Arrogant parents and extravagant tantrums: all the world’s a stage in our precious playgrounds | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Children's play reveals a lot about life - making it all the more vital to rescue Britain's playgrounds from austerity and decline

Like many parents of young children, I spend much of my life in playgrounds. We are lucky in that there are six of them within close walking distance and, because my son loves to be outdoors, some days we will go to two or three different ones. In fact, it's quite hard to walk past a playground without going in because, as with most of the toddlers we know, he will object in the strongest terms. By which I mean go completely and utterly berserk.

From the moment your child is born, you become grateful for playgrounds. Even before your baby is old enough to play, these spaces can be a refuge: from traffic, drunks and scary dogs. They seem to be the only remaining places outside parks where benches are permitted; in areas without playgrounds, you end up breastfeeding sitting on kerbs or walls. Playgrounds are spaces for children but, to state the obvious, they are also spaces for parents - and sometimes those parents really, really need to sit down.

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist