The Boys And Girls In The Plastic Bubble (Welcome To Childhood, 2012)
Most annoyingly, the dumb LA Times couldn't be bothered to send a photographer on the Gale Holland story about an apparently decades-old treehouse a state inspector made a preschool take down, declaring it and the climbing structure to it too high. An excerpt from the piece:
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.
"If you create sanitized play areas, children are bored and their brains go to sleep," said lawyer Philip K. Howard, author of The Death of Common Sense, who has written about ridiculous playground regulations.
Kids generally resist flinging themselves over the side of a two-story tower. They take calculated risks. I recall the first time I ventured onto the park merry-go-round, clinging to the center while the big kids spun us around. As I got older, I slowly moved to the edge, finally dropping my head back over the side to watch the sky spin crazily above my head.
It was a rush. But now merry-go-rounds, seesaws and tall slides are disappearing. Wright-Chrystal told Stocking that instead of replacing the climbing structure she could introduce other activities, like balls or hopscotch.
Hopscotch! Whoopee!!
We're soon going to be a nation of weenies. For this coddled generation growing up, will they change Marines slogan to "The Few, the Frightened..."?
What are your predictions for the kids of the padded playground...the kids who aren't allowed to bring a paring knife to cut an apple to school? Zero challenge, zero tolerance, zero need to think for this generation (just say no! Well, that is, except to your Tiger Mom).
Via Overlawyered
I HATE these safe-safe-SAFE playgrounds. They are bloody boring and how can we whine that our kids wanna play videogames when we try to turn their entire world into a huge pillow? A healthy kids has bruises from playing. Luckily, my ex wife and I are in complete agreement about this.
A have a couple of guidelines for my girls; it's ok to get hurt a little, as long as you have a lot of fun first. And if you climb and fall down, I'll beat you (of course I don't; never, ever in a million years would I hit my kids), but the notion is that they are allowed to climb things. Just try to not fall down.
Neither of them get the idea of playing videogames. Their friends have Wii's and PSPs. Mine simply couldn't care less.
Oh, and completely OT; you nagged me into it. Been eating low-carb about three weeks now. Not to loose weight, 'cause my weight is fine, but to be healthy.
Jesper at February 2, 2012 1:20 AM
My predictions, based on what I've seen as a parent, is that it won't kill their risk-taking impulses, it'll just assure that they'll stay out of the playgrounds, which is a shame since playgrounds should be the place to get some relatively safe thrills, as opposed to huffing something or ravaging through their friend's parent's medicine cabinets.
This kind of stupid bureaucracy doesn't change the basic nature of kids (at least smart kids), any more than it changes the basic nature of adults (at least smart adults). It just forces us all to sneak around, finding loopholes to the rules.
As a teen, my son kayaked for miles into the Everglades and camped out all alone. He dealt with bad weather, mosquitoes, gators, and even (I later learned) sharks (that wound on his side he said was nothing was actually a shark bite!)
I got him one of those "Spot" GPS locators, and let him go it alone. It didn't make me comfortable as a parent. I worried every night he was out there, and if I'd known the specific perils he'd faced, I might've disallowed those trips (though he would've just snuck off). But today, he's one of the most competent people - the kind of Indiana Jones type kid that you'd want around in an emergency.
So, smart kids still find a way to learn independence. These silly restrictions just make it harder for them.
LS at February 2, 2012 5:41 AM
When you treat children like babies and adults like children, you get exactly that: A nation of ineffectual cowards who are more than happy to go along with whatever the parental figure commands.
damaged justice at February 2, 2012 6:24 AM
My predictions, based on what I've seen as a parent, is that it won't kill their risk-taking impulses, it'll just assure that they'll stay out of the playgrounds
I agree. I think kids will be mostly fine because they will find their own risks.
My friend's daughter is 13. She rides her bike down the street with no hands for the thrill of it. She has grown up with all the modern safeguards, but it hasn't squashed her sense of adventure. One of her younger brothers, who is 5, just learned how to ride a bike. While she was going no-hands in the street, he was on the sidewalk playing chicken with the trees.
MonicaP at February 2, 2012 6:47 AM
My 19 year old son, who has spent some time living in Germany, frequently tells me that he thinks the US is a horrible place to raise kids. I laugh and tell him that he turned out alright, but this type of idiocy bolsters his argument.
We were certainly far from perfect parents, but when he and his sister were younger we let them take risks and fail. We did draw the line at activities that posed a serious risk of death or dismemberment, but the monkey bars certainly do not qualify for that.
We were also fortunate enough to be able to send them away to good camps for the summer. This provided them with both fun and challenges, and helped them learn to be independent of their parents.
The fiercely independent boy will be hiking the Appalachian Trail starting later this month.
Here's to hoping that the pendulum swings back the other way.
