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Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
Deciding whether to buy a backyard swingset
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Anonymous
| We have a 3.5-yr-old and are considering buying one of the backyard swingsets that have a fort, slide, things to climb, and swings. I wonder whether she would become bored with it after a while or whether she'd fairly consistently play with it. For those of you with swingsets -- was it worth the money? |
Anonymous
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I regret it every time the Damn neighbor kids come over. They want to come and play right at dinner time too. Little brats, I know the deadbeat mom sends them over so she doesn't have to pay a sitter....
But it is great fun and my DD uses it every day 
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Anonymous
| My two boys use ours everyday! |
Anonymous
| We didn't use ours that much. They play on similar things at school, and you can always go to the park. |
Anonymous
| If you live near a park, I wouldn't bother. Otherwise, I'd get one. |
Anonymous
| There was one when we moved in and we love it! |
Anonymous
| We bought the swingset from Costco 5 years ago and the kids still love it. |
Anonymous
| Thanks, everyone. We also have a baby, and I was thinking it would be nice to just run outside to play without having to drive to a park, without interrupting the baby's nap schedule. |
Anonymous
| We got ours when our older child was 5yo and we had an infant. I was sold on the argument that we didn't need one since there are parks nearby, etc., but it's massively more convenient now, and it's a great equalizer for kids of different ages. My older child is now 7yo and still can play outside on or near the swing set for hours... he brings nerf blasters, animals, god knows what else out there and has a ball. Just make sure the fort is big enough to grow with them (we opted for one which is not quite the smallest, and even with a tiny yard it's worth an extra foot or so to make it possible for both kids to be in the fort.) |
Anonymous
| my DD rec'd one as a bday gift this summer for her 3rd bday....hers only has as swing and a glider....looooooooves it to death and has been on it everyday since july for several hours...She and her neighborhood friends don't seem bored of it...def. a great investment! |
Anonymous
| we bought a great one on Craigslist--never regretted it. |
Anonymous
This or my favorite is when we have our backyard used as the neighborhood playground by people we don't know. We've had to ask them to leave a few times and they finally got the hint sometimes. Everytime we are outside some kid is looking for attention and sometimes we just want to enjoy time alone with our child. We got a cheap one and wonder every day should we take it down. |
Anonymous
| DH and I comment often that our swingset was one of our best investments. DD is almost 5yo and plays on it several times a week. Other DD is 1yo and we have a baby swing in place of one of the other swings (the system is designed so you can interchange swings) and she loves to be out there. Yes, you can have a park near you, but nothing beats being in the kitchen cooking breakfast or dinner and older DD being able to stay outside and play while we watch out the window. |
Anonymous
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We used to live in the San Diego area (so nice backyard weather year round) and when our children were approx. 3 and 1 we bought whatever wooden swingset Costco was selling that year. There were no playgrounds within walking distance, and some of the ones within a 10 minute drive were in semi-scary neighborhoods. Our swingset got a lot of use.
Some years passed and when our children were older (6, 4, 2 and a newborn), we moved to the DC area. We chose not to get a swingset with our new home 1. Our neighborhood had very nice, large playground that was within walking distance of our house. 2. There are other nice playgrounds within a 10 minute drive or less 3. The weather here is not as temperate, we wouldn't get 12 months/year use out of it 4. We noticed our neighbors that do have swingsets in the yard, hardly ever use them. Our next door neighbor had children roughly the same ages as ours, and in the 4 years we lived next to them, I think I saw kids on their playground maybe 10 times total. |
Anonymous
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About how long does a child play on a swingset--till about age 8?
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