Posted on 05/19/2016 2:33:14 PM PDT by Nachum
(CNSNews.com) – At a summit by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, first lady Michelle Obama said Tuesday that some U.S. communities are “play deserts,” because they don’t have sufficient opportunities for kids to participate in sports and other outdoor activities, compared to wealthy communities.
“So many communities are becoming play deserts, but in wealthy communities, there is a wealth of resources. You can be in field hockey, or you can learn how to swim. There are aquatic centers and -- I’ve seen the difference. The disparities are amazing to me,” she said.
As CNSNews.com previously reported, the Obama administration coined the phrase “food deserts” to describe an urban area where a significant share of the population lives more than one mile from a grocery store.
Mrs. Obama took part in the 2016 Project Play Summit at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., alongside her brother, Craig Robinson, a college basketball analyst for ESPN. It was hosted by ESPN commentator Michael Wilbon of “Pardon the Interruption.” All three grew up on the South Side of Chicago.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
No, it’s like the “food desert”, neighborhoods lacking whatever basic amenity they’re whining about today, without of course ever bothering to look at the reasons why nobody owns a grocery store there or has built a playground.
Hockey field? That must be a Minnesota thing? We played on ponds. Or rinks.
When I was a kid we put on plays and circuses for our parents. We played Tarzan and Jane and cowboys and Indians. We climbed tall trees fearlessly. We explored the country side and went fishing in the river with homemade poles, cooking the fish over tin can fires. We made forts out of anything they could be made out of, some of them pretty extensive. We played king of the mountain on a local dirt hill. We played teacher and taught the little kids how to read, write, know the states on a map etc. We played in tree houses and a children's little play house. We played house, dressing up as pilgrims going west. We played with dolls and troll dolls. We created haunted houses (wouldn't want my kid to do that today), and like to make homemade mysterious things and charged a nickle for other kids to see them and guess what they were. We roller skated, ice skated, rode bikes and scooters, played volleyball, badminton, croquet and other lawn games. We played so many games known and made up that we were hard to get back into our homes after dark. In the dark we played special night games. We had such great fun and tremendous imaginations.
LOL!
In my current digs (Pocatello), there is an indoor pool (year round) and outdoor pool (May to September). Lots of soccer fields. Rodeo for the high school kids. Football. A full range. It's hardly a "wealthy" area with median income of $29k. Very few blacks. Gangs are present on the nearby reservation, but not in town. Drug activity tends to visit from Utah looking for customers.
Our small town had 1 park. It was A couple of miles away from our house so we played all up and down the streets. The whole neighborhood was our playground.
I was raised up on a long dirt road...No nothing for miles...I survived it....at least i was close to a bay...spent time swimming and fishing...Didn’t know anything about parks and activities... No government around. and didn’t know any difference...Us kids met up on bicycles and entertained ourselves....I can’t even relate to city folks that were raised with even a store close by....It’s odd that i turned out ok and the government played no hand in it at all.....I find city people whiny to tell the truth.
Here all the neighborhood schools are completely fenced and the gates are locked at all times, except in the morning when the kids are arriving and in the afternoon when they’re leaving. Locked tight. Nplaygrounds no longer available to the neighborhood kids. Bet you can guess why.
Wow, ice skating in the street! Lucky!
My son when little so wanted to skate outside in our yard, showed me from a catalog a plastic “pond” you could buy for ice skating. Fill it up with the hose, voila, the next morning you have your own rink!!! Had to tell him that we wouldn’t get much ice even if it dropped down into the 50s at night...
The wealthiest neighborhood I have lived in, the kids played in a battered asphalt alley! Billionaire kids and poor ones, and we had fun! Inventing games, riding bikes, trikes, scooters. Kids can play wherever they are -— somehow without federal funding!
Because parents don't let their precious little snowflakes out the front door and today's kids have their nosed in the phones 24/7. A couple summers ago, our nephews came for a week. Everything we asked if they wanted to, their answer was no. Go geocaching? No because there are weeds outside. Go bike riding? Don't know how and don't want to learn. Radio controlled cars? No, that's outside. Play with the new litter of kittens. No, because the garage where their box was opens to the big scary outside. No, can't walk 3 minutes down to grandma's house because they might get fresh air. Archery, flint knapping, ball games, hiking, fishing, riding in the boat, swimming in the river or the lake or the nice clean clear swimming pool, roasting marshmallows, help with the bbq, fireworks, target practice, golf, mini golf, going to the cave, movies, out to eat, camping, going to the park, feed the deer, board games, card games, kinex building construction toys, etc. No, no, and no. We got fed up with them and packed them off their aunt after 3 days.
OH NO!!!!!
It’s the dreaded White Privlege Playground Gap!
Another make believe crisis Moochie pulled out her rather ample derrière.
Put this on the list of bogus reasons to justify why far too many blacks carry on like uncivilized animals.
“Whitey has more playgrounds than us blacks so lets go kill us some innocent people, loot a few liquor stores and get us some free big screen TV’s.”
Looks like we lived in the same areas. I still have some of the marbles I used to play with and I am 67 years young.
I used to have large coffee cans full of marbles, but the ones I have left fill a large glass jar that sits on the kitchen windowsill.
I guess Moochie never saw a bunch of white kids playing stick ball on a busy street.
Bingo!
Kids can play wherever they are -— somehow without federal funding!
It’s a miracle!!! haha... Just don’t know how i made it without midnight basketball....even though there was no court around for miles....My dad did put us up a goal...Played b-ball on dirt ;)
Yes, we did. A trip to our neighborhood playground, where there was no graffiti, I might add, was a big deal. We had a see-saw, monkey bars, a swing set with 3 swings, and a sliding board. And, for us, it was heaven.
Just recently, I was reminiscing about how my mother would give us sheets of wax paper to be used to shine the sliding board. We were convinced that it let us go faster down the slide.
I graduated from high school in 1965. We had mandatory Gym class once or twice a week, in which we had to do gymnastics, softball, swimming, basketball, field hockey, track and field, etc., plus complete exercises at the beginning of each class. We had gym class in grammar school too, had to learn how to dance, including square dancing. And this was in Rochester, NY.
As a student, if you were interested, you could sign up for any sports programs which took place after school. Those kids Moochie is whining about, probably don't have the initiative to sign up because they'd have to stay after school in order to participate. It's not that they don't have the opportunities to participate, it's that they can't be bothered to sacrifice the time to participate in extracurricular sports activities.
today’s kids have their nosed in the phones 24/7
Folks older than me are addicted to those things....I am happy with my flip phone....I appreciate how wonderful it is to have a “Telephone” in my pocket.
Food deserts, Play deserts....
I wish she would find a desert far far away.
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