Park District shouldn't play with neighborhoods' toy tradition
A TikTok video featuring a Florida mother asking parents not to bring toys to the playground unless their children are willing to share recently went viral, drawing the ire of some mothers and fathers who don't think their kids' possessions are meant for strangers to enjoy.
Such a request wouldn't be needed in this city.
Plastic trucks, Big Wheels and other items children either have outgrown or don't want anymore are often left behind for others to use in several Chicago Park District playgrounds.
Now the Park District wants to put an end to the communal fun by stepping up enforcement of a decades-old policy that prohibits toys and various odds and ends from being left on its properties. New signage outlining those rules is expected to be put up soon and many stray toys have already been scooped up, according to Sun-Times reporter Emmanuel Camarillo.
What a buzzkill.
But unless some old, worn-out toys pose a danger or they are piled up in a neglected, unkempt space where barely any boys and girls show up, as one editorial board member noticed in a South Side Park District-owned lot, why play the Grinch?
Surely the Park District, which owns over 8,800 acres of green space and is responsible for 27 indoor and 50 outdoor pools, has more pressing matters to attend to.
Most parents Camarillo talked to at Edgewater's Cochran Park and Hyde Park's Bixler Park said they want the toys to remain where they are, as they are key attractions for their children — sometimes more so than the playground equipment.
Toys spark creativity and can enhance a child's development, including sharpening their cognitive and motor skills. Although, somewhat surprisingly, the fewer playthings children have access to, the better. A 2017 University of Toledo study revealed that when toddlers had exposure to fewer toys, they played twice as long and in more sophisticated ways.
The practice of leaving toys behind in playgrounds not only helps families declutter, it allows children to embrace the concept of streamlining, donating and sharing their belongings.
It also limits the time a child plays with a particular toy and lures them outdoors, away from television and electronic devices.
Should the toys disappear, "We’d still come but maybe not as often," as Gabriela Wheeler Fox said of her Bixler Park jaunts with her 3-year-old son, Brayden.
The Park District will only be straying from its goal of fostering outside activity if it plays with a tradition many children and their parents have come to love.
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