The Long Story Short

I read in the papers yesterday about Monkey bars posing a risk to shorter children. Logic is; being shorter children, they would fall for a longer distance before they hit the ground.

This article struck a cord close to my heart, not because I had a bad fall from a the Monkey bars but because I am a short person and being born in the year of the Monkey, I love the Monkey bars.

I say, the environment is not going to adjust to you. Children have to learn to break their falls properly should they fall and not use being short as an excuse to skip the monkey bars. Singaporeans are fucking pampered, just look at comments some people made about the Tree Top Walk some weeks ago, they wanted more paved walk ways in the jungle track.. etc. They might as well make a travellator like those u find in Changi Airport.

I couldn't do a single chin-up when I was in Sec 1. So at recess time every day, I went a swinging under the hot sun at the Monkey bars. Part of my secret training included doing pushups against the toilet sink (luckily it didn't give way).

Come the NAPFA test date, I pulled a grand total of THREE chin ups, more than necessary to pass. And when Army started, I cleared all the 11 obstacles in the SOC (Standard Obstacle Courses) with ease (like a monkey) and no I didn't use a shorter wall or had the ropes lowered for me. I did the same thing my six footed friends did and I could clear them faster than many of my friends.

Look at the play grounds of today, foam padded flooring have replaced the sand pits we played in. No more huge and crude concrete structures to run around in, instead we have metal structures, and bars much smaller in size and height. Also, we have mental games like tic-tac-toe. wtf..

Bring back those days of rough and tumble for our younger generation, a little bruise and a scratch is going to benefit more than it hurts in the long run.