Dangerous as hell, and we LOVED it.
When I was in the 6th grade or so (approx. 1981?) , I remember it being taken down from my former elementary school's playground because some idiot kid had broken his arm.
Posted on 07/19/2005 6:59:02 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
Andrea Levin is grateful that Broward County schools care about her daughter's safety. But this year when they posted a sign that demanded "no running" on the playground, it seemed like overkill.
"I realize we want to keep kids from cracking their heads open," said Levin, whose daughter is a Gator Run Elementary fifth grader in Weston. "But there has to be a place where they can get out and run."
Broward's "Rules of the Playground" signs, bought from an equipment catalogue and displayed at all 137 elementary schools in the district, are just one of several steps taken to cut down on injuries and the lawsuits they inspire.
"It's too tight around the equipment to be running," said Safety Director Jerry Graziose, the Broward County official who ordered the signs. "Our job was to try to control it."
How about swings or those hand-pulled merry-go-rounds?
"Nope. They've got moving parts. Moving parts on equipment is the number one cause of injury on the playgrounds."
Teeter-totters?
"Nope. That's moving too."
Sandboxes?
"Well, I have to be careful about animals" turning them into litter boxes.
Cement crawl tubes?
"Vagrants. The longer they are, the higher possibility that a vagrant could stay in them. We have shorter ones now that are made out of plastic or fiberglass."
Broward playgrounds aren't the only ones to avoid equipment that most adults remember. Swings, merry-go-rounds, teeter-totters and other old standards are vanishing from schools and parks around the country, according to the National Program for Playground Safety.
"Kids aren't using them the way they're supposed to," said the agency's director, Donna Thompson, who led a national effort to get rid of animal swings two years ago. "I'm pleased that a lot of these are disappearing."
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
I remember the dumbing-down of playgrounds that occurred from the late 1970s straight through the 1980s. I can't believe they could possibly get any softer.
Stupid! Just stupid...! And then these same stupid lib weenies go and complain about child obesity and lament their lack of exercise! Stupid, I say!
I played Baseball when I was a kid. My best friend and I played on the same team when we were kids. We even rode to the hospital together once due to injuries sustained in the same game.
Oh no - creativity in a child! Squash that independence now, before they grow up to be pill and therapy-free...
(They may even vote in their own interest someday!)
Oh the horror.
They wonder why the kids are fat. But I guess it allows all those sue happy trial lawyers a chance to cash in twice. Once from the school district and the equipment manufacturers for having dangerous equipment and then from the fast food folks for letting the kids get porky.
LOL! Stupid ignorant morons.
When I was in the 6th grade or so (approx. 1981?) , I remember it being taken down from my former elementary school's playground because some idiot kid had broken his arm.
I've wondered why Gen Xers on this forum all seem to be such whiners. I just realized that it was when they were kids that all the cool (and risky) stuff started to disappear, they were raised not to take chances. I hope the Hindus got the re-incarnation thing wrong, I'd hate to come back to such a pussified world.
That pretty much explains why obesity is such a problem for children and teenagers. Of course the health problems associated with obesity are responsible for taking more life expectancy than playground accidents.
Correction. GRRR.
"I don't know if that would mean much to a 6-year-old," Bartleman said of the signs. "How does a child know what's appropriate for their age group?"
I'm sure the lawyers already have that question answered.
The plastic child safe playground equipment in our local parks are jokes. The kids can't slide down the slide because it isn't slippery enough. They have to pull themselves down with their legs. They almost didn't put the merry go round back in the park when they did a make-over. Thankfully they heard about it and put it in. They did add a skirt that probably does make it more safe. But at least the kiddos can still get dizzy.
My granddaughter tripped on a raised tree root. She fell and knocked out her four front teeth.
Time to rid playgrounds from those dangerous, menacing trees.
Who ever said that living one's life would be without risks?
Could also read...no parents are supervising.
Slap you in the face with a tetherball. WHAP!
Playgrounds are being phased out and replaced by video games. And people wonder why kids are getting fat
And people wonder why kids seem lazy?
Because there is no motivation. Parents need to teach kids that life is always faced with risks, but fear will eliminate motivation.
Life is more than a remote control and a bag of potato chips. But we are protecting the children from bumps and scrapes and all the things that hurt their self esteem.
Welcome to the "wussification of America".
When I was a kid, we would swing as high as possible so we could 'bail out'. Sometimes we'd swing so high we'd get too much slack in the chain and get dumped out on our faces. 'Jungle Gym' sets were where some kids got teeth knocked out; tether ball would slap us silly if we weren't watching, and all of these fun things were open and available after school to play on - unregulated! - oh the horrors...
Life is short. Play hard.
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