Dad thoughts...

This one's about the UK attitude to kids.
It's because I have my kids to entertain and it's revealing. You'd think in this day and age, a playground for kids would be fairly easy to find. Councils provide them, moan about how much they cost, teenagers get drunk and smoke there when the sun goes down (because there's no where else to go). It's a playground. A fairly central social hub.

Well not really. If you're new to an area, try finding a playground. It's not on Google Maps or more local searches. I can't speak for all councils, but they often aren't listed on council websites, not at all around here. They don't get listed in "Local attractions" either. Somehow the playgrounds of the UK have managed to slide past the internet world entirely unnoticed.

The only way I've discovered to find them is to ask people who have kids and have lived in the area for long enough to know a couple. It's bizarre. Even amongst that sample, you'll find people who know of one place, but not another, or 'think there still is one there but not sure'. It's just very odd. Never seem to be signposted. Not marked on maps. Not listed in yellow pages ...

Still. Not to be utterly defeated. Lets search for indoor play areas instead...

Now an odd thing happens here as well. For those of you who have kids, will know by the time 8-9-10 kicks in, kids generally are no longer interested in indoor play areas. Not only that? They are positively unwelcome even before that age. Most complaints I hear in indoor play hellzones are about older children mixing with the younger kids in play areas and tears resulting. Generally a parent gets glowered at. It's all good fun. Point is. What the hell is the 7yr+ kid supposed to do? A few tired arcade machines seems to be the answer. Neat. Just what I wanted to do, pay to go to a large noisy building and then pay even more to let them play computer games instead of stay at home and do it for free.

What bugs this Dad anyway is this void around youth, I'd say worst from 7 to around 14. By the time 14 is kicking around, they can blend in with the skate park crew and things like 10 pin bowling, lasertag, all that kind of stuff opens up. Below 7 the indoor play area exists. I'm struggling to figure out how the British cope with 7 to 14. It's almost like they are just inconvenient, not wanted in adult places, get in the way in toddler places, not big enough to mix at the skate park

Sighs.

It just feels to me that somehow in other countries I've visited that isn't the attitude. In countries where I can't even speak the language, I've usually been able to find playgrounds either from road signs or just because they sensibly put them smack bang in the middle of the shopping arcade. What could be simpler? Kids hate being dragged to the shops, coffee houses / restaurants are happy to serve near enough so you can watch the kids. Kids happier, parents happier, less pissed off kids around, shop owners happier, everyone happier!

I guess in the UK there would be complaints about the noise, or that teenagers hang around it at night and make a mess, or it costs too much ... I'm not sure what it is. But it doesn't seem to happen in the UK.

And a heads up. Yes teenage kids do need to hang around places with other teenage kids doing stupid things like learning to cough up smoke, discovering hangovers and grope the wrong people. That's part of growing up.

Pointless rant. I just wish the British were a bit more inclusive when it came to children, provided more and moaned a hell of a lot less. Maybe even valued them? Seems a bit strange not to consider children as little people who get darn bored unless us provider adult types actually provide some form of entertainment or inclusion. The other side of the rant is perhaps stirred by all the recent pedo allegations flying around. It's saddening and sickening. How can it be so easy for things on this scale to be brushed under a carpet for years with countless victims? Reminds me it's not just some people that ignore or consider kids a liability in Britain. It seems to be the prevalent attitude. No wonder it seems so easy to ignore them.