Jeff at February 2, 2012 6:49 AM
As Instapundit has started saying - is it time to start considering it child abuse to send your kids to public school?
brian at February 2, 2012 7:12 AM
My daughter's preschool playground is plastic-y, but she's only two, so that's OK. A lot of the kids from there end up going to a private Lutheran school with a "real" playground that Amy mentioned in a blog some time ago. There is at least one playground in central Austin that still has monkey bars and a really tall slide. I'm pretty sure my generation was the last one to have merry-go-rounds or those big dome climbers- they removed them from our little towns park when my brother was a kid, and he was born in '85.
I agree that they find risks to take no matter how hard you try to pad their worlds. We just moved and now have a slightly sloped front yard and very sloped backyard on about an acre. It took Baby A exactly two days to figure out that if she gets her bigwheel a little ways up the drivway, she can get enough speed coming back down to crash into the garage door and give Mommy a heart attack.
@LS: You know what scares me the most about the Everglades? Pythons. It used to be be the alligators, but now it's the pythons. (We have gators here in Texas, anyway. They're in Lake Travis, and I recall growing up stories about them being caught in stock ponds, and once in the San Antonio river, right by the Riverwalk.)
ahw at February 2, 2012 7:32 AM
I remember the playground at my elementary school. Paved with asphalt, it had a merry-go-round that would have seriously hurt a child who fell inside it, except no one ever did. We knew better than to stand on the marry-go-round.
We had a great slide, and it was soooo tall. And a jungle gyn; the old-school sort made of metal. No one ever got hurt, well not seriously. Scratches were commonplace, but in 1969 we shrugged them off.
Yep, a nation of weenies.
roadgeek at February 2, 2012 8:02 AM
"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."
Reminds me, as many things do these days, of a passage from Walter Miller's great novel A Canticle for Leibowitz:
"To minimize suffering and to maximize security were natural and proper ends of society and Caesar. But then they became the only ends, somehow, and the only basis of law—a perversion. Inevitably, then, in seeking only them, we found only their opposites: maximum suffering and minimum security."
david foster at February 2, 2012 8:31 AM
Ahw, I know, me too. I don't think he encountered any pythons. If so, he spared me that story. They say pythons are taking over the Everglades though. I know a guy here who does tours, and he catches them all the time.
I think it's important to note that this isn't just driven by a sentiment to pad our children's lives. This is about local governments protecting themselves from liability. Nutty parents have sued over broken arms or sprained ankles and ruined it for the rest of us.
I mean, I have to deal with this worry all the time. Should I allow tourists to take out kayaks...swim off our beach...steer a paddleboat? Just the other day I was in talks with my insurance company on these liabilities, and the sad thing is that to even allow ADULTS to have fun puts me at risks for lawsuits.
Apparently, if they slip and fall on land, I'm covered, but if they drown off my beach, I'm not. If I have a lifeguard, and someone still drowns, it's even worse, so insurance advises not to have a lifeguard. That's like taking responsibility for their safety, and we want to avoid that.
But grown adults can't be expected to take responsibility for their own safety, no matter how many waivers or "swim at your own risk" signs I might post.
This is really the problem. It's not just the kids who require sterilized, perfectly safe, padded environments. The kid won't sue me if he falls and breaks a leg, but I guarantee the parent will.
LS at February 2, 2012 8:37 AM
From the LA Times article:
But in the United States of Litigation, fear is enough. When Stocking told her that parents were angry about the playground being dismantled, Wright-Chrystal said they were the very people who would sue if something happened to their children.
"That's insulting to me and to my parents to think we have that kind of relationship," Stocking said, her eyes filling with tears.
I'm not sure it matters if Ms. Stocking is insulted or not. Ms. Wright-Chrystal may be spot on. And while the commenters on the Times piece are all sure these regulations are driven by fear of litigation, I wonder how many of them would call out a lawyer after their child's unique and particularly egregious (in their eyes) injury?
Old RPM Daddy at February 2, 2012 8:45 AM
When I was in the ninth grade, I broke my leg during gym class. I was on the farthest field from the school, and refused to let the nurse wheel me back over the recently aerated field, so she called an ambulance in exasperation. (The skin wasn't broken, and she didn't believe that my leg was really broken, and berated me for making such a big deal out of what was "probably a sprained ankle".)
Several parents who heard about this told my mom that she should sue the school for not providing proper equipment for the students during gym.
She would up having the school pay for the cost of the ambulance, since if the nurse had splinted my leg, the ambulance wouldn't have been necessary, my leg being stabilized and all. That was it. No suing for misconduct (which since they admitted the nurse had messed up, would have been easy to do) and no suing for even my regular medical bills to be paid. The way my mom looked at it, I was a tomboy who played pretty rough, and it was only luck that I hadn't broken something sooner.
Point being, if you let your kids actually play, they're going to get hurt. Not always broken bones, but plenty of bruises, scratches, and possibly even a concussion. It's part of growing up, learning what your limits are and how far you're wiling to push them.
In other words, skills most people use as adults.
