At Maggie Daley Park, eager kids can slip out of parents' sight

Oct. 10--During a recent visit to Chicago, relatives took Matt Fauske, his wife and two daughters to Maggie Daley Park, the city's attraction featuring 20 acres of playground, climbing walls and landscaped gardens along the lakefront.

But moments after the family, from Farmington, Utah, arrived at the park's bustling Play Garden, his 12-year-old daughter, Emily, who has Asperger's syndrome, disappeared from her parents' line of sight.

"I'm bolting around ... making sure I'm covering everything as I look," Fauske recalled of the frantic search that ensued. "Your heart stops. You get tunnel vision."

After scouring the area for about 10 minutes -- a span that felt like hours to the parents -- his wife eventually found the girl at the top of an enclosed slide. She sat hugging her knees to her chest, intimidated by the throngs of other children, her father said.

It's a scene that happens routinely at the $60 million facility, according to park management and the park's designer, who contend that such incidents are to be expected at a venue that has attracted hundreds of visitors each day since it opened in December. They also say they have taken steps to prevent parent-child separations.

On a busy Saturday, an estimated 15 to 20 children become separated from their parents, requiring help from security personnel stationed at the park, said Julius Facen, a security guard for Titan Security, which handles security for Millennium and Maggie Daley parks. But there have been no incidents involving a child missing for an extended time, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department said.

Because the park was designed by architects who are also parents, the playground has features aimed at keeping children safe, from limited passageways between the play area and the rest of the park to a viewing platform on a hill for parents, said Michael Van Valkenburgh, the project's chief designer.

On busy days, park management has added a security guard to the one employee already dedicated to the 3-acre Play Garden, where equipment is separated into smaller spaces by children's age.

Park officials also have compiled a list of safety tips for first-time visitors. One tip is to take a picture of your child the moment you arrive, so you'll have an accurate image to show security guards in an emergency, said Emily Bennett, spokeswoman for MB Real Estate, which manages the park for the Chicago Park District.

"What we've seen, especially over the summer, is that Maggie Daley Park is not unlike any other large family attraction, like Great America, or a museum, or even parts of Disney," Bennett said. "With any attraction like that, it's not uncommon that parents and children might get separated."

Van Valkenburgh, who noted in an email that he knows urban playgrounds well from taking his grandchildren to parks in New York City, said designers made sure the "harbor" and "lagoon" in the 2-to-5-year-old zones have only one way in and out, to make it easier to keep tabs on children. In sections for older kids, the team incorporated multiple high vantage points -- including a central sitting and viewing platform -- for safety.

"This gives parents a good overview and also helps to reassure kids who sometimes like to look back every once in a while, to make sure they can still find their caregiver," Van Valkenburgh said, adding that the feature "was also meant to function as an intuitive home base for families and seems to function that way, in our observation."

Cathy Zlatos, 37, of Naperville, was eager to see those and other features when she brought her parents and 4-year-old son, Zack, to Maggie Daley Park last month. At the park's Play Garden, the boy immediately was drawn in.

"Zack had gone up this hill. I thought I was right behind him. But by the time I got up the hill, he was completely gone," Zlatos said. "I froze. I was like, 'I don't know what to do.'"

Slowed by her flip-flop sandals, Zlatos chased the boy as best she could, and after five minutes of searching she took a guess on a tunnel-slide structure that seemed like the type of thrill her son would like. She found him halfway up the enclosed ladder, she said.

Even Chicago residents who frequent the park say strong warnings are no match for excited children compelled to run off at the sight of the tall slides and intricate climbing structures.

"The older kids run off, and then you have to stay with the younger kid," said Sharon Smith, a nanny for children ages 2, 7 and 8 in Chicago. "When you have an age gap in between, it's a little bit hard."

Van Valkenburgh said designers included tall slides that take children out of parents' line of vision after working with child-development specialists, who noted that visual separation allows crucial learning through play.

"Sometimes it's nice (and important) for kids to have a moment when you are making a big decision, whether that decision is to climb up higher, climb back down, or go down the slide," he said in an email. "For years, I watched my grandkids need that, and the way it built their confidences about themselves."

Facen, the security guard who patrols the park on foot and bike, said he has grown accustomed to anxious parents and children approaching him when they've been separated. Sometimes children have their phone number written on their arm by a parent. In those cases, he dials the number right away.

If a child remembers what his or her parents are wearing, Facen brings him or her to the tallest hill in the center of the Play Garden to look for parents. If not, Facen walks him or her around the park until they are reunited, he said.

"I don't panic," Facen said. "I'm used to it."

Park management encourages visitors to study the park's website before visiting. The site includes maps and descriptions of the attractions. It's also a good idea to teach children their phone number and to dress them in bright clothing for quick recognition in crowds, said Bennett of the park's management company.

Jose Estrada, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, suggests teaching children to approach another parent with a child, a police officer or a park employee in a uniform if they think they are lost, so long as that person remains near a crowd and is not in a secluded area.

Parents also should alert other parents as soon as possible when they think their child is missing, he added.

"The more eyes, the more boots you have on the ground as soon after you lose your child, the faster you're going to find him or her," Estrada said.

vortiz@tribpub.com

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