Today I talked to my neighbor Erica, mother of five, her kids ranging from 3-21. She said forget getting a trampoline, too many injuries to all the kids in the neighborhood who will want to jump on it.
And a swing set? Forget it. A waste of money. They all rot and rust in the yard. And the kids after the initial excitement won't even use it. And it will take up the whole backyard. Her friend has buyer's regret after getting one two years ago. She wants the rotting eyesore out of her backyard.
Erica said tie a rope to a tree limb and hang a tire from it.
I went home and told Carrie. She seems to agree. No swing set.
My neighbor's kids are older than mine----and he gave us their swingset a few years ago because his kids are now in college. I would say that swingset is a good 15 years old----some rot, but a coat of high quality stain brought it back to life. I never even put new seats on the swings and it has the original sliding board too. I have a big yard, so space isn't really a factor----and while it's not used daily or even weekly----it gets enough use to be worthwhile having. But in my case----it was a high quality wooden playset given to me for free. The sliding board is actually used more than the swings----it has a platform that's like a fort for the kids. If I didn't get it free, I wouldn't have gone out looking for one. There are parks nearby with swings and sliding boards. But for my sons birthday parties and play dates, it's been nice having this set.
Posted by: Angelo | January 28, 2013 at 04:57 AM
Tree swing is great, we bought a swing chair from Costco and hung it from the tree. The chair and some rope totaled $30. We did get a wooden playhouse 3 years ago, cost $350 with help from g-parents) and the boys (2 and almost 6) have a great time with that... I'd suggest going that route for about the same $500 budget.
Reminds me, I should buy them a radio for it!
Posted by: J Maffuccio | January 28, 2013 at 06:00 AM
We are on our second swing set. My kids l love it. It does get used more certain times of the year but its nice to have especially when you can't make it to the park.
Posted by: Jenny Platt | January 28, 2013 at 10:18 AM
Don't use a tire, use a single rope with a round seat the size of a Frisbee with a hole in the center for the rope. The higher the branch the rope is tied to the better. I spent about half my childhood on a tree swing like that, and sometimes I wish I still had one. You push off the tree to keep yourself moving. Obviously, the swing shouldn't be too close to the tree.
Posted by: Bill M | January 28, 2013 at 12:36 PM
It's great to have swing set for kids to enjoy playing outdoors. This could be a way of letting them off from playing computer games.
Posted by: Melisa Lassonde | January 30, 2013 at 12:15 AM