In Central Park, along the Hudson River Park and in Bryant Park,
all over in Manhattan, a lot of unique outdoor events are happening this
season.
We can even bring kids, and many activities in public space are
free!
New York City has a very long winter and a short summer.
Not only kids, but also adults, say“ Here it comes!” and enjoy sunshine
and a nice breeze.
As we all know yoga, art, language or even knitting classes take
place under the sun. There can even be a “ Reading Room” on a street!
In Bryant Park, it’s great to see scenes from Broadway musicals
around lunch- time and we can watch a movie after sunset, all free.
I went there and watched a musical.
I saw mothers having fun nursing their babies, business people wearing
suits having salad for lunch and getting into the rhythm.
And of course, the homeless with many pieces of luggage are
snuggling down on the grass!
It’s chaos and it’s New York.
I like it!
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| A Scene from a Lion King http://www.bryantpark.org/plan-your-visit/broadway.html |
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| A " Reading Room" appears outside! |
At playgrounds I can see many kids are playing with water.
Since one day in May, water has gushed from something like a sprinkler.
Now I know that was “Memorial Day”, the last Monday in May a
public holiday. I’ve learned from my favorite teacher (Wikipedia!) that Memorial
Day means the beginning of summer. And summer unofficially ends at Labor Day in
America.
When I take my daughter to the playground, little New Yorkesrs are
playing with water in earnest, wearing swimsuit, holding a big water gun.
It seems bigger than the boy, and it’s really scary for me even if
it’s a toy…..
To see an American girl in a pretty bikini, and next to her, my daughter
in a tank-top and shorts, I asked myself “Why did I never think to bring a swimsuit
to the playground? ”
I remember the expression “ TPO” ( Time, Place, Occasion).
I thought for a long time it came from English, but it actually
didn’t.
It originated with a Japanese and means that people should change
their clothes depending on Time, Place and Occasion.
In the 1960’s, before the Tokyo Olympics, a man in the fashion
industry invented “ TPO” as a slogan, to prevent visitors from all over the
world from laughing at Japanese people who didn’t know how to dress well.
If it’s not cold, hot or dirty, it required changing clothes when
necessary.
That was more than 50-years ago. I’m pretty skeptical that Japanese
people then really understood the idea and welcomed it.
If we say the 1960’s, that is our parents’ childhood.
I’m just guessing, but not many of their parents (meaning our grand-parents)
knew “TPO” and it might not have been so easy to get kids’ swimsuits at that
time.
I really don’t know, but I guess when kids were playing at the
river near their home, they just took off their clothes and only put on flimsy
underwear or even went naked.
(To keep their reputation, I should explain that
they of course wore swimsuits to go to swimming pool or beach, not went
naked..!)
At least, in our childhood in the 1970’s in countryside, it seems
to be more or less the same to seen in my photo album.
In the pictures, at a small pool or big puddle in a backyard, many
kids put on only underwear or shirts and shorts.
No one wore a swimsuit.
And
they looked very happy, dirty covered with mud and super cute!
I wonder if our parents also looked happy with a smile, saying “
It can’t be helped” or something, to see their muddy kids…
Though such wild kids looks so cute for me, it may because I’m a
Japanese and country person.
People from the city may never think it’s cute, but just
uncivilized!
So, in a very urban city such as Manhattan, I need to be careful.
It’s time to remember “TPO.”
Is it bad manners in the city to let my child play with water
without swimsuit?
When I was thinking, my eyes captured two American girls running
around a playground with only a diaper.
If it’s with a diaper, is it barely acceptable?
Hmm…..
New York’s short summer will over in a month.
We must enjoy playing outside before the long winter.
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