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What child can resist
the temptation to slip under a bed, scramble into a cardboard box, or pitch a homemade tent? That desire to create a private hideaway explains the enduring appeal of backyard playhouses."Childhood used to be about disappearing
with friends and making up your own activities," says Roger Hart, Ph.D., codirector of the Children's Environments Research Group at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. "In today's uncertain world, children's
activities are programmed, and there's always an adult in charge. So there's great value in having an outdoor space of their own where children can grow physically, intellectually, and emotionally." "A playhouse gives kids a
special spot that's magical and mysterious, and yet it's within the safe circle of the family home," agrees Barbara Butler, a San Francisco-based artist-builder who creates fanciful forts and log cabins, castles and cottages,
pirate ships and lighthouses.... [full text available on request] |
