Freedom at the park....

The park is a great place for freedom and fun.  The one near us 'The Arboretum' boasts of being the oldest park in England.  It is not for this reason that we go though. The reason we go is the play park.  It is right in the city centre in a very multicultural area and so the council has thrown loads of money at it.  As a result it is the best kids park in Derby!

It has a zip line, a play ship in sand with pulleys and tubs to fill with sand and pull up.  It has a swing with a bucket seat which is great because you can swing high without having to hold with two hands. It has a giant climbing rock in the centre which makes Jed feel like he has conquered the world!  It has the most amazing cafe that does great (and cheap) jacket potatoes and is run by members of the deaf community (there is a large community of deaf people in Derby as we have the Royal School for the Dear here).  It has an art centre that 12 times a year put on free kids activities and it has a water area that in the summer spurts out fountains of water at random moments on a soft surface (I wonder if we will get any weather when the kids can use it this year!)

I feel like we have found a secret little gem, and if you ignore the odd group of street drinkers, I do wonder why it is not more used.  But the reason I mention the park today is not just to rave about the great city centre of Derby, but to tell you about Immi. 

She loves this place and it challenges her, but it is a moment when she is definitely more than her labels!  She gets up on top of the ship in the most unladylike of styles, but she does it.  Plenty of kids would say, 'that's too high, I can't get up' and just not bother, but oh no, not Immi, she wiggles and squirms until there is enough of her body on the platform to turn over and get up.  She sits in the rope cage while Murray pushes it round and around, enjoying the sensation of dizziness and then screaming 'now go the unsick way!' wanting him to push it the other way!  
With this park, as in nearly every park, I go round with my heart in my throat, waiting for her to climb on something that is just a little too much for her and fall, expectant of this I hover with an emergency bag full of plasters and antiseptic wipes and cream!  But something in the mix of equipment in this park  is different, it is just the right stage for her; challenging, but enough stuff that she can access so that she feels like she achieves too.  There are many parks that don't quite do this, they are either too babyish and she gets bored or the equipment is too difficult and she gets frustrated.
So, thank you Derby City Council - you got this one right!