In the pursuit of safety, teeter-totters and swings are disappearing from playgrounds (whimpy libs)

Sun Sentinel ^ | 7-18-05 | Chris Kahn

[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."

[Constitution Day]

Tetherball:

Flippin' SWEET!

[aomagrat]

I reckon the iron monkey bars set in a concrete pad that I grew up with are now out of the question.

[Exit148]

We had a see saw in our back yard and my rotten brother would get me way up in the air ---- and then jump off. Or give it a big bump and I'd leave the seat. Thank goodness they don't have them in playgrounds Think of the suits!!

When the swings went from those great flat wooden ones to the stupid things they have now, the end was in sight.

I loved the swings better than anything. I'd get it as high as I could and then jump off and go sailing.

I hear the jungle gym is going, too. My husband and I used to play on it.

[dagnabbit]

In Europe they had, or have, self-powered little ferris wheels. Never saw one in the USA, even pre-nanny state. Lemee find a pic...

[Diddle E. Squat]

"Yeeee-Freepin'-Haw!"

[dc27]

We had a good set of monkey bars at my school. In the 5th grade, we were trying to see who could skip the most bars and grab the bar and hold on. I cleared four bars. I tried to clear five bars and missed. Face first in the tanbark. I couldn't see for a few minutes and had a face full of splinters. We made sure the teacher didn't notice, we didn't want to get in trouble.

[ran15]

Definition of a liberal: "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."

[GovernmentShrinker]

And they wonder why there's an epidemic of childhood obesity. These kids are told they should exercise more, but then they're barely allowed to move!

[dagnabbit]

Nope, not it.

[ArrogantBustard]

Some of us remember hard-seated swings, that we could eject ourselves from at the top of the arc.

[ReadyNow]

In many inner cities, the swings and teeter-totters at school have been replaced by 9mm handguns.

[dagnabbit]

This is the Netherlands. Could you imagine the lawyers allowing a US playground with moving items on WATER?

[patton]

I just bought my boys a motorbike, each. Honda 80 for the ten- yo, yamaha 125 for the 15-yo.

Oh, well.

[ArrogantBustard]

Good show!

[finnman69]

When I was 8 I ran intop the swing area and got whacked in the scalp with a galvanized steel baby swing. 8 stitches.

I learned to be more careful after that.

[toothfairy86]

The playground near my house growing up had a hand turned merry-go-round, wooden seats on the swing sets, a see-saw, and a twenty foot high sliding board. Except for a small grassy area near the merry-go-round, the whole playground was concrete. A few years ago, they dug up all the concrete areas, except for the area near the basketball court, and put down mulch. The city ran out of funds to finish getting the park "up to code", even though the neighborhood privately raised over $80,000 to pay the city employees to do the work. (BIG mistake! The city owns the land and wouldn't let them hire private contractors.) What a mess!

[Xenophobic Alien]

Let me know if you would like on or off the WTF! ping list.

[Think free or die]

" twenty foot high sliding board"

That takes me back . . . in the summer, we'd always ride our bikes to the school playgrounds in our neighborhood and beyond. The ones with big sliding boards (called slides in our neck of the woods) were the favored playgrounds. They were grand fun, as long as you were careful of the sun heating up the metal! I never see those around in our part of SE Pennsylvania. Either they were never common here or they've mostly been removed due to safety concerns.

[nmh]

Blush, blush ... so do I.

Okay I was born in the 50's.

Had a GREAT childhood - dodge ball, tag, rope climbing as part of gym class and all those other unacceptable games.

[kingu]

The local elementary school put in a $100,000 foam unit so that kids with wheelchairs can access the playground equipment, even though the last wheelchair bound student at the school was back in 1970 (and who had zero problems getting to the swings through the sand.)

All told, the school spent $500,000 on upgrades to the school facilities to accommodate the disabled; half of the school's toilets were removed to make room for larger stalls, teachers now have a mike so that hearing impaired students can hear them (none in the school), etc.

When the district brought up funding problems, I stood before the board and outlined how much the district wasted in all these upgrades. They pointed out that this was to make the school accessible to disabled students. I laughed at them and pointed out that no one who was in a wheel chair or on crutches could possibly open the steel classroom doors.

All told, the district spent eight million dollars on accessibility upgrades for all the district schools.

Eight million dollars, just dropped down the drain. Removed during this project was any playground equipment that wasn't disabled friendly. Every sandbox was pulled out. Every punch ball stand.

Anytime I hear a teacher in my district complaining about their salary, I point out to them the money they happily wasted on these upgrades. Yeah, sure, I could possibly see upgrading one school (and actually having someone who was disabled TRY IT OUT) but upgrading everywhere? Just money down the drain.

Nationwide, this is but the tip of the billion dollar iceberg. Thank you ADA for ensuring that good money would be drained from our schools.