Why are there not playgrounds at rest stops?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the world does not revolve around kids

Maybe it should

Nope! Childhood is a temporary state.

[Anonymous]

Because as a culture we no longer care about kids. It's really sad. Kids are the future. People who do value kids will conquer us and live in our lands.

[Anonymous]

Put a gate around it. Voila, no running say

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don’t really want people lingering. Get in and get out.

This. You don’t want to risk people living there. Or people deciding to make the rest stop a destination. My older daughter had a friend in MS whose family hosted a sleepover. At 2 AM, they woke the kids and took them all to a truck stop to have sundaes and play video games in the arcade. When they came back out, the mini van wouldn’t restart. The hosts had to call parents to pick up their kids from the state line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm totally overprotective I admit it, but I don't go to playgrounds anywhere near highways. Too easy for someone to snatch a kid and be gone in a flash.

Paranoid, too. This is not a common kidnapping scenario.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rest stops are crowded as it is. If the average stop time became any more prolonged, it would be impossible other motorists to get in and out.

When we needed a longer break, we would get off the highway and fine a local park or elementary school, easy enough to do now with an online search. Back when my kids were little, we had them marked on an old AAA Triptik for the 500 mile trip to grandma’s house that we took several times a year. Yes, I’m old.

We do this too for annual drive to see family in Michigan. We know a variety of parks etc along the route. We pack a lunch and snacks and take two 1-hr breaks in a day so kids can run around. We only go to actual rest stops if it’s raining.

I would love if you share where your parks are! We just did the drive and found it hard to find much - or we did, but spent so much time driving around off exits to find something.

[Anonymous]

The rest stop on 64 east between Richmond and Williamsburg has a playground.

https://www.virginiadot.org/travel/map-ra-newkenteb.asp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because they don't want kids running around uncontrolled and unsupervised around highways and entrance and exit ramps and big trucks.

+1

A playground right next to a parking lot that cars and big trucks are entering from the freeway would have to have a huge fence. And would take up parking spaces. It's not like there's a ton of open green space near most rest stops, just waiting to be repurposed.

Also, aside from some people with little kids, no one really wants to drag out their road trip by hanging out at the rest stop longer than necessary (lots of parents of little kids ALSO want to keep their trips as short as possible). And there are plenty of people with little kids who are also germaphobes, and wouldn't let their kids play on a rest-stop playground. So the "market" is pretty small.

[Anonymous]

Some do. Of course I was never allowed to play at any when I was a kid. They were for the families who were too poor to get the fancy McDonalds we were getting - they had to eat their packed lunch at the splintery picnic tables.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People don't stay very long, communities/states prefer to invest in playgrounds that their community can access, and most people wouldn't utilize them.

This response deserves highlighting. Good point.

This is really it. Why would a community want to pay to build and maintain a playground that the locals will never use? And the people who do use it are a small number -- even many parents of small kids wouldn't use it, because they want to get to their destination quickly, because of fears of germs or abductions or whatever. And even the people who use it wouldn't be likely to use it for long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because as a culture we no longer care about kids. It's really sad. Kids are the future. People who do value kids will conquer us and live in our lands.

That's just silly. I mean, yes, there are real issues with how we prioritize kids in our country, but not having playgrounds at rest stops for the small proportion of travelers with kids the right age who would even use them is not one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
In France, my home country, there is a restaurant (or multiple restaurants) and a playground at every full-service rest stop, and there are many more of these rest stops per unit of distance than in the US.

I used to drive to Pennsylvania rather often at one point, and the rest stop we used has a playground, pet spot and vending machines. It's true that it's not typical of US rest stops.

The difference is that France decided long ago to create an ecosystem along the "autoroute" (highway) that would allow users to never leave the highway, so that they could get to their destination more rapidly and with greater ease. The rest stops are owned and operated by the highway operator, in partnership with certain chains of restaurants. It's in that operator's interest to make the stops as comfortable as it can.

The US did not develop such a plan, and therefore users of interstates or similar need to leave the road and look for their own accommodation or food or entertainment, except when a state decides to create a nice rest stop, perhaps at a border, or scenic outlook or historical location.

That is an interesting perspective, to create a separate "ecosystem" designed to keep people on the highway.

This is not something I would use. I prefer to get off the highway and get a feel.for the area. Often we plan rest stops around places of interest that take only about a half hour to see. I want to look at something different besides highway rest stops.

Of course, there are times when I just want to get to my destination as quickly as possible. Then I will go to a rest stop, go to the bathroom, maybe get a cup of coffee, and get back on the road as quickly as possible. I don't plan to spend a lot of time there, so all I care about are that the facilities are clean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
In France, my home country, there is a restaurant (or multiple restaurants) and a playground at every full-service rest stop, and there are many more of these rest stops per unit of distance than in the US.

I used to drive to Pennsylvania rather often at one point, and the rest stop we used has a playground, pet spot and vending machines. It's true that it's not typical of US rest stops.

The difference is that France decided long ago to create an ecosystem along the "autoroute" (highway) that would allow users to never leave the highway, so that they could get to their destination more rapidly and with greater ease. The rest stops are owned and operated by the highway operator, in partnership with certain chains of restaurants. It's in that operator's interest to make the stops as comfortable as it can.

The US did not develop such a plan, and therefore users of interstates or similar need to leave the road and look for their own accommodation or food or entertainment, except when a state decides to create a nice rest stop, perhaps at a border, or scenic outlook or historical location.

I drove through France a few years ago and I LOVED the rest stops with playgrounds.The whole driving experience was much more pleasant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because as a culture we no longer care about kids. It's really sad. Kids are the future. People who do value kids will conquer us and live in our lands.

Unpopular opinion, but I totally disagree with this. I feel like kids are significantly more on the forefront and catered to than when most of us grew up. People take their kids places and events our parents never would have thought of taking us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because as a culture we no longer care about kids. It's really sad. Kids are the future. People who do value kids will conquer us and live in our lands.

Unpopular opinion, but I totally disagree with this. I feel like kids are significantly more on the forefront and catered to than when most of us grew up. People take their kids places and events our parents never would have thought of taking us.

Totally agree.