Julie Jay: The playground is like jail - none of us knows when we’re getting out

"I was sitting on my favourite horse-shaped seesaw yesterday when a child — who couldn’t have been more than five — marched over to me and informed me that the playground equipment was “just for kids”."

Pic: iStock

OVER the last two-and-a-half years, I have developed a contempt for playgrounds I had previously reserved for Justin Timberlake and sundried tomatoes (must they take over every dish?).

The whole point of playgrounds is that there is nothing — zero, zilch — for adults to do. To cater solely for kids is the playground’s raison d’etre — they are entirely child-centred, so most of us parents spend the time bored out of our heads, hovering around the edges, desperately willing the time to fly by.