Comments on: Reschooling Tool #4: Swings

By: Don Berg

Don Berg — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:30:00 +0000

I re-discovered swings at Reed College, where they have a nice pair of college kid sized swings that look out over Portland. That was ‘86-’89 but I assume that they are still there. So I didn’t have that much time between being a kid, feeling like I was too “grown-up” for that, and then re-discovering them. It’s also in the nature of Reed that every once in a while some students will make the leap to insisting that they should get P.E. credit for playing on the swings on a regular basis. Which is probably accepted if a sufficient plan is proposed.

Since college I have had my enthusiasm for swinging periodically renewed when I visit a park with kids friends or even my girlfriend.

I’ve never been a big jumper, but I do remember that one of my students and I got to debating whether there was a limit to how far he could jump. So we made a bet and I drew a line (based on his best jumps, so far) that I was convinced he could not surpass. After about 5 tries his confidence was flagging, but after 10 or more jumps he eventually did land over my line. I can’t remember what the pay-off was, but I remember that we were both very impressed with his performance.
–
Enjoy,

Don Berg

Site: http://www.teach-kids-attitude-1st.com
Blog: blog.Attitutor.com

By: Melia

Melia — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:42:54 +0000

I totally forgot about my palms being pinched in the chains, or jumping off the swing, or playing Superman on my stomach. I do remember those toddler swings that look like rubber underpants.

By: Alicia C.

Alicia C. — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:44:21 +0000

About two years ago I went on the swings at Huntington Park on Nob Hill. It was after midnight. It felt wonderful to feel the cool air on my face and in my lungs. Such a different experience than childhood swinging…

When I was four my family lived on a Coast Guard base and there was a swing set in the park right outside my backyard. Since it was 1984 and a Coast Guard base, my mom used to let me go out alone and “swing” for as long as I liked. I didn’t know how to properly swing yet so I’d lay with my belly on the seat and run forward to start flying back and forth like Superman. Years later when I knew how to swing properly, SV Elementary had Jog-A-Thons once a year at a park in Petaluma and we always had time to explore the playground after we’d run our laps and eaten. I loved to go on the swings and see how close I could get to going over the bar.

By: lynnie

lynnie — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:55:34 +0000

Swings were by far, the most popular ride on the playground. Slides (largest to smallest) ranked second in my book then the jungle gym.

I remember having sores on my hands from those chains pinching me. Have they fixed that? When I swing these days, I usually hold the chains with my pointer finger and thumb to avoid getting pinched on my palms.

Next time you should see if you can jump off the swing; from a reasonable height of course. Good luck!!

By: Mr. Hsu

Mr. Hsu — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:02:43 +0000

My favorite thing to do on a swing set is to get as much speed as possible and then jump off the swing at its forward-most point, hoping to land flat on my feet but most likely flying so far through the air that I end up tumbling and rolling in the grass/dirt to a bruised and stained halt.

The last time I was on a swing set was in June, and I did just that. Grabbing the metal chains seemed to hurt my hands much more than I remember it did as a youngster. However, the exhilaration from the jump has not changed, thankfully.

I too pondered if I could swing fast and hard enough to roll over the swingset, but I imagined I would keep rolling over and over it almost like a horizontal tether ball pole, with me being the tetherball.

And, I hated those flat wooden plank swings. They were excruciatingly uncomfortable.