Slow children at play signs in old-time and modern Phoenix, Arizona


Like everyone who drives, certain signs are absolutely invisible to me. You can't read everything, every sign, as you drive by. I've lived in this neighborhood for over twenty-five years, and if you had asked me if there was a "Slow children at play" sign just a block away from my house, I wouldn't have known. Of course there is, it's been there since 1985, when this neighborhood was built, replacing, to the best of my knowledge, cotton fields.

And the only reason that I'm noticing it now is that I noticed that the neighborhood just north of me just put up a brand new "Slow children playing" sign. And today on my walk I took some photos so I could study them more carefully without looking like an extremely strange guy standing there staring at a sign. I know that you understand, but most people wouldn't, it would just creep them out, or they would probably think that I'm some kind of inspector.

So let's take a closer look at the older sign. Other than the joke that I've always heard that you should watch out for "slow children playing", it looks like the little boy (there is no girl on the sign) is wearing knickerbockers. That is, short pants with long socks, what golfers call "plus 4s". And I'm sure that there was a time when children dressed like that, but it was sure before 1985. I was a kid in the 1960s, which was quite a while ago, and kids didn't dress like that. If you're older than me, you may remember kids wearing knickers and high socks that met just below the knee, but mostly I've just seen it in old black-and-white movies. 1940s? 30s? Kids wore rolled-up bluejeans in the fifties, so I'm just gonna say pre-1950s.

So I guess no one noticed when year after year the same graphic was used.


The more modern sign still says "Slow children at play", but the boy is now wearing shorts. The girl appears to have a pony tail, and is wearing a skirt. I suppose in a sign a skirt is used to quickly identify someone as female, but I've never seen little girls playing in skirts. The modern girl would be wearing shorts like the boy, and of course both of them would have a neck, and feet. But now I'm quibbling - these images are meant to be recognized quickly, like restroom signs.

The good news about all of this is that in a longish life I know that most people don't need signs to tell them to watch out for children. There are a tiny percentage of people who really don't seem to have the sense God gave an onion, and everyone else just seems to hope that putting up a sign will convince them not to run into kids. In the meantime, more and more signs will go up, and they will become increasing invisible. And that's fine, because the signs aren't really necessary, and never have been.
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