Obsession with safety is ruining our playgrounds

[salvorhardin]

Despite what you might think based on the headline, it's not a rant from Newt Gingrich. It is however a rant about how our children's playgrounds have become progressively less fun. I'm not a parent, but I have friends with kids, and I have to say that I kind of agree. On the other hand, in 2nd grade I was pushed off the 2nd story of a jungle jim, fell six feet onto my head, and suffered a concussion, so maybe my opinion on the subject is not the most reliable.

Regulations that aim to make play areas as risk-free as possible are robbing children of not only fun but also the chance to master progressive physical challenges to develop confidence.

This lame-brain act of over-regulation is part of a dumbing down of playgrounds that has been going on for decades. Twenty years ago, when my son turned 3, they took a soaring swing away from the neighborhood recreation center. I drove from suburb to suburb, seeking out equipment with more kick than the mounds of safety-first molded plastic he'd outgrown in our L.A. neighborhood.

A couple of years later, my daughter's preschool was ordered to rip out its monkey bars. I took them home and put them outside my kitchen window. They became her gym, secret clubhouse and pretend castle. I watched her and her friends fill with pride as they progressed from swinging hand-over-hand across the bars to hanging by their knees and then finally walking across the top.

Risky? Perhaps, but I saw a greater risk in having children bored to tears or flat-lining on video games or TV. And the research bears me out.

Even if the new playgrounds are safer — and that is disputed — children need to master progressive physical challenges to develop the confidence and judgment necessary for everyday life, playground experts say. Otherwise they grow up anxious and fearful. Playground thrills also make children smarter.

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-holland-20120120,0,7066387,full.story

[Happyhippychick]

1. I don't think it's a safety obsession, I think it's a lawsuit avoidance attempt.

Cities can't afford to be sued by crazy parents who sue when junior falls off the swing and gets a boo boo.

[salvorhardin]

2. Yep, that too

But the article notes there hasn't been any big surge in lawsuits, so it's perhaps a misplaced fear of litigation.

[Happyhippychick]

3. I do agree that the safety obsession, in general, is making childhood far less fun and not serving

our children well. I'm a therapist and I see so many young adults who have absolutely no coping skills because their lives have been so completely micromanaged by very well meaning parents.

[salvorhardin]

4. Even more important than that is what it does to the kids' souls*

I agree wholeheartedly with Michael Chabon, who wrote:

"Art is a form of exploration, of sailing off into the unknown alone, heading for those unmarked places on the map. If children are not permitted—not taught—to be adventurers and explorers as children, what will become of the world of adventure, of stories, of literature itself?"

Full essay: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/jul/16/manhood-for-amateurs-the-wilderness-of-childhood/?pagination=false

*I mean that metaphorically, of course.

[pipi_k]

11. Kids' souls...sometimes it's not

just metaphorical...

Sometimes it's reality.

My well meaning (fearful) parents literally destroyed my soul when I was a child by telling me that this or that was "too dangerous".

I grew up being afraid of everything.

Panic disorder. Simple phobias. Agoraphobia. Depression. Anxiety.

Life was, and still is, just one big fear-fest...

[Happyhippychick]

13. That makes me sad cause my dad had the same curse from his parents.

I hope you get some relief.

[Texasgal]

26. Ohhh man, that sucks.

My folks had me do all kinds of crazy things growing up. I am almost fearless which may or may not be a good thing!

My husband was raised in a overly protective family, while in college we went snow skiing and decided to do cross country in the outer areas of Colorado. I thought his Mama was going to have a heart attack! LOL! My poor husband, I could tell he was afraid. I had to really work on him to get him to go that day. He ended up going and had alot of fun!

I hope that one day you are able to conquer your fears and do something you've always wanted to.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

25. Much more important than that is the fact that kids no longer play outside

There is no one to play with in this giant suburbia called the U.S. We have sprawled everyone so far from everyone else, that there are no communities. I grew up playing outside. Kids no longer do that. Now they have to be driven around to go play. Play dates and such. I would've hated that.

[Ron Obvious]

49. Totally agree...

The very word "play-dates" gives me the creeps.

Childhood should be about exploration on your own terms, about making your own friends, about finding your place in the larger world, about getting lost and finding your way again, about getting hurt, getting up and learning not to do that again.

I do not envy today's kids their bubble-wrapped worlds and their micromanaging parents.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

51. Yes, exactly! Me too. I'd HATE to be growing up today.

I got home from school and went out to play, and stayed out there till it was time for dinner. No cell phone, no computer, no video games, no TV (even tho we had it!). Just lots of fun playing games with my friends, and I got lots of mental and physical activity! I would've felt like a prisoner having to be driven everywhere, and drive to (shudder) play dates???? Horrific.

