In Park Slope, few would argue that a community needs playgrounds for its children – a space where they can run around, climb, swing, slide, and have fun. 

It should stand to reason, then, that a community like this would also understand the importance of a playspace for adolescents: somewhere to call their own where they can meet other teenagers and be their noisy, effusive and creative selves.

Sometimes I think we, as a culture, are in denial about the needs of our teenagers. We spend huge amounts of money and time thinking about every last item for the newborn and toddler set. But when it comes to teens there’s just a lot of fear and misunderstanding. Fear that comes from memories of our own behavior as teens. And fear of the kinds of dangers they are capable of getting themselves into.

But instead of dealing with it we ignore them by pushing them out of sight or on the street where they are probably most at risk of getting into trouble.

A friend and I discussed this at a party the other night. A mother of two soon-to-be-teen girls, she is concerned that this neighborhood’s message to their young adults is: Get Out! Very few places on Seventh Avenue allow large groups of kids. The owner of the Mojo is sick and tired of having them hang out in his patio; and there’s a big sign in the window of Pino’s that says: No Loitering.

It is, of course, completely understandable that these store owners don’t want the noise and fuss. It’s not really their responsibility to supervise these kids. And they’ve got businesses to run. But whose responsibility is it?

First, it is the responsibility of parents to set limits for their kids and keep a tight watch on their whereabouts. We must, of course, keep them out of harm’s way. But it is also our job to help them develop into confident, creative, socially responsible human beings. And to do that, they need space to spread their wings and play just like our toddlers did. As my friend wrote the other day, "a good community center with
movies, a cafe, a place for garage bands to perform, goings-on, and
space to just hang — away from parents and other pesky authority
figures — would go a long way toward preventing the kind of excess that was in the 321 playground on Friday night."

Yours from Brooklyn,
OTBKB