Creating places for family

I was visiting Yu Yuan Gardens today in Shanghai and was quite taken by the beauty of the Chinese style of landscape design.  One of the great aspects of this style of design is the many rooms that are created.  Entering one such room I observed a sweet scene-a man and his daughter “fishing” for Koi with a willow branch.  The Yu Yuan Gardens were created in 1559, and I bet the landscape designer never anticipated this use!

Today’s public gardens are sometimes over-designed to direct ways that families will interact.  If we just yield to our imagination-and children do that so easliy-gardens can inspire all sorts of fun family activities.