[Ron Obvious]

52. Free Range Kids

My childhood, as one of the last of the baby boomers, sounds a lot like yours. The street lights coming on was the sign that it was time to come in from outside, and that wasn't until nearly 10 PM in the summers.

For years I thought I was the only one who felt that way, as I got nothing but uncomprehending looks or even outrage when I tried to explain my philosophy of raising self-reliant children though benign parental neglect. But this thread, and the comments on the review for the book Free Range Kids make me realise this feeling is more widespread than I believed.

That gives me hope.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

53. Nope. You're not alone. I have a friend I discuss this with.

He also thinks kids nowadays live the most horrific, unnatural lives ever.

It's very, very sad.

[MedicalAdmin]

6. Everytime I see a story about worries of lawsuits driving a decision...

... I check for an accompanying story of editorial advocating tort reform.

[demosincebirth]

29. Totally agree.

[blueamy66]

33. Yep....

parents are "sue crazy" these days. It's all about the buck.

Hell, I didn't even wear shoes to school in Hawaii back in the 70s. I fell off of monkey bars and cut my ass on the slides. And guess what....my parents didn't sue. Imagine that.

Kids these days.....

[ZombieHorde]

45. In my opinion, your post is probably right. nt

[TlalocW]

5. I agree with you

My god, the coolest thing ever in grade school was this... I don't even know what to call it, but it had to be 15 feet high. It was an outside framework of three beams - two cemented in the ground going straight up and connected by the third at the top. Then connected to and inside the framework was a network of chains and tires connected to each other. Every tire had four chains connected to it at 45 degree intervals that either connected to the frame or another tire. It was beautiful to a 7-year-old kid and fun to play on. I'm sure it's been taken down since then and replaced with something boring.

TlalocW

[salvorhardin]

10. Cool!

We didn't have one of those, but the thing I was pushed off had a platform on top with a roof, two slides, and a hole in the center with an honest to god fire pole! My gawds, a firepole! You could never have that today. My whole class would swarm all over that thing like bees.

[brewens]

7. Less fun=less used=more dead from diabeties or heart disease eventually.

All we need are playgrounds kids won't play on. I don't know what you do about it but there's a tradeoff to worrying about safety too much.

[FarLeftFist]

8. I'm a parent of 2 boys and I'm glad they are safer. Safer=Less Doctor visits.

If someone is concerned about their kids being bored maybe they should try parenting and interacting a little more.

[alphafemale]

9. Playgrounds used to be so much fun.

Maybe somebody could build some of those:

- 15 foot high high swing sets that you could swing so high you could feel your stomach drop.
- Slides. Super slick metal slides two stories high. Blistering hot in the summer.
- Merry Go Rounds. Get the big kids to spin you. Getting thrown off and throwing up was common.
- Teeter-totter. Great fun to slam each other. Also a study in physics sometimes to see if you could find the balance point.
- Ladder bars/Monkey bars. Great developer of upper arm strength and agility. In grade school we used to "Monkey Fight" Which was you would hand over hand toward each other and try to be the first to wrap your legs around the other kids waist and pull him/her off the bar.
- Plus, at my grade school in winter, they'd routinely spray water over the outdoor asphalt basketball court in the winter. We didn't have skates but they let us slide around on it.
- And for most of us this was all on slag/gravel or pavement.

Build it. Fence it. Charge admission. Make 'em sign a waiver. My one concession to safety would be some sort of airbag in front of swing sets where people wanted to to that height of arc release joy of flying bit.

[salvorhardin]

12. I agree

Our tall playground equipment was all built over sandpits so if a kid fell, it'd be a relatively soft landing. We did that whole swing high and release thing so you could experience flying and it really didn't hurt at all to fall face first into the sand. The only reason I cracked my head open was because I was pushed off and fell head first, hitting my head against one of the monkey bars. It really was a rare accident, and I don't think the kid who pushed me even meant to do it.

[alphafemale]

15. A kid I was Monkey Fighting with fell off and broke her knee-cap.

I felt horrible. I don't think any of our friends ever did that game again. Everyone had always landed on their feet or at worse - butts before. It wasn't the equipment to blame or even the game really. Just a freak bad accident.

[XemaSab]

32. Merry-go-rounds scarred me for life

To this day, I can't smell bark chips without feeling sick to my stomach.

[Louisiana1976]

14. When I was a kid (back in the 60's)

backyard swingsets were totally made of metal. They were so much fun to play on.

Now the swings, etc. are made of plastic. Like they don't want kids exposed to metal. Ho hum!

Bring back the metal swingsets! They're much more fun.

(Edited to add sentence.)

