Science at the Playground

On Thanksgiving day, during the afternoon, I took my 5 year old out to a park.  It was a beautiful day out, so while the rest of the family was busy doing other things, we snuck out of the house to enjoy a bit of fresh air.  We went for a walk and checked out a nearby water tower.  My daughter was amazed at how tall it looked from close up.  Then we went to the park.  As usual, she had a blast playing on the playground equipment.  This Cool Science Dad, however, learned that playground equipment is designed for kids, not adults!

How did I learn this exactly?  Well, my daughter wanted me to play follow the leader, with her being the leader.  So I had to follow her and do whatever she did.  This was fine until she wanted to slide down the slides!!!

As you can see from the above pictures, these were not straight slides.  Going down the curly one, I got stuck.  My legs were too long to make the turn.  I had to scoot my way down with my hands.  The other slide, although straight in one direction, has a hump in it.  Not so kind to Daddy's back when he laid down!  

We had a blast on the playground, but the slides were a bit rough!  Or maybe I'm just getting old!