Nietzsche for kids

Kids playgrounds in Japan remind me of my own childhood. As a child growing up in the 70s, we had playground equipment that was installed over asphalt, was ridiculously tall, made of rusting iron, and generally, a lawsuit waiting to happen. Things like see-saws were common. Of course, with see-saws, you also had broken tailbones, legs, pinched fingers and other injuries. When's the last time you saw a see-saw in America?

Japan seems to have embraced the "Nietzsche for Kids" theory. That which does not kill or maim your child, makes him stronger. Witness the playground from Murozumi Elementary School that we visited on our way back from a festival this past week. That's me standing on the blue staircase. I'm 5' 8", so I'm guessing the slide is 10 feet tall or about 3 meters high. DS1, going down the slide, is only slighter younger than the average 1st grader. Those green things in the background are standing see-saws; you hang on one side, your friend hangs on the other and when he lets go, you fall to the hard packed sand beneath you.

Asae Elementary has even scarier equipment. They have the Jungle Gym of Death. It's one of those iron cube things that we used to climb on, only theirs is 15 feet tall with 3 feet spacing on the squares and slides going off the ends. I don't have any pictures of my 5 year old on it, since I was busy trying to keep the 2 year old off it, while Daddy kept the older one from falling to his death.

I do love the fact that Japan is less over-protective than America. Every kid here walks or bikes to school. They cross over busy streets, down narrow lanes, and they leave the house at 7:15 in the morning to do it. And, no, the parents do not accompany them. There are volunteers on some of the busier corners, but otherwise the bigger kids are supposed to look after the little kids. The kids have large backpacks and look like a herd of turtles lumbering off to school. I love it. I also think it makes them stronger. Maybe Nietzsche for Kids isn't so bad.