[Kali]

16. when my kids were in grade school

one of them got in trouble for "climbing on the playground equipment"

he had been shimmying up a support pole instead of using the approved ladder

[WolverineDG]

50. zOMG! a kid playing on the monkey bars

we used to practice flying by jumping off the tops of the swing sets. You know, so we'd be ready when Peter Pan came by to take us to Never-Never Land.

[Matariki]

17. I agree! My town has NO swings anymore.

I LOVE swings. The lack of swings in parks sucks sucks sucks.

[Edweird]

18. I agree. They are missing out.

[Nikia]

19. It makes sense to have something soft to land on

Rather than just concrete.
Really, a lot of playground equipment built over just concrete was sort of unsafe.

[hfojvt]

39. We didn't have concrete - we had rock-hard dirt

I think it is kind of odd that all the local playgrounds are concrete. One one side of my yard there is a field of grass, on the other side a parking lot. I often see kids playing on the parking lot, but never on the grass. They have learned to see concrete as a play area.

My own grade school had two slides, one was called the big slide. One of our games was instead of sliding down the big slide, to grab the safety bar mid-slide and flip over the side (to land on your feet after a short drop). It was funny to go back as a tenth grader and see the "big" slide. It was only about 9 feet high. It looked puny to teen-age me.

But the most dangerous thing we did was play soccer. I used to get slammed all over the place in soccer. I remember one game of football banging heads with Preston. I was like, 'dang he has a hard head'. Imagine that, two math geniuses cracking skulls together in the 2nd grade. (today Preston is a math professor and I was no slouch either if I do say so myself).

[Dragonbreathp9d]

20. They just don't want to get sewed

When I was in elementary school they removed our tall slide and adjoining platform with fire polls and wouldn't allow us to play wall ball or headbutt soccer balls. Me being the ever anti- control one got in trouble for saying that all of this was "bull crap"

[Sedona]

21. My oldest daughter fell off the "monkey bars" at school in the 5th grade

and broke her wrist. She now is a personal trainer, runs a gym and can bench press 100 pounds.

(OK I'm just looking for an excuse to post a pic of my beautiful daughter. So sue me! I didn't sue the school.)

[annabanana]

23. a loverly pic m'dear!. . . . .n/t

[octothorpe]

28. I fell off some monkey bars when I was in 3rd grade and messed up my back a little

and I'm perfec.... Well, actually I'm a bad example, but I'm certain others turned out fine like your daughter.


Although, I do recall hearing stories of kids who die or become paralyzed because they fall off such equipment. But there are millions of other things that everyone does (driving, riding bikes, etc..) that probably cause way more injuries. I'm sure there is a point there somewhere, but I'm unable to make it because I fell off the monkey bars when I was 8 or 9.
.

[ZombieHorde]

44. That is a great picture. nt

[annabanana]

22. My kids (now in their 20's) never

rode a see-saw.

[loyalsister]

24. Ya and bicycle helmets are pretty offensive too

Taking all the fun out of letting the kid feel the breeze in their hair.
The assumption that it's absolutely impossible for kids have fun without the exact same equipment and accommodations we had as kids is ridiculous. I encourage my nieces and nephews to play outside and I don't see any reason how having some safety standards gets in the way of them having fun.

[alphafemale]

31. No they're just kinda silly.

A kid riding a .25 mph on a bike path needs a helmet. Really?

Should we wrap their crown in Styrofoam when they were learning to walk?

Oh Jeebs. shush my mouth. that will be the next thing.

Toddlers MUST BE given Helmets - Elbow Pads - Knee Pads in ALL ambulatory activities.

If parents are non-compliant they will be subject to fines and imprisonment.

[loyalsister]

35. Seriously?

They don't try to get some extra speed going down hills? At least one I know did and died from complications from a head injury.

[alphafemale]

37. I knew a kid that fell into an empty pool and died of a head injury.

Shit happens.

You want to mandate that kids wear helmets while walking too?

I've fallen off countless bikes, skates, skateboards, unicycles etc. I can't recall EVER hitting my head. I think it's a good idea to wear a helmet if you are going to be riding in traffic.

I'm just saying that a helmet on a kid on a bike with training wheels going barely walking speed is silly as hell.

[loyalsister]

40. Why not just let them drive cars?

If you are riding a unicycle, then you have probably learned to fall. The risk is much greater when accidents are rare and people don't know how to fall. I have found that out the hard way.
Is it really so impossible to believe that they ride bikes and skateboards in ways you never imagined? When they get really good, kids can ride very fast and very dangerously.

Teaching kids good habits is dumb? They aren't going to wear helmets in traffic or otherwise if the parents don't teach them and lay down a zero tolerance rule.

[alphafemale]

43. I said this "I think it's a good idea to wear a helmet if you are going to be riding in traffic."

Or if a kid is doing skateboard stunts.

