Search for the Perfect Playground

I've lived in Manhattan for about 14 1/2 years now and have visited many playgrounds in my day. Mind you, my earlier time spent in playgrounds was usually at 1:00 0r 2:00 in the morning, after a night of drinking at a bar with my drunken friends who wanted to go play on the swings. God I miss my twenties. Anyway, 14 years later and here I am searching for the perfect playground for my 14 month old son and I to visit during our last days of summer and the beautiful fall days ahead of us.

Sadly, I feel that the playground in my hood are not meeting the needs of my son, Jack. Jack is a non-walker. I know one day he will begin, but for now he is taking his time. He only started crawling 2 months ago and for the first month and a half he did this funny combat crawl thing. Now he is up on his knees and ready to go. Unfortunately the playgrounds around this neighborhood are geared for the walkers of the world. So, I have found myself venturing out of my neighborhood. I have ventured about 5 miles out of my neighborhood. In Manhattan this is considered a far distance, just to find a playground. But this is what I must do to find a clean sandbox and a soft surface for my guy to wander around on.

I have opted for the playgrounds of the Upper West Side. My old neighborhood...sigh. Central Park and Riverside Park are simply swarming with fantastic playgrounds for little ones and older ones alike. We have been visiting Mariner's Gate on 85th St. and CPW and I am in love. It is large, clean, soft, has sand, and had a great sprinkler. It is heaven...for now.

Why, though, do I have to leave my own neighborhood to find such an oasis?? Why doesn't my Manhattan neighborhood provide such a playground? Here is an example of what my Washington Heights neighborhood has to offer.

I have a few playgrounds near my apartment in upper Manhattan. Bennett Park, which is located across the street from us, is infested with rats. How pleasant. It is also and oddly set up park. There once was a beautiful tree next to the playground area that provided cooling shade, but has since been cut down because of the growing pigeon population, causing the playground equipment to reach scalding temperatures. There is no equipment for older children who are then drawn to the baby swings and the baby jungle gyms. They run recklessly around the babies and as a first time mom it gets my nerves rattled. Needless to say, I don't visit this playground too often.

Javit's Playground is another option. They have a sprinkler for the kids, there are a couple of swings for the older children, and larger playground equipment for them to play on. It's not too bad. There is no padding around the sprinkler so my little guy, who is not yet walking, gets his knees kind of cut up when he tries to crawl on the asphalt and the older kids are usually sitting on the sprinklers or covering them up with their hands, or spraying them at one another. It makes things quite difficult for my son to really cool off and is, quite honestly, stressful for myself. I still visit this park quite often though as it is one of my only options.

Lastly, there is Dolphin Park. This is a park specifically geared toward the toddler crowd. They have a sandbox with lots of toys to share and a cute sprinkler area with a Dolphin sprinkler and padding all around. There is also a jungle gym/slide area that seems geared towards older kids and seems somewhat unsafe to me, but maybe that's because my son isn't up to using it yet. I have to say, I love this park. Sadly, it is now only open three days a week and for only 3 hours in the afternoon. It used to be open everyday, but after Labor Day they cut the time. I have to say, I am now at a bit of a loss over what to do and where to go with my son.

I really want to take advantage of the neighborhood playgrounds, but what happens when your neighborhood playgrounds have nothing to offer you? In a city as big as New York do I really have to travel out of my hood to find a playground suitable for a toddler?