In Slate, Tom Vanderbilt writes about the 'playpen' and what became of them. This may be a cultural thing or just the circles he keeps but I didn't realise they had gone. I have been in many a house where a 'formal lounge room' has been transformed into the 'formal playroom' with the addition of a play pen where a coffee table might be. There, parents gather to talk -- literally over their children -- while their children sit in what would be considered the centre of attention.
What is interesting about the playpen is that after a century of product design, they couldn't improve upon the basic 'look and feel' of a jail. There are bars. The area is rectangular. And there is a single door with a lock that invites the would-be prisoner to try and break out; only being thwarted by a lack of coordination and strength. (During certain times there even is a potty!) It is the same principle when we confine our kids to cots. (Of course, my kids did manage an escape.) In many respects, this is surprising. You would think that toy manufacturers could design a confined space that looked -- to anyone other than children -- like something different.
In our house, we didn't go the playpen route but it wasn't out of any philosophical or parenting logic. We just didn't have a natural space of a rectangular contraption that we wouldn't be tripping over all of the time. After all, it is all about convenience. Instead, we attempted to gate off rooms and stairwells with a general strategy of containment. In terms of the potential for neglect, our solution was not that much different than the playpen.
In other houses, I have seen the playpen used in slightly different ways. For instance, there was one place where the television sat inside the playpen. The logic being that it was not about the children getting hurt but the TV and DVD player. I guess they wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon but then I am also sure they would still get plenty of attention.
What is interesting about the playpen is that after a century of product design, they couldn't improve upon the basic 'look and feel' of a jail. There are bars. The area is rectangular. And there is a single door with a lock that invites the would-be prisoner to try and break out; only being thwarted by a lack of coordination and strength. (During certain times there even is a potty!) It is the same principle when we confine our kids to cots. (Of course, my kids did manage an escape.) In many respects, this is surprising. You would think that toy manufacturers could design a confined space that looked -- to anyone other than children -- like something different.
In our house, we didn't go the playpen route but it wasn't out of any philosophical or parenting logic. We just didn't have a natural space of a rectangular contraption that we wouldn't be tripping over all of the time. After all, it is all about convenience. Instead, we attempted to gate off rooms and stairwells with a general strategy of containment. In terms of the potential for neglect, our solution was not that much different than the playpen.
In other houses, I have seen the playpen used in slightly different ways. For instance, there was one place where the television sat inside the playpen. The logic being that it was not about the children getting hurt but the TV and DVD player. I guess they wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon but then I am also sure they would still get plenty of attention.
Posts
2 comments:
With my first two children, I lived in a very tiny house which did not have room for a large boxlike child-containment device. Instead, I used to push a large ottoman and the coffee table in such a way as to keep the babies confined to the living room. It was pretty much the same idea, though; a contained area with toys in it where they could crawl and cruise around while I cooked dinner.
My 3rd child often found herself in an actual playpen, mostly to keep her sisters from mauling her with their over-exuberant love. However, the older children soon learned to climb into the playpen in order to be with their baby sister.
Perhaps this early indoctrination in the playpen did something to the youngest child; when we got a puppy a few years later, she immediately went into his crate and took a nap in there. In fact, the child spent more time in the crate than the dog did...her favorite activity was to gather up a selection of books, stuffed animals, and My Little Ponies and lock herself in the dog crate. If Social Services had stopped by, I'm sure I would have been on the evening news as a demented child abuser.
My daughter was put in baby jail so that she wouldn't get into the kitchen when I was cooking. The playpen didn't work to keep her away from the cats because our oldest cat (who adores her) kept on wriggling through the bars and getting his captive audience to scritch his chin and ears.
Post a Comment