Parents call for playgrounds to reopen following expanded business operations in San Mateo County

With children ages 2, 5 and 7 stuck at home, Hardy said she’s taken on the roles of teacher, caretaker, house cleaner, scheduler and cook, an experience she said is widely shared by moms in San Mateo and Foster City Facebook groups. After watching businesses like salons and restaurants expand operations, parents are calling on officials to start prioritizing the mental health of families by responsibly opening up playgrounds. 

“Mothers are not doing OK. … This is not a sustainable way to parent and it’s so exhausting,” said Hardy, who noted open green spaces lack safety measures to keep kids from water or roads.  

When voicing concerns to city and county officials, the response has consistently been that local jurisdictions are following state guidelines for how and when to open playgrounds. San Mateo County spokeswoman Michelle Durand said officials are following the most recent state order, released July 29, which states playgrounds are to remain closed until further notice. Durand noted the document also recommends facilities and services that encourage gatherings should also be kept closed. 

Still, Ashley Sonntag, a friend of Hardy and mother of three “wild boys,” said before the pandemic struck San Mateo County, she and her children spent very little time at home. Once shelter-in-place orders were implemented, she said she spent hundreds of dollars on crafts and puzzles but nothing appealed to her high-energy boys. 

“We’re used to being gone all the day at playgrounds, museums, zoos. We’re just go, go, go type of people,” said Sonntag. “[Sheltering in place] was really hard and still is really hard.”

Fields not enough

Sonntag said she takes her boys to grassy fields daily but without fencing or other safety precautions, kids have the ability to run toward danger. Beyond safety, fields lack equipment like jungle gyms, swings and slides designed to boost a child’s development. And even when families do use fields for recreation, locked restrooms at parks force parents to rush their children home. 

Without physical activity, some parents have noticed their children’s moods have changed as well. Shannon Guzzetta, a mother of two and the PTA president of Redwood Shores Elementary School, said the lack of socializing with other children at playgrounds has hit her 5-year-old daughter the hardest. As a highly social child, she misses interacting with other kids but being so young she finds it harder to comprehend why play areas are closed. 

“It’s really sad to tell a kid every day that parks are closed, we can’t go to the playground today. It still comes up,” said Guzzetta. “My daughter really likes to climb and there’s so much developmental stuff in doing those activities.” 

Guzzetta said she takes her children out for bike rides and to the park regularly but with it next to a lagoon she, like Hardy and Sonntag, spends most of her time trying to keep them safe. All three mothers said playgrounds served as great recreation for their children but also as downtime for moms who could sit nearby and, as Hardy said, “let our guards down and anxiety levels down.” 

Solutions for play

The moms shared similar suggestions for how to safely reopen playgrounds as well, calling on officials to place informative signs near facilities along with either sanitizing stations or foot-operated hand washing stations similar to those placed by homeless encampments. Creating an online registration site was also recommended, though Guzzetta said she would be concerned fees would hinder access for low-income earning families. 

And while public health and the well-being of their children is a priority for the mothers, they also noted studies have shown the virus is less likely to spread in outdoor areas directly under UV light. For those who think playgrounds are unsafe, they said the decision to keep families home is an individual choice. 

“If people don’t want to go to a restaurant, they don’t have to. If they don’t want to go to a salon they don’t have to. If they don’t want to go to a playground they don’t have to,” said Sonntag, whose family of five lives in a two-bedroom apartment. “Their childhood is being ruined. [Playgrounds] are vital to their development and more vital … where people live in small spaces.”

Park directors’ response

Sheila Canzian, the Parks and Recreation director of San Mateo said in a statement that city staff share frustrations of residents, adding “not much in this pandemic has made sense,” but noted local municipalities cannot implement less restrictive guidelines than that of the state. 

Chris Beth, Redwood City Parks and Recreation director, said the playground closures have not been taken lightly by a department focused on creating more programming, not less. No new state directive has been given to cities or counties since July, said Beth, and the new COVID-19 risk assessment system came with no specific language regarding parks. 

“We’re really in a situation where we get directives from state and county. The county stays in line with the state. We’re hoping to get back to normalcy … for parents, for kids, and for us who develop creative public space,” said Beth, who noted all county officials are following state guidelines “to a tee.” 

sierra@smdailyjournal.com 

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