But I will say it again...a helmet on a kid pedaling a bike on training wheels shlemping through a park at .25 miles per hour is just giving her a sweaty head.

[alphafemale]

48. "If you are riding a unicycle, then you have probably learned to fall."

Yes I did! Hadn't been on one in maybe twenty years. But a tenant had one and left it here. YES! I could still ride it.

It's not an efficient means of transportation though. Lots of work required for motion. It's not chained and geared. There's no coasting on a unicycle.

[DonRedwood]

27. I saw a girl get her head crushed in 4th grade....

In fourth grade I was sitting next to the window, kinda bored, watching the 5th and 6th graders out at recess. Right outside the window was the "witches hat". It was a super tall metal post with a...sort of cone hanging from the top of a pole. (picture a red emergency cone shape stuck on top of a baseball bat). I was smaller then but it seemed the post was as tall or taller than the 1 story 1960s school building. The cone was made out of the same metal they made monkey bars out of. Kids would grab hold of the bottom lip and run in a circle...if you got going fast enough you could pick up your feet and they would fly out in the air. (it would get going as fast as a merry-go-round so you can picture how must force they would get going.

So the witches hat was right outside my 4th grade class. It was probably 15 feet from where I was sitting. A couple of girls were hanging onto the witches hat as it spun-their feet were up in the air and then one of them lost her grip and let go. She kind of flew off into the air but then the big metal cone was thrown off balance and the remaining girl's weight suddenly pictched the hat off at an angle and it popped off and landed on her head.

Years later when I was teaching elementary school I thought of that poor girl every day. It made me a VERY neurotic teacher when I was on playground duty. It was the worst part of my day. Every kid who fell, or jumped, or tripped scared me to death.

Here is my take on it how a playground should be designed--at least at a school. Equipment should be chosen keeping in mind that there are 50 or 60 or more kids running around screaming and only one or two teachers on playground duty. THEN, you factor in that that person might be attending to some other kid who fell or tripped or screamed and then you'll know that playgrounds have to have very safe equipment that children can be trusted on.

So, yeah, balls, jump ropes, four square, basketball, hopscotch are a heck of a lot safer than big slippery cold metal monkey bars.

(and, I do know how fun monkey bars are! I used to RUN across them in 4th grade)

[alphafemale]

30. And someones grandma slipped and died in the shower.

Let's ban them.

[Zalatix]

42. DonRedwood and alphafemale, there has to be a balance.

Having an environment where kids fall on their heads is never acceptable.

However having an environment that's so safe that injuries never happen, leaves kids completely unprepared for LIFE. You can get killed just as fast from a slip on the curbside. What do you do about that?

[AtomicKitten]

34. My elementary school had concrete underneath the playgound equipment.

I recall all kinds of trauma including broken bones and lacerations.

[Odin2005]

36. It's fear of lawsuits.

[MattBaggins]

38. This is right up there with

"we ate lead paint chips for lunch and washed it down with a gallon of gasoline" rants from the right.

All of those skills and activities can be done with safer equipment. Exercise and fun can be achieved without head injuries and I take my kids to local parks every time we go to a new place and all those items are still in place.

We have more family fun centers with bungee jumpers, motorized rides and roller coasters then existed when I was a kid. The playgrounds being built now have massive maze like towers and nooks and crannies well beyond the see saws and teeter totters and lone tether ball pole I had as a kid. The playgrounds in New York communities are becoming nothing short of amazing.

The author is manufacturing a crisis just to shake a fist and wail.

[Zalatix]

41. You just don't care if kids get hurt!!! (Sarcasm)

That's what parents groups will say. Nevermind that their kids will grow up completely unprepared for any physical hazard, which is even more dangerous.

It's even worse when it comes to the over-sterilization of our environment. Ever seen the immune system of a kid from the farm versus one from the clean "I can eat off the streets of" Orange County?

[treestar]

46. I've been to many playgrounds lately

Can't agree. They are far more interesting than the ones we had. True they are safer in that high elements have fencing. But there are high places, and places to climb. There is a type of flooring they have now that is pad-like and very safe. But they are colorful and have all kinds of windows, nooks, crannies, slides, swings, ladders. They have big tic tac toe games and other games. There are ear pieces where a kid can whisper to a kid on the other side.

Maybe it is a different story in poorer areas. But at least as far as middle class, and they and poor kids can go to public parks, there are always fancy, unique built play sets.

[JBoy]

47. Hurting myself doing something stupid is how I learned 1/2 of the important things in life:

- screwdrivers and electrical sockets do not mix.
- car cigarette lighters get really hot if you push them in.
- ice skates and altitude are a bad combination.
- keep your tongue in when you jump. and around frozen fenceposts.
- when a garage door is closing, keep your fingers away.
- any stunt that starts with "hey, watch this" should be rethought.