dave

In message <4bad86e7.0404230033.3d410616@posting.google.com>, Mookamoo
<steve@awcweb.com> writes


X-posted to urg as they will probably have something to offer

[NB uk.d-i-y not deleted]

--
dave @ stejonda

jennyc

Well grass is nice to play on but can be 'messy'
Bark is very soft and very messy (blackbirds LOVE to chuck it all over the
place)
Hard landscaping is handy for tricycles etc but can cause sc****d knees
There are rubber tiles to put under swings etc
Kids love to climb - so a treehouse or somesuch is good
Ponds are fun but can be dangerous

this looks interesting :
http://doityourself.com/garden/child_friendly.htm

Jenny

jane ransom

In article <1odimzAdGOiAFA+l@stejonda.freeuk.com>, dave @ stejonda
<NoSpamThanks@stejonda.freeuk.com> writes


Paving slabs is child friendly?
Round here they are digging them all up and replacing them by nice
'soft' bark. I should stick to grass if I were you!!

The only child 'friendly' garden I can think of is one that is flat and
covered with a deep layer of sponge:

- You can't have a slope because they might lose their balance and fall
over.

- You can't have any flowers because they attract bees that might sting.

- You can't have any plants of any sort because most plants seem to
have: poisonous, prickly or irritative properties.

- You can't have any trees because a child might climb one and fall out
of it.

- You can't have any structures or they might swing upside down on them,
fall off and split their skulls open.

- You can't have any soil because the neighbours' cats crap in it and a
child might eat it.

- You can't have a pond because they might fall in and drown.

- ad infinitum

And a child would hate a garden like that anyway

For heaven's sake, children like a wilderness that they can play cowboys
and indians in, and Robinson Crusoe and hide and seek and stuff like
that. Don't, what ever you do, make your garden 'safe' or your children
will never develop an instinct for danger. If it never hurts a child to
fall over, it will never develop a proper sense of balance. If they
never fall in a pond they will never learn that ponds are contain horrid
smelly water and contain creepy crawlies like leeches. If they never
climb a tree they will never learn the danger of heights!!!!!!!

When I think of some of the things I did as a child (including catching
snakes in Singapore) I go sweaty all over but I never suffered more than
a few cuts and bruises - children have more sense and resilience than we
give them credit for )
--
Jane Ransom in Lancaster.
I won't respond to private emails that are on topic for urg
but if you need to email me for any other reason, put ransoms
at jandg dot demon dot co dot uk where you see ransom@deadspam.com

the natural philosopher

Or oin many cases, theirparents have less.

YIU survived. Arguably these 'brought up on tellytubbies' urbanite kids
should be ritually thrown into ponds to drown unless they prove capable
of aquine locomotion. Sadly the drive of teh urbanite is to turn the
world into a vast suburban sprawwl 'Sfe For Ower ChillDrunAh' which
basically menas that they can eat their crips and far anywhere any time
with all the assurance of a lunatic in a padded cell.

This pamperd, they will then grow up and vote 'Laber' knowing all teh
while that that is their only hope of surviving in a hostlie and
uncaring and incomprehensible world. Get someone else to handel it
whilst they gorge themselves on reality TV.

The only safe garden for a modern kid is the one he sees on 'gardeners
world' whilst safely ensconced in his DHS sofa, drinking his caffeine
rich cola, supping his pot noodle, and scratching his bollocks. (or
masturbating over Charly Dimmock)

victoria clare

How old are the children? They will probably have their own ideas.

Something I always fancied as a kid: a den right inside a big blackberry
bush.

No-one knows you're in there, if they do they can't get you out without
getting seriously scratched, and you can eat it. What more could one ask!

OK, it's not 'safe', it's not sensible, it's not clean or neat. But it
WOULD be cool...

Victoria

sacha

Victoria Clare23/4/04 1:39
pmvictoria@markpoles.org.ukXns94D48AF5097B6victoriamarkpolesorg@217.158.240.
24


We're doing something similar for my step daughter's garden. It's very
small and she has a 3 yo daughter. So it's all going to lawn, except that
her brother has built a marvellous sort of snail's shell shaped path from
one end, which is a flat terrace, into the middle of the lawn for tricycle
riding and beside that we are planting a Kilmarnock willow, or similar, for
'den' making. All planting will be confined to the edges of the lawn and be
mainly climbers going up wires attached to the fencing. Any other planting
will be at the front of the house, which will also be partly to lawn and
partly to parking. Step daughter isn't remotely interested in gardening, so
for her and her daughter this is the ideal solution in terms of both
'pretty' and 'play area'. The back garden is entirely enclosed with fencing
and a sturdy gate and also has Roger and Rita, the two chickens in there,
plus their run!
Grass might get muddy but it's the safest thing for children to fall onto,
while a paved area to act as a race track certainly seems desirable. As to
the den, I couldn't agree more. I remember an early garden of my childhood
where the gaps in the shrubbery were where we escaped to, certain our
parents had no idea we were there. ;-)

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

klara king

Sacha <sacha@gardenweeds506.fsnet.co.uk> writes


We had a wonderful den inside a shrubbery, mostly of box. Inside there
someone had made a small village, with a little brook (about a foot wide
and deep) with an arched bridge over it, houses, a church (all out of
cement) ... for a much earlier generation of children. In those days
(the turn of the - last - century) the box must have been small, to make
little trees, but by the time we got to it, it was a jungle that his us
all and was magic! I have loved the smell of box ever since!
--
Klara, Gatwick basin

saffy

Definitely leave some paving slabs or hard surfacing for them to use their
ride-ons. Young kids get very frustrated trying to pedal on a lawn. We
used bark under the swings and things but it does tend to get dug up and
spread everywhere it shouldn't. Its also very messy when it gets wet.

Saffy.

sacha

Saffy23/4/04 3:35
pmfourweekids@hotmail.comc6b9jo$a3aa....uni-berlin.de

All this makes me think of a little story I read about someone looking at
their lawn and wishing back the days when there were still scuffed patches
underneath the swing.........made me quite sentimental!

--

Sacha
(remove the weeds to email me)

dave

In message <Xns94D48AF5097B6victoriamarkpolesorg@217.158.240. 24>,
Victoria Clare <victoria@markpoles.org.uk> writes

I like that sentiment, which also suggests that anything you do
shouldn't necessarily be permanent - children change quickly as they
grow up and their needs change too. An adult's idea of a garden for a
child may not match what a child might enjoy, and simply providing
opportunities for creative play can be best - a pile of sand which can
be dug in and built with; a clear patch of soil...

I grew something similar with runner beans - will grow within a year and
be edible too (and no prickles).


second childhood beckons Victoria

--
dave @ stejonda