I feel like writing about swings. I don’t have anything profound or preachy to say, or some clever gospel metaphor to equate to the simple process of swinging back-and-forth. I’ve just been a little nostalgic lately and it seems that I cannot think about my childhood without a good old swing set coming to mind.
We had a little swing set/slide combination in our backyard when I was little. It was fine and fun for little guys. It had plastic flat seats and short chains. (Although the metal slide had the ability to sear young flesh on a bright summer’s day.) That small set eventually gave way to a classic tire swing with a long rope hanging from a giant cottonwood tree.
But the swings that really made the impact were those at the park and at the Elementary School. They were much taller than our little set, with longer chains and the strap seats. That is where swinging became serious business.
The process was probably the same for all of us. A parent puts the toddler in the swing, and gently pushes, either to the delight or abject horror of the child. Eventually, the parent gets tired of pushing, and the kid throws a fit because they want more. That is usually the pattern until something wonderful happens.
Liberation. Learning how to pump – to self-propell – on the swing is a great moment in personal achievement for any kid. Suddenly, you don’t need anyone else to be able to swing. You can swing as high as you like, for as long as you like.
Swinging is one of our earliest feelings of freedom, and momentum. It is a tiny laboratory where we can test our courage at our own pace.
Eventually we get to where we can swing as high as we dared, and dream of the possibility of swinging so far that we could swing completely over the top. (Of course, this was before Mythbusters ever proved that you can’t do it without the aid of a rocket.) I know it never happened for me. I would swing higher, and higher, until the chain would begin to go slack, and the resulting jerk of the chain tightening would dissuade me from trying to go higher.
Learning to jump from a moving swing and gaining any significant distance, was a trial-and-error effort. But when the timing was just right, and you let of at the perfect moment – it was as close to flying as a kid could feel.
I never enjoyed leaning backwards and looking at the world behind me upside down. I found it disorienting. I did, however, enjoy twisting up the swings with the person next to me and then letting them spin as they unwound.
(I warned you that this post was purely an exercise in nostalgia.)
The sensation of movement is with us our whole lives. From the time we are sloshing around in our mom’s amniotic fluid, to the rocking chair or porch swing that we might enjoy in old age, we find comfort in that rocking movement.
When I was a young dad, we had a baby swing. Wind-up. A good wind would get you twenty minutes of peace and quiet as it lulled the baby to sleep. By the time we were on our last FOML, the child swings had evolved to where they were battery powered and could go, and go, and go.
One of my proudest moments as a father was when I designed and built a swing set/playhouse for my kids in the backyard of our fist house. I look back at it fondly, and I hope my kids do too. I get nostalgic about those days, too. Having my little kids around. I need to get me some of those – what are they called? Right: Grandchildren.
As I was thinking about swings, I asked the youngest FOML if he ever swings anymore, or if the kids even swing at school these days. (I am sure that jumping is absolutely forbidden in today’s world.)
He told me that the only the little kids played on the swings now, and they get yelled at if they go too high, or jump off.
I remember getting yelled at for both of those things. That is why the best time to swing was when no adults were around. That is where you pushed yourself higher, and higher, and on occasion, knocked the wind out of yourself, or broke bones.
I’m sure there are countless studies about motion, swinging and rocking that explain why we spend our lives doing it. For me, I am at the age where I don’t spend a lot of time rocking, and I can’t remember the last time I really flew on a swing set.
Maybe if we spent more time swinging or rocking back-and-forth, we would spend less time feeling like rocking side-to-side, with our heads in our hands.
Here
I just ran across this old post, and loved it! I guess I missed it the first time around. I could write a lot about my swinging memories… But what I want to say is, now that you have grandchildren, you need to find the picture book, Higher, Higher by Leslie Patricelli. It captures all of this and our grandkids never tire of it!
For all you rockers (myself included), keep in mind that the cerebral spinal fluid that bathes and nourishes your brain has no circulation system. The only way to keep it flowing – and the brain working properly – is to move. Rocking and spinning are especially effective. Rock on!
I really liked this post. I still like swinging! My husband and I go for walks in the evenings and sometimes when we’re by a park, we sit on the swings and talk. Not always super comfortable since they make the seats for smaller people.
Growing up in Alberta with its amazing warm non-windy weather (yeah right), and since we had to play indoors a lot during the winter, my parents bought an indoor swing for our basement. It was awesome!
Loved the post and comments. Thanks for the reminder that Life is Good, simple pleasures are the best, and deep down inside, we all have a lot in common.
Interesting. I noticed the other day that when I am doing deep thinking/talking, rocking front to back helps me to concentrate and not lose my thought, especially if it is pushing my thinking limits. I also noticed that I only do that around people I am really comfortable with…my family and close friends.
Since it helps me to think better, I started wondering why I don’t just ALWAYS do it. I realized right away that it was because it makes me “look crazy”.
Hmmmmm….thoughts of a crazy person here…
I still remember the day when I discovered that perfect timing of swinging when laying back until the top of the swoop, then pulling up and looking straight down to the ground creating a roller coaster sensation that to this day still makes me squeal and giggle. I have taught the skill to all my children, but we have to find a tall swing. All the best swings have been replaced with much shorter (safer/boring) swings. The sensation just isn’t the same. I still love swings though, especially the porch swing my husband made for me one year for Christmas. In fact I think we will take it out of the winter storage and hang it up for the summer season. It is the perfect place the read a book, watch the children and garden grow while I sit next to my sweetheart and have a nice conversation. Nothing wrong with nostalgia . . .