Jazzhands at February 2, 2012 9:33 AM
One answer is Montessori School -- an educational system very well studied with a long history and its focus is on following the child and letting children do for themselves. Our kids are surprisingly competent, and proud of themselves to boot. And they let them play in the dirt, they come home FILTHY, and they had a good day. The state regulators have made them stop doing some things, but they do what they are allowed to let the kids explore.
Lynn at February 2, 2012 9:34 AM
It's no surprise we have an "Occupy" movement across the nation agitating for government to guarantee more and more safety and comfort. This is the first wave of those kids to grow up in an over-managed cocoon. They're simply asking that their childhood be extended indefintiely because this is all they know. And we'll continue to reap what we sow.
the wolf at February 2, 2012 9:43 AM
Some of my very best childhood memories are of playing on the swings. Plain, soaring, unsafe swings.
I only had the courage to jump off a couple of times. I was NOT a budding athlete or daredevil--more the bookish, introverted kid. But man, riding those swings fed my imagination. That moment at the peak of a high swing, that feeling of freedom and joy and infinite possibility as I stared into the blue sky...
The fact that many American kids don't get to feel that anymore makes me want to cry.
YTS at February 2, 2012 9:43 AM
This is the result of most parents not actually parenting and then suing when something untoward occurs. Pockets are not endlessly deep.
LauraGr at February 2, 2012 10:11 AM
There is an old-fashioned merry go round at the Cat Hollow park in round rock, for you austinites. We went to many a playdate at that park off 38th (?, I think) with the huge slide. Good times. We have a big climbing dome in our backyard, and so do many of our friends after seeing ours. Bought off the internet. I still want Dh to build a see-saw.
momof4 at February 2, 2012 11:11 AM
I see a lot of college students engage in thoughtless, risky behavior they might have thought twice about if they hadn't grown up in a bubble.
I'm talking about basic common sense stuff -- Don't walk through the bad part of town. At 3am. Wearing headphones. Drunk. In a miniskirt.
18-year-olds who've been coddled their whole lives don't seem to handle adulthood that well, let alone reality.
lsomber at February 2, 2012 11:29 AM
Apparently, if they slip and fall on land, I'm covered, but if they drown off my beach, I'm not.
I thought that beaches were considered public property?
If that isnt the case cant you put up signs saying tresspassers will be prosected? Ater all if they are on your property illegally doent that cover you if they hurt themselves
lujlp at February 2, 2012 1:34 PM
I used to drive about 20 miles to take my boy to a playground that still had equipment inspired by the 1960's space program. They wanted to update the park, but were forced to remove the cool attractions due to lack of handicap access. There was no grandfathering allowed. It was a shame, now stuff like that exists only in people of a certian ages memories.
http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2008/jul/10/heights-park-space-age-playground-become-memory-so/
BJR at February 2, 2012 2:23 PM
I got my kid a machete at about age 12. Really.
LauraGr at February 2, 2012 4:16 PM
We just want to believe that risks and accidents can be eliminated with enough technology and supervision. (I saw a sneak preview of John Sayles' "Limbo," years ago, and he talked to the audience afterward and explained that the movie was about how no, you can't cut risk out of your life.) Funny how we still take auto accidents for granted, though, provided no cell phones, alcohol, or speeding was involved!
In the same vein, unfortunately, too many modern parents have the mistaken idea that if they do everything right, their kids will never do anything wrong. This is untrue. Even dogs, who are born wanting to please others (unlike humans), cannot be so easily controlled, because even THEY have free will. Parents who can't grasp this therefore assume that every criticism of their child is either a lie or an attack on the PARENT. In the past, it's been said, when kids misbehaved, most parents understood that it was merely time to lower the boom on the kid, not to assume that they, the parents, must have done something wrong, and that chances are, they might eventually have to punish the kid again for something completely different.
I suspect, unfortunately, that it's a vicious circle - many people DO assume that if the neighbor's teen did something bad, it must be due to something the parent did wrong. (As opposed to a kid who's too young to be outdoors unsupervised anyway.)
lenona at February 2, 2012 5:29 PM
I graduated in '85. I grew up with all the cool stuff at our schools. But I lived in the country until '83.
From about age 9 or 10 I pretty much had free rein to go to a friend's house on a bike about a mile away. We would then go to the ice cream shop about 3-4 miles away. My mother was never bothered by it. I did have to cook towards the end for the family, but even a crock-pot meal was very acceptable. ;-)
I turned out ok.
If I were ever to have kids -- I'd try to give them 10 square miles to play in.
Jim P. at February 2, 2012 7:38 PM
BJR...wow, how sad.
david foster at February 2, 2012 8:10 PM
JAzzhands... sometimes it isn't the parents who want to sue, but their insurers. The kids' health insurance won't cover the medical costs if they think they can get the school's insurance to cover it instead.
NicoleK at February 2, 2012 11:03 PM
I just had a conversation about kids and freedom yesterday. I was saying how I liked where we live, since there's a commuter rail into the city, so if our kid, when she's 13 or 14 wants to go see a movie in town, she can hop on the train and go. My friend looked at me, shocked, and said, "13 or 14", and I responded "Or 10