THE SLIP N' SLIDE

I think it's possible the inventors at toy company Wham-O must've been the guys referenced in this famous line from my favorite movie, 'The Graduate."



They sold millions of toys to youths like me by merely reshaping different pieces of plastic into discs (the Frisbee, 1959), hoops (the Hula Hoop, 1957), balls (the Super Ball, 1965), and sheets (the Slip n' Slide, 1961). Brilliance. I owned them all -- several of each, in fact, including glow-in-the-dark versions of the Frisbee and Hula Hoop. My favorite was probably the Super Ball and the competitions we had to get it to bounce as high as our two-story house. This activity also resulted in the Super Balls being lost almost immediately, which led to the activity of Begging My Parents For Yet Another Super Ball. "Plastics," indeed.

I continue to contribute to the wealth of Wham-O now, because I buy their toys for my kids. Yesterday, we unfurled a brand-new Slip n' Slide and MissEight and Mr13 had a blast. Of course, I cautioned them to be careful and not kill themselves, because that's what I have to do in my Mom Contract. I seem to recall lots of jackass kids like myself using the Slip n' Slide in distinctly-stupid ways, like putting the end of it right up next to the house, trying to ride a bike on it, and attempting the World's Largest Monkey Pile Slide. Never, ever, be on the bottom of a water-soaked Monkey Pile, was the lesson there. Anyway, photos.

Enjoy this vintage Slip n' Slide commercial, where "girls slide as well as boys!"