My Dad also built a gianormous swing set for us kids from hug logs for the frame and an old board on one swing and a handcut bucket seat cut from a huge truck tire. It still stands next to the old barn and is famous amongst all of the relatives. I loved leaning back and looking at the sky, even though it made me dizzy.
When we moved into our current house there was a 12 foot deck off the master bedroom in back. We put two swings up and thought it was great till my 9 year old daughter went too high and bumped her head on the under side on her back swing. The next day she was out there with a bicycle helmet on!!!! Laughing every time she “bounced”
Then there is the FOTFOML (fruit of the fruit of my loins) ages 2 yr, 18 months, 2 months and -2 months. The oldest two can’t get enough of grandma & grandpa pushing them. And now that the 2 year old has parents renting the basement apartment, we get to spend a lot of time in the back yard.
Great post! I never had a swing of my own, but lived close to the elementary school so we spent a lot of time there playing after school and in the summer, even up through high school I’d go up to swing when it cooled off in the summer. Of course you had to leave before 11 I think so you wouldn’t be trespassing. We also ice blocked on the hills a few times. I prefer swinging to ice blocking. I never was good at jumping off because it sent a painful shock through my ankles! But all of my kids love to swing. My oldest loves to go when she’s down and another goes on bike rides and swings every day she can. We have 3 trees in our front yard and not one is very suitable for tying a swing onto, but my 3rd daughter made her own with a big rope- just enough room to swing kind of back and forth kind of like a rock climber or something moving to a new rock at the end of their rope, but it’s her favorite activity (now it includes her earphones and tiny ipod that she hums along to) My youngest enjoys swinging, but because she can’t pump yet (love what you wrote about that) I think she prefers to run around… plus that’s how just is. She has a very active and busy imagination. And my only son, when he was a baby, sometimes the only way he’d calm down is to get wrapped in a blanket and be rocked in his grandma’s porch swing in the dark, so I had a nice little flashback when you mentioned porch swings. He’s 16 now, and much taller than me, not quite as tall as his dad… yet, but it was a good memory. Yeah… loved this post.
I had a dad who was a consummate engineer/metal worker. We had a full steel anchored-in-the- ground-with-cement swingset, fourteen feet high, swings like the park. And a merry go round with a bicycle type chain, only much heavier, that had bucket seats and crank handles so we could go really fast. We were the luckiest kids on the block. Everybody wanted to play in our yard. I’m with you. Love swings.
I still love to swing! My Grandchildren all think it’s so funny that Grandma likes to swing with them. Of course I can’t swing for too long because they want a push. Even after they know HOW to pump they like the push. I like to stand in front and grab their feet and hold them mid air or behind and grab them around the waist and hold them. We had a swing at our family ranch that my Grandfather made. It hung from a HUGE Black Oak and it was the smoothest swing and the ropes were really long because the tree was so tall and it really felt like flying the seat was an old piece of wood. My Grandmother used to quote this poem to me and now I say it to mine;
The Swing
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside–
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown–
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
Robert Louis Stevenson
One of the few really great memories of my childhood…
Maybe that feeling of freedom and exhilaration is how we will feel all the time in the next life. I hope so. Maaaybeee that’s why we like it so much! Because it reminds us of where we came from?!
Thank you for sharing this poem! I also still love to swing but I no longer dare to jump out!
When I was eight I jumped from a moving swing at Ross
Park in Pocatello. I ended up in the ER department with a broken arm.
I still jumped out of swings even after that, but was a bit more cautious.
There was just no way I was giving up that sensation! Thanks for walking
me down memory lane:-)
I loved swinging as high as I could — I tried to get over the top, too. But I also imagined flying off the swing and straight into space; hence was born my dream of becoming an astronaut. 🙂
We had HUGE swing sets at our elementary school. I heard, a little while ago, that the school had made them shorter (along with the big ‘bubble’/’spider web’ that I dislocated a boys arm on twice… I wasn’t a bully, promise!). 🙁 Sad day.
I loved closing my eyes and losing my stomach….I think I need to go to the park!
Oh to go back to those swings at Kate Curley Park in Idaho Falls Idaho. Spent a lot of time across the street with Nannie and Grandpa. I was loved. And then I would go play in the park–often alone. Those were days of dreaming and pretending and wondering and loving the cool Idaho air blowing on my face as I swung higher and higher and nearly touched the sky. So many years ago but I can still remember:-)
This makes me want to find a swing set. Right now. And some grandkids.
Cannot agree with all of that enough. I, too, loved the thrill of jumping out at a high mark and speed. It was really like flying. Course we didn’t have FB and blogging and videos at that time. Had to make our own fun. Much as I love technology of this age, I feel sorry for the loss of imagination that our kids have today. And I may be wrong.
I love this nostalgic trip. My favorite is underdogs. You know, where a friend (or really awesome parent) would push you up as high as they could then let go as they ran under you and the swing. The feeling of the drop and momentum was exhilarating! I wonder if this is where my love of roller coasters began.
I had forgotten about underdogs. Thank you!
So true- what a fun reminder of wonderful memories! My daughter’s kind aunts and uncles have firmly convinced my daughter underdogs are called ‘Googenburgers’. Elementary School will now be a much more interesting place for her.
Googenburgers. Hilarious.
I love porch swings and rocking chairs now. I guess it is for the same reason, but a dat more sophicated;-)