Pay to Play in Parks? What a Beijing Culture Shock

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I got kicked off the grass at Ritan Park.

We were waiting for friends and had brought our lunch, so I laid out a  blanket and started to eat. People were staring, but that’s normal in  Beijing when your blonde kids go outside. Then the 保安, bǎo’ān, came around. I don’t know exactly what he said, but I understood: Get off the grass!

Gratefully, we were close to another area where we could eat and wait  for our friends. But it gets pretty frustrating when you meet at a park  and aren’t allowed onto the grassy areas. I’d say that I’m used to it  by now, but maybe it’s the onset of spring that made me grumpy about it  this time.

That wasn’t the biggest culture shock I experienced when we moved to  Beijing, however. No, the top prize for this park-hopping mom was paying  to play in a park. Specifically, those little amusement parks or  playgrounds within parks where rides cost RMB 20-50 a kid a ride. I’m  not used to modifying my kids’ playtime based on a budget for a public  park, and those activities, though fun, really add up! And the only part  of the park with an actual playground, where kids can run and climb and  slide (aside from the exercise areas), is also behind a gate.

Thankfully, half the pay-to-play options weren’t open at Olympic Forest Park.

Now, we love a lazy walk in the park without going on a “ride” as  much as the next person. I actually prefer it. And many of the  activities are really fun and I understand the economics behind them.  But I’d prefer not to have these areas in our parks rather than have to  negotiate for every single trip. “Now, honey, we can either take a boat  ride or go in the bouncy house,” “You get to choose three rides this  visit; which three will it be?”

We love the Kids’ Theme Park when we visited, ironically the only free one.

Then the issue arises that when you meet friends there, you must negotiate the limits ahead of time. I like to buy the actual tickets vs the cards you can refill for rides because a ticket is much more tangible to my counting kids, and they are well aware that you can just go refill a plastic card. But any kind of playdate with friends means you either set a hard limit to the number of rides beforehand or work together to avoid getting near the cost-per-ride area at all! It does help when you’re trying to teach them how to budget,  but it just gets tiring to have to say no so often and avoid the subsequent meltdown. Don’t even get me into the plastic toys that line every entrance as well.

So far, the main time it’s been a real problem is either when we’re alone or only with one other family. Luckily for my nerves, the group we met after being kicked off the grass was all in agreement that we wanted to avoid the amusement park areas, and purposely diverted from them. When a couple of the kids sniffed out the pay-to-play arenas, so many others went in the other direction that they decided to choose to stay with the large group over bumper cars. For that, I was very grateful.

Some tips I’ve found to navigate your kids around this little annoyance are:

• Go in larger groups, as described above.

• No matter the size of the group, you must set ground rules ahead of time.

• Meet at an entrance on the other side of the amusement park.

• Talk with your kids about the price limit or time limit before you go. Better yet, at the entrance.

• If they make it at the park, they carry it all the way home (I say as I stare at two dinosaur fossils that got chalk dust all over my purse).

We asked for the best Easter eggs in Beijing. And boy, did you deliver!

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Images: Cindy Marie Jenkins, tenor

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