"yous kids stay here while I go willingly disfigure myself" is not the same condition  of long-ago park play. I spent a lot of time in parks as a boy. I don't remember piles of crap and toilet tissue, passed-out sub-humans, or openly copulating wretches.
I do remember tattoos on sailors and convicts. 
But mostly, I remember the assumption of mothers being at least somewhat competent and caring. I guess there are mothers and fathers, and there are breeders