Look at THIS dumb playground equipment

Ok, it's rural southern Korea, but a ring of tires? What's supposed to happen in there?

At least they kind of made up for it with a merry-go-round. If my twentysomething friends Stiff and Kate enjoy it, hopefully the kids do, too.

Come on, multi-colored elementary school near Suncheon. Get your act together.

Look at this cool playground equipment

I hope the kids from Seochang don't wander over to my neighborhood and see what they're missing in the playground department. Last month, an old playground was torn down and I worried a 7-11 would take its place. But then this magical place was assembled. Look at these bright colors, the variety of slides, the jumbo tic-tac-toe board, the bouncy animal and bug things...the sand instead of a hard rubbery surface!

And a feature that seemed dumb at first but now I realize would have come in handy on the playgrounds of my childhood - swing safety fences. Sure, they may be a bit prohibitive when it comes to jumping off the swing (usually a bad idea anyway), but they must save countless careless kids from being clocked in the temple by a swinger's tennis shoe while running amok in a game of tag.

Look at this dumb playground equipment

Even though they have cell phones in their hands from the time they're three years old, I have observed Korean children to generally be more easily amused than American children. Exhibits A and B: these lame playground contraptions at my school. They consist of only metal bars, yet tons of kids climb on them for the entire recess period. Maybe the budget ran out when the fancy track and artificial turf soccer field were installed, and all they could scrounge up were these paint-chipped playthings. Back in 1994 my elementary school had tether ball. I didn't even know how good I had it.

At least the triple-sided slide looks kind of cool.