Yet another nicely maintained neighborhood park.
There's only one playground here and it's rated for ages 5-12. Because of the wide age rating some of the equipment isn't appropriate for younger kids. In fact, one feature I found downright dangerous.
To get to the upper floor of the playground the kids have to climb a ladder that's inside of the play equipment vs. being on the exterior and facing out so kids can just run up and climb. Now, the ladder's location isn't terribly important but what is is the fact they put a play feature immediately next to the top of the ladder. Not only that, but it's a feature that encourages kids to make it rotate (think like a small Wheel of Fortune wheel mounted on a wall). When I saw it I thought it looked like a bad idea and told my daughter I didn't want her climbing the ladder. "Okay Mama, I won't go up there" said my sometimes mischievous daughter. We went about our play that day and just 5 minutes before we were going to leave I got a call on my cell phone in my purse. My daughter and I were playing in the little shopkeeper window underneath the play equipment and I jumped up and jogged over to my purse placed on the cement bench encircling the playground. In the time it took me to get up, dash over, find my phone, answer the call and the brief question that was asked during it, my daughter had gotten up and scrambled up the ladder to the platform I'd just told her to stay away from. Turning around I saw her giggling at the top of the platform looking out the telescope. Putting my cell phone in my back pocket I start walking over there reminding her I didn't want her playing up there and she goes over to the feature I'd been worried about before. Still giggling and frantically trying to do everything up there she rotates the wheel about 5 times to the left (towards the opening for the ladder) on the last time she pushed it as hard as she could, lost her center of balance and tumbled down through the opening for the ladder - EXACTLY what I feared would happen with her going up there. After some tears and me carrying her to the drinking fountain for a long drink she was okay.
I was terrified of bringing her back here for over a year even though it's so close to our home. We finally came back today with my friend's 10 year old daughter and she was able to distract her enough to keep her interest away from wanting to climb up there. Phew. This park has most of the things I look for in a playground too, including -- two large covered patio areas with picnic tables, a restroom (though it's far from the playground), a large parking lot, plenty of grass to run around in, a drinking fountain (though not in the best location) and plenty of seating around the play area provided by the aforementioned cement bench around the play area.
I just can't get over how unsafe I feel the wheel feature next to the ladder is. I took a picture to illustrate the point too. Maybe if your child is closer to the 12 year age range this wouldn't be a problem, but I'm not comfortable with my little girl playing on the platform area here. The next kid who falls might not get off as lucky as my daughter was either. Parents be warned! This would be a 4 star rating for me if it weren't for the ladder's safety issue. read more