Can a Playground Be Too Safe?

[alp227]

“Children need to encounter risks and overcome fears on the playground,” said Ellen Sandseter, a professor of psychology at Queen Maud University in Norway. “I think monkey bars and tall slides are great. As playgrounds become more and more boring, these are some of the few features that still can give children thrilling experiences with heights and high speed.”

(...)

Fear of litigation led New York City officials to remove seesaws, merry-go-rounds and the ropes that young Tarzans used to swing from one platform to another. Letting children swing on tires became taboo because of fears that the heavy swings could bang into a child.

“What happens in America is defined by tort lawyers, and unfortunately that limits some of the adventure playgrounds,” said Adrian Benepe, the current parks commissioner. But while he misses the Tarzan ropes, he’s glad that the litigation rate has declined, and he’s not nostalgic for asphalt pavement.

“I think safety surfaces are a godsend,” he said. “I suspect that parents who have to deal with concussions and broken arms wouldn’t agree that playgrounds have become too safe.” The ultra-safe enclosed platforms of the 1980s and 1990s may have been an overreaction, Mr. Benepe said, but lately there have been more creative alternatives.

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

Did anyone else besides me think "childhood obesity" when reading this?

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. I can remember *gasp* climbing a tree when I was a child. n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

17. when I was 5 years old...

I climbed up on the shed and jumped off- multiple times. The roof was 8 foot high. We rode bikes all over god's creation until night fell. We explored storm drains to see where they went. We never wore helmets while riding bikes. We once set up a ramp (this was during the Evel Kneivel days) and were jumping off of it. I got up so much speed one time that the only thing that stopped me from getting run over was my pedal hit a speed limit sign, thus dumping me straight on the grass (keeping me out of the road). All great adventures (well, great when you are young). We pushed the boundaries and somehow survived. I feel sorry for the children today, who are far too coddled. Kids need to get out and explore, even if that only means shooting HORSE in the driveway.

[Drale]

2. No I thought about a childhood friend

who was not even allowed to ride a bike because he might fall off and get hurt. Kids are going to get hurt, I can't tell you how many times I fell or hit my head, or scrapped my knees and elbows and I suffered no long term ill effects.

[alp227]

4. interesting, do you think that overprotection hurts children

as this article sorta pointed out?

[cheapdate]

13. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't.

I don't know. Maybe it's just nostalgia or maybe it's the kid inside me that has never grown up, but when I see how controlled and supervised that kids lives today have become (as it seems to me) compared to how we hooligans used to roam the streets and neighborhoods, and the woods and creeks like wild things, I just can't help but feel a small loss.

But admittedly, I don't see any harm it's having, with my own kids anyway. My wife and I seldom disagree, but I occasionally advocate for a more laissez-faire approach to child-care than she does. "The risk of shark attack is way overblown" I might say, "they'll be fine!" She usually wins these debates by a wide margin.

[Lugnut]

6. I still have imbeded dirt in an elbow scar from a bike fall.

I was doing something stupid on my bike and it slid out from under me in some dirt. I learned to not do stupid stuff on my bike. I never broke any bones and it didn't kill me.

[vduhr]

11. Like Jeff Foxworthy says...

When I was a kid, my parents had a 900-pound television on top of a TV tray. My dad's theory was, "Let him pull it over his head a few times, he'll learn. You wanna put a penny in a light socket? Try that out. OHH! Hurt like hell, didn't it? Don't do that no more."

[Frisbee]

10. "I can't tell you how many times I fell or hit my head"

and you ended up a Cubs fan! hahahahahaha :rofl:

[Drale]

12. O no sir I WAS BORN A CUBS FAN!!!! /nt

[Frisbee]

15. Sorry, man....

but as a Cards fan I just had to say it! :toast:

[ChazII]

3. Finally some common sense. n/t

[jberryhill]

5. Some of what used to pass for playgrounds, though, were insane

My elementary school had installed a variety of climbing structures on an asphalt surface, and that struck me as nuts even as a second grader. A class of about 40 children should not be generating three bone fracture injuries per year. That's just not normal.

[jtuck004]

7. Playgrounds should be razed and replanted with trees.

Fences ok, but the kids need to play in the trees, with a stream or two. Swings are rope. The older ones can put the up, the younger ones can use them. (Note: Some kids are gonna get a stick in the eye - though perhaps not as many as are hurt by concrete and steel).
Maybe a garden for those that don't want to play the stupid ball games.

Dirt, btw, is a pretty good surface, better when slightly muddy ;)

[cheapdate]

14. Hooray for dirt! n/t

[libmom74]

8. I taught my son to climb the tree in our back yard

when he was 7. A lot of the playgrounds don't even have swings now, it's ridiculous.

[raccoon]

9. Maybe it's a liability issue. nt

[johnd83]

16. The world is not a safe place

Keeping our kids in a bubble is not a good way to create adults capable of handling risk. Also this sterile house Lysol thing is just giving kids weak immune systems. Same general idea.