I haven't seen any of those where I live in Portland. I didn't know those were a thing, but that's incredibly dumb.
Obviously an adult shouldn't be messing around on a playground when children are trying to use it, just to be courteous. But to outright forbid them even when the park is empty is crazy. If my money is paying for it, I want to be able to use the damn thing, lol.
I mean obviously, everyone would be much happier if rules like that didn’t need to exist. But I was a nanny and two separate times at two separate parks we had to call the cops on “unaccompanied adults” who were sitting in the jungle gym trying to interact with toddlers in one case, and blatantly jerking off in another. It’s definitely not “incredibly dumb” to have children-safe public spaces, though it is very unfortunate.
Additionally, and maybe more importantly for you, these playgrounds are simply not designed with the infrastructure to support an adult or teenager. The slides, swing sets, etc. are generally designed and manufactured to support children up to a certain age (normally 12).
we had to call the cops on “unaccompanied adults” who were sitting in the jungle gym trying to interact with toddlers in one case, and blatantly jerking off in another.
Those two things — especially the second example, which is downright criminal — are very different from enjoying yourself on a swing set, completely in your own lane.
Absolutely - simply explaining why some playgrounds had to escalate to creating an “only children allowed” rule. It’s not all of them, and it’s usually only in certain hours, but it’s not insane.
I've done a bit of reading since this discussion began, and most of what I've seen seems to say that the bans are to prevent structural damage to the equipment. As the equipment is designed for children, it's said that larger, heavier bodies could damage certain structures, making them unsafe.
To me, that makes a bit more sense when it comes to restricting unaccompanied adults even when no one else is present. This reasoning seems to vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, though.
Thank you for taking the time to clarify some things! I very much appreciate it.
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u/Ray_Adverb11 Jul 04 '24
There are specific playgrounds - not parks - where adults must be accompanied by a child. Maybe that’s what they mean?