To prove that "never the twain shall meet" is wrong, just take a morning trip to Playshore, the free kids' play area in Bayshore Town Center.

It's a gathering place for grandparents, like me, and for young parents, all with kids from about two to five years old.

In a day and age where kid play centers seem to need huge climbing tubes and a million plastic balls and games that go whiz and whee and lights that flash in multi-color bursts, Playshore is like a throwback.

It has a boat and a bridge, a train and a huge half baseball that kids can climb on. It has artificial turf that kids can run on and fall down and pretend they have just scored a touchdown for the Packers.

None of the things move. They are made for climbing. Nothing is too high that you need to worry or be afraid. Sure, you've got to watch your kid, and all the other kids. But there's no fear or anxiety.

Kids play with other kids who they've never met. And the adults, both the young mothers and the grandparents, say hello and talk with each other. One morning I met and talked with a young mother from Russia who had just moved to Milwaukee a month earlier. She said she was having trouble meeting people who weren't from Russia.

Another woman sitting next to us overheard and introduced herself. It turned out they lived less than a mile from each other. When I left a new friendship seemed born.

I'm not a huge fan of shopping malls and chain stores, but Playshore is an amazing place as long as you are willing to let your kid go and figure out what kind of playing he or she wants to do.