about to come in all furious about the maligned men, but I endorse this… just because of the dog though. I don’t see what’s wrong with doing pullups on the playground. > [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Are there swings outside of the toddler play area for the teenagers to make out on? If not then this is the citys fault. I have yet to see a park that didn’t have an enclosed toddler area, with an under-3, or under-4 limit, and a larger, unenclosed area for older kids, that adults are free to use as well, with the exception of a couple of things that might say “50 lb. limit” (I’m thinking of a sort of toy zipline thing that a person over 4ft. can’t use anyway). I remember once, though, when I was walking my 85lb. dog, and it was about 90’F, so I was letting her drink pretty much every chance she got, and we passed a fountain outside a city building, where about 8 kids were playing under a sign that said “ **WATER NOT POTABLE. DO NOT DRINK OR ALLOW CHILDREN TO PLAY IN.** ” This usually means it’s recycled, and possibly contains water from the sinks in the bathrooms (not the toilets, just the sinks, still). I let my dog drink from it. She’s a dog. She drinks from creeks and toilets. And heat injury is a bigger deal for dogs on a really hot day. All the parents pulled their kids out of the fountain, and gave me the stink-eye. I support this pitting, but I just wanted to note that it’s not always the dog owners with the odd ideas. I mean, I wouldn’t think that people letting their kids (mostly toddlers) play under a huge “NOT POTABLE” sign would care about the addition of a few drops of dog saliva, but I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/37 "2016-06-10T23:20:51Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I would totally love to see parks establishing playgrounds devoted to adults. Maybe more grown-ups would actually visit the park if they could swing on the swings and slide down the sliding board without toddlers giving them the stink eye. Maybe we’d have better physical fitness and less neurosis if we had playgrounds made for larger bodies. Lots of parks in Queensland have adult exercise equipment in them; It’s really quite cool. I’ve seen quite a variety of stuff at some parks and although I’m not into the gym thing, I’m reliably informed the equipment is actually useful for people who are. I would love to see adult-sized swings and slides, though. That would be awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/38 "2016-06-10T23:31:05Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It’s a **toddler area.** There is even a sign. You’re goddamned right I have a problem with an adult using it. “Your” tax money does not let you break all the rules and possibly the equipment. I would tell you to leave and threaten to call the cops. Oooh. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/39 "2016-06-10T23:45:10Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I don’t go into the enclosed toddler playground area but I’m sure as hell going to keep on going into the playgrounds! I always swing on the swings. It’s one thing I am not too old for and is still an incredible joy. My neighborhood playground doesn’t have swings. ☹ The playground used to host a gathering of teenage boys who would just sit there and intimidate the hell out of little kids (and their parents) who wanted to play on the jungle gym or tiny obstacle course…I haven’t seen much of them since the police busted a bunch of neighborhood teens last year. The big problem we have with the playground now is that kids will play in the adjoining pool, then go play on the equipment, then go back into the pool without showering – resulting in a pool that’s loaded with mulch. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920/40 "2016-06-11T00:43:11Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I have yet to see a park that didn’t have an enclosed toddler area, with an under-3, or under-4 limit, and a larger, unenclosed area for older kids, that adults are free to use as well, with the exception of a couple of things that might say “50 lb. limit” I’d say half the parks here do and half don’t … and I can’t think of any that are signed as such. > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > (I’m thinking of a sort of toy zipline thing that a person over 4ft. can’t use anyway). Wait … ziplines for 3-years-olds … we definitely have none of those here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hell-are-you-doing-in-a-kids-playground-without-a-kid/756920.md?page=3)