While Labor Day is often too chilly for a swimming party, a picnic is usually a surefire bet. Whether you head to your backyard or a local park, it's hard to go wrong when you've got your wicker basket filled with goodies.
Source: Flickr User Mykl Roventine
Parents want to keep their tweens off the streets, but is there a time when they should stop taking them to the playground? Yesterday, we went to a neighborhood park. The structures at the location are intended for young children. At 5 and 2-years-old, my daughter and son can tackle any obstacle offered from climbing the curved bars to walking up its steepest slide.
The place was empty until a dad arrived with his sons, ages 10 and 12. The younger one started plowing through the sand where my son was playing and had my lil guy laughing and introducing himself. A minute later, the tween shouted at my son. When I asked what the problem was, he said, "Is this your kid? I don't want him talking — it bothers me." I encouraged my child to head toward the bridge where he encountered the 12-year-old boy and said, "Hi, friend." before my tot bounced across it. The kid hollered after him, "Did you call me friend, I'm NOT your friend!" While throwing sand or running in front of moving swings is one thing, a friendly soon-to-be preschooler is another. I wasn't about to tell my son that he can't be kind to children on the playground so we left. But, the situation got me thinking — is there a point when kids outgrow the park?
My participation in this year's Park(ing) Day has really got me thinking about the lack of green spaces in urban areas. Growing up in the country, it never really occurred to me that some people just don't have access to the green grass I was so tangibly familiar with. While there are a handful of wonderful parks in San Francisco to visit, including the vast Golden Gate Park, they simply can't compete with opening your back door to a canopy of trees and plants. Tell me, how is it that you get your fill of green space?
Source
Playgrounds are normally a place for parents and their tots to let loose, but New York City parks have given youngsters something to cry about. Children running barefoot have gotten second degree burns on the bottom of their feet from the black rubber matting that lines the ground of their local playgrounds providing cushion for tots. The flooring can heat up to 166 degrees and as a result children who have taken off their shoes have had the soles of their feet singed. Do you think the park department should replace the padding with a safer material, or is it the parent's responsibility to make sure their kids' feet are covered? 
Memphis' Shelby Farms is one of the largest urban parks in the US with around 4,500 acres of forest, wetlands, and meadows. With horseback riding, a resident herd of bison, and many other animals that call this park home, there's plenty of nature to observe. In addition to the park's many people-geared features (like picnics and paddleboats), there is a multi-acre off-leash dog park for the pooches! While the park is overseen by the Park Conservancy, the huge Shelby Farms Dog Off-leash area has its own organization to advocate for public education about dog park etiquette and safety along with any maintenance and park improvements to make this place even better for local dogs and dog owners. Located on the northeast part of the map, the off-leash area is mostly fenced (around parking lots and any roads) but, because the grounds are so expansive, it's necessary that any dogs playing here are under voice control at all times – it's not the park for pups that will be too distracted by the scents and sounds of other animals to stay close by.
