We shall look at the Beginning Family in today’s “Swing Sets for Me” series. What is a great playset for this family?
What makes up a Beginning Family?
Well, if your middle of the night routine is searching the floor frantically for a pacifier that seemly fell out of the crib and into another dimension while your wife is calling for the pacifier in the other room above the screams of the newborn and the endless questions of your toddler who is now awake and will be awake for the next 2 hours, you are a beginning family.
(Pro tip: My wife and I bought extra “nighttime” pacifiers that were in a special place if we couldn’t find the one that fell immediately. We lost those as well.)
Most families in this category have a 2-year-old and a baby. They want a swing set that the children can use now and stay engaging as they age. This is the challenge of designing a swing set that is both safe for the children right now but also able to challenge them as they get older.
For the sake of discussion, let’s split these families into two different groups. One group will swing towards the more safe side of the spectrum, while the other family will swing more toward the challenging side.
The More Safe Family wants their swing set to be used by the little ones right away, and they don’t want tall heights or fast slides to make them or their children nervous. The More Challenging Family wants their swing set to have areas for the little children to use now but also has some challenges already in place for the later years.
The Sea King – Perfect for the Safe Side Family
The Sea King has a spacious 6’x8’ tower with a staircase. The staircase is an excellent access point for younger children to use. This is important because younger children should be able to access the tower without adults’ help. At the same time, the staircase is easy for parents to use as there is no crossbar to duck underneath.
The Sea King has a waterfall slide, a rock wall, and monkey bars. This is a nice range of fun options for now and some for the future.
Some parents may want something other than the rock wall or monkey bars, as these create openings in the tower. To fix this, you can change the rock wall to a super spiral slide and the monkey bars to a standard swing beam. You still have fun options, but fewer places with no vertical spindles.
The Sea King is 5’ tall, a great height for a beginning family. It is tall enough to feel significant for the children but not too tall to make Mom and Dad nervous.
Overall, the Sea King is a fantastic swing set. Our customers agree, as this playset has been in the top three swing set best sellers for the past three years. It has lots of space and is easily customized to fit your needs.
The Captain’s Castle – Perfect for the More Challenging Family
The Captain’s Castle is a great swing set for the More Challenging Family!
What makes the Captain’s Castle great is that it has two levels. The tower is split into 5’ and 7’ sides, and this effectively means that your youngest children can play and use the lower tower until they grow old enough to use the top.
The lower tower has a waterfall slide and a ladder for access. The top tower has a 7’ super spiral slide and a 7’ rock wall. This is a nice range of options, as the waterfall slide and super spiral slide are perfect for younger children. The 7’ rock wall may be a little too much when you first have the swing set installed. But wait a year or two! You will be glad it comes standard with the Captain’s Castle!
Any swing set with a double deck tower would be great for a More Challenging Family, but the Captian’s Castle is a best seller for a reason. It is a very visibly impressive swing set that is feature-rich without taking up an immense amount of space!
The monkey bars on the Captain’s Castle present an interesting choice. If you think your children are going to be climbers, keep them! If you want the tower not to have any openings at the 5’ level or if you think swinging is going to be more important, I suggest changing the monkey bars to a high beam.
Customizing
The great thing about being able to customize all of our standard swing sets is that any set, with a few changes, could be a great set for either type of Beginner Family! Contact our swing set design team today to start building the perfect swing set for your family!
Dad to three kids, Justin knows how important it is for children to get lots of physical exercise. His time as a school teacher reinforced that idea. He is passionate about creating fun, enjoyable playgrounds that are safe but full of learning opportunities.
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