Peeling Childhood: What the Playgrounds Where Young Kirov Residents Play Look Like

      On June 1st, Russia celebrates Children's Day, a holiday that reminds us of the rights, safety, and well-being of children. On this day, there is often talk about the conditions in which children grow up and spend their time, and how comfortable and safe they feel in the city.

      Childhood for most begins right in the yard — on swings, slides, and merry-go-rounds. Playgrounds should not only be places for play but also safe, well-maintained, and vibrant spaces. We walked around Kirov and looked at the state of play areas in different parts of the city.

      Welcome to childhood: what remains of the playgrounds

      Imagine that you have transported back to a carefree childhood. What does your ideal playground look like? In your imagination, slides, swings, sandboxes, and bright colors come to mind. But in practice, on many playgrounds in Kirov, part of this is either missing or in a deplorable state.

      City residents are increasingly drawing attention on social media to the fact that play areas are losing their well-kept appearance and are deterring children and their parents: somewhere the paint is peeling, somewhere on the structures someone has "drawn" obscene inscriptions with markers, and somewhere both of these issues exist alongside broken glass next to empty bottles (which is not surprising, as many children's leisure areas are adjacent to alcohol markets).

      Swings taken off their mounts, peeling and frightening ropes, a collapsing floor on slides — this is just part of what we saw. Did you want to play on such a playground?

      Of course, there are good play areas in Kirov, but they are few and located either in the yards of new residential complexes or in renovated parks.

      By the way, speaking of the latter. Where else but in "Apollo," which is positioned as a "children's park," should there be exemplary playgrounds where every child would want to visit? We thought so too. However... the picture surprised us, to put it mildly. Some of the equipment there is worn out and looks worse than basic play spaces in a typical yard in any part of the city: peeling slides, barely functioning swings. And we wanted to run away in horror from the giraffes standing around. Where can children play?

      The issue is regularly raised by the residents of Kirov themselves. For instance, residents of the Lepse Square area complained in one of the VKontakte groups that children's play areas have practically disappeared from the yards recently. According to local residents, one playground was dismantled in the fall, and then a second one was removed. As a result, only a few elements remained in the yard — a mini-slide and an old swing. By the way, often in the places of play areas, "fields of asphalt" appear, intended for parking.

      City dwellers note that children practically have nowhere to play: the nearest playgrounds are overcrowded, and some equipment is already broken. In addition, residents complain about the lack of sandboxes, merry-go-rounds, and basic infrastructure for small children. They specifically point out the unkempt areas and unsanitary problems in the yards.

      Problems are also noted at new facilities. For example, in the park on Rimma Yurovskaya Street, renovated for 35 million rubles, public activists discovered damaged elements, faulty structures, and the absence of part of the protective coating. Only after a child was injured there did the prosecutor's office take an interest in the situation.

      Another example is the playground on Upita Street, which has been causing complaints for the second consecutive year. According to the ONF, the rubber surface is damaged, there are problems with the fencing, and trash, including broken glass, is lying around.

      The "asphalt generation"

      After inspecting more than fifty playgrounds, we were left feeling disheartened. After all, it is here that children learn about friendship, spend time away from stuffy gray walls, socialize, and play, breathing in fresh (or not so fresh) air. But those very places that should be associated with the happiest and most carefree period of life are gradually being erased from the face of the city. They are disappearing, replaced by parking lots or turning into heaps of rusty scrap metal, dangerous to life.

      Yes, beautiful playgrounds are appearing in new residential complexes. However, they have not become safer than the "harsh old ones" — bright plastic and modern design do not replace reliability or soul.

      It creates a paradox: old playgrounds rust and disappear under the onslaught of asphalt, while new ones, despite all their visual merits, do not guarantee the main thing — the health and safety of children. We risk raising a generation for whom the yard will not be a place of discovery and play, but a zone of risk. If we want childhood to truly remain carefree, it is time to stop treating play areas as a secondary element of the urban environment. Otherwise, soon our children will have to learn about friendship not on swings, but in line for parking.