Safe playgrounds are bad for our children

@boomerang,

I know I found that at a local playground, the structures being too small for regular kids like you say.

What the regular kids end up doing is climbing ontop of the structure - the "roof" or top that isn't made for climbing. So the kids do this risk type of stuff any way thus making a "safe" playground not so safe. It would be safer to climb on a high structure made for climbing in other words.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Next time, try pledge .... works great for increasing speed!

2 Replies

@sozobe,

I think most kids will find their adventure - if it isn't in the playground, they will make up their own. It is natural for them to want to explore and try things out.

0 Replies

@Linkat,

Quote:

What the regular kids end up doing is climbing ontop of the structure - the "roof" or top that isn't made for climbing. So the kids do this risk type of stuff any way thus making a "safe" playground not so safe. It would be safer to climb on a high structure made for climbing in other words.

I have seen Mo and his pals do this exact thing.

Someone explained to me once that the reason playgrounds don't have cool stuff for older kids is because so many parents take pride in their child being able to "beat" the other kids their age at doing things -- that if they put up a climbing structure suitable for say, 8-12 year olds that there would be someone urging their 5 year old up it.

0 Replies

@Linkat,

If I find Setanta heading to the playground with a can of Pledge, I am buying him a ticket to your house.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

After you get a good amount of video, I would hope.

1 Reply

@Questioner,

youtube sensation for sure

0 Replies

@Questioner,

I think that's a bit of a false dichotomy, though. At least, I find myself on both of the "sides" you lay out. I think that people (in general) are too lawsuit-happy these days, while I also think that a lot of the squawking about "this generation" is overwrought.

1 Reply

@sozobe,

I can see that. Middle ground is harder to define that the extremes sometimes. And in hindsight I do suppose that every generation thinks the one following it is full of trouble.

Still, I would venture that in the venue of those that publicly verbalize their position you might be in the category of 'refreshing exception'. I could also be wrong. Wouldn't be the 100th time.

0 Replies

When people of my age remember the "good ol' days," i think they miss that their situation was largely unique. Before the second world war, and especially during the depression, children worked--they didn't have a lot of free time to run around and play. After dubya-dubya two, so many parents (who had grown up during the depression) vowed that their children would have the things they'd never had. So it might have been a unique niche in time in which children did not work so much (we did work, but not as though it were a full time job), and had a lot of free time--while at the same time people weren't worried about "typical" childhood injuries, or lawsuits or creepy predators.

0 Replies

@Linkat,

This is one reason I won't have kids, I get this and understand it but wouldn't be able to help myself but be a paranoid, over-protective parent.

1 Reply

A link to a related issue, tangential but philosophically similar -

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/22/BAR61KDIGH.DTL

It's about the levels of unsafety in nature and primarily letting them be that way... at Yosemite.

2 Replies

@ossobuco,

On playgrounds, I've only designed a couple of them, both for toddlers, and both a long time ago now. I'll confirm that concern re safety combined with fear of lawsuit affected my/our choices then.

0 Replies

@Robert Gentel,

That's one nice thing about babies, though.

I started out uber-paranoid, but eventually I got over it.

The little babies seem so incredibly fragile but they're also pretty stationary and you can get used to the idea of their toughness in small ways -- then they grow and more stuff happens and they're fine and you gradually chill out.

(I was a wreck when she fell off the bed... onto carpeting... at maybe four months old. She was sleeping and I thought she was dead or passed out. No, she was just comfy. The fall didn't bother her much at all.)

1 Reply

@sozobe,

Yeah but you are very well-balanced, it may not look it from the debates I get into but I'm pretty far on the over-protective side of the spectrum.

So yeah, maybe I'd take the shark cage off in the pool after a few months but I'd still hold the spear gun in case any other toddlers get frisky.

Seriously, I would be a wreck with kids, it's bad enough with dogs.

2 Replies

@Robert Gentel,

You sound exactly the way I sounded.... you know.... before.

1 Reply

@boomerang,

I have a hard time believing you. You too seem way too normal and non-neurotic in comparison to me.

Plus, I suspect women are genetically predisposed to tell guys that they should have kids and that it will all be fine am determined not to fall prey to this biological trap. :-)

1 Reply

@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

A new study has determined our obsession with making things safe for children is actually bad for them. Critics say these playgrounds may stunt emotional development, leaving children with anxieties and fears that are worse than a broken bone. Children need to encounter risks and overcome fears on the playground. Safe playgrounds are boring and do not allow children to opportunity for thrilling experiences with heights and high speed.

Children approach risks in a progressive manner so they can progressively learn to master climbing to the highest point over the years. If their mastery fails and they fall, this rarely causes permanent damage physically or emotionally. Studies have shown that a child who’s hurt in a fall before the age of 9 is less likely as a teenager to have a fear of heights. By gradually exposing themselves to more dangers on a playground, children conquer phobias.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/science/19tierney.html

All true, it is another example amongst many of Americans not knowing the value of things, and the closely related inability to prioritize

0 Replies

@ossobuco,

And going close to the wild animals is also an issue there. Why ticket them - allow nature to take its course instead.

0 Replies

No good deed goes unpunished.

The worst thing you can do for your children is to make their lives too easy.

Rap

2 Replies

Safe playgrounds are bad for our children

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know