The Playing Ground Part Two

Red monkey bars. Photo by Rodney Steadman

Come back daddyDADDY! But daddy was too busy talkn! on hs "hone whle
loun!n! on a "ark bench to "lay wth her on the monkey bars. Annoyn!. As # stated n
my last "ost$ %he Playn! &round Part 'ne$ # (re)uently use the "lay!round (or my
workouts* "ull+u"s and la"s on the monkey bars, d"s on the handrals at the to" o(
some sldes, knee+tuck "ush+u"s on a swn!, and runnn! drlls n the (eld.
Play!rounds$ to me$ are the deal "lace (or both "arents and chldren to en-oy "hyscal
act.ty to!ether. #t "ro.des an o""ortunty (or "arents to show$ hel"$ and encoura!e
ther kds to be "hyscally act.e. Sadly$ # rarely see ths nteracton. Parents are usually
sttn! on a bench talkn! wth other "arents or on the "hone. /.en ( there are a number
o( kds en!a!ed n unstructured "lay$ who don0t need constant sur.ellance$ "arents
could use ths tme to !et n some "hyscal act.ty and be role models to ther chldren.
Researchers (rom the &rand 1orks 2uman 3utrton Research Center n 3orth Dakota
had also notced ths lack o( "arental "hyscal act.ty and chld en!a!ement durn!
"lay!round .sts. %he research team$ led by 4ames Roemmch$ wanted to see ( remo.al
o( "ark benches (rom a "lay!round would "ass.ely ncrease "hyscal act.ty n "arents
and chldren. %he team conducted two studes o.er the summers o( 5675 and 5678.
Study 7 n.est!ated chan!es n "hyscal act.ty o( adults and chldren at a "lay!round
n a 79.: acre "ark n &rand 1orks$ 3orth Dakota. Roemmch and hs team used an A
7
+
B+A
5
study des!n o.er se.en day "erods to assess the m"act o( man"ulatn! e!ht
"cnc tables around the "lay!round. Durn! A
7
;9< adults and <7 chldren=$ researchers
obser.ed how the standard "ostonn! o( the benches n(luenced "hyscal act.ty. %he
team then remo.ed the benches (or se.en days ;B* 55 adults and 59 chldren= and then
returned the benches to ther or!nal "oston (or a (nal se.en days o( obser.aton ;A
5
*
:: adults and :9 chldren=. Data was collected usn! the System (or 'bser.n! Play and
Recreaton n Communtes$ whch measures number o( "eo"le$ ther demo!ra"hcs$ and
le.el o( "hyscal act.ty. %he researchers omtted teena!ers (rom 78 to 7> years o( a!e
because some acted as chldren or care!.ers. %he ?chld0 cate!ory conssted o( chldren
(rom 6 to 75 years o( a!e and ?adult0 was 7< years o( a!e or older. %he team combned
moderate and .!orous "hyscal act.ty ;@APA= cate!ores because they ddn0t obser.e
many "ark users n the se"arate cate!ores.
%he results o( Study 7 showed that chldren were$ o.erall$ more ntensely act.e than
adults and ther le.el o( "hyscal act.ty eBceeded 8 @/%s. %he odds o( adults standn!
were <.C tmes !reater than the odds o( them sttn! durn! B than A
7
and C.9 tmes
!reater than A
5
. %he odds o( adults en!a!ed n @APA were C.7 tmes !reater than the
odds o( them sttn! durn! B than A
7
and 55.9 tmes !reater than A
5
. '.erall$ both
chldren and adults ncreased ther @/% ntensty when seatn! was remo.ed.
Study 5$ conducted n the same "ark a year later$ conssted o( the same study des!n as
Study 7 eBce"t that the number o( obser.ed nd.duals was d((erent ;A
7
* 786 adults
and 77: chldren, B* C> adults and D< chldren, and A
5
* C< adults and 98 chldren=.
Roemmch and hs team added a two+hour obser.aton "erod to assess the act.ty le.el
o( adults and the chldren that accom"aned them to the "lay!round. #n Study 7 these
!rou"s were not assessed to!ether.
%he results o( Study 5 were smlar to Study 7* chldren were o.erall more ntensely
act.e than adults$ eBceedn! 8 @/%s$ and ther ntensty was the h!hest when the
benches were remo.ed. %he odds o( adults standn! .ersus sttn! were the same as
Study 7. %he odds o( adults en!a!ed n @APA were C.: tmes !reater than the odds o(
them sttn! durn! B than A
7
and C.8 tmes !reater than A
5
. #n both chldren and adults
@/% le.els were h!her n B than A
7
and A
5
. %here was no assocaton between adult
@/% ntensty and the @/% ntensty o( the chldren they brou!ht to the "lay!round.
2owe.er$ (amles wth a !reater number o( chldren had chldren who were more
ntensely act.e. %he researchers also (ound that bench remo.al dd no m"act duraton
o( stay$ but the number o( .stors to the "ark declned when the benches were remo.ed.
%hs was also obser.ed n Study 7. Roemmch hs team bele.es that the reduced .sts
may ha.e been related to cooler tem"eratures durn! the "erod o( obser.aton.
'.erall$ Adults were more act.e when seatn! was not accessble. Remo.al o( seatn!
dd not shorten the tme that adults were wlln! to allow chldren to "lay$ concluded
the authors. 2owe.er$ Roemmch and hs team su!!est that$ nstead o( the remo.al o(
the com(ort o( seatn!$ adults0 "hyscal act.ty could be ncreased by addn! "ost.e
ren(orcements such as (tness statons or "rom"ts to encoura!e ben! act.e.
#n my "ersonal o"non$ # would lke to see "lay!rounds des!ned (or mult!eneratonal
use and become meann!(ul (ocal "onts (or our communtes. %hey should be works o(
usable art that s"ark our ma!naton and ns"re us to clmb$ -um"$ run$ and "lay.
Sometmes my dreams are two sEes too b!.
Rodney Steadman 6: 'ctober 567C
Roemmch 4$ Beeler 4$ F 4ohnson G ;567C=. A mcroen.ronment a""roach to reducn!
sedentary tme and ncreasn! "hyscal act.ty o( chldren and adults at a "lay!round.
Preventive Medicine, 62$ 76>+775 D'#* 76.767DH-.y"med.567C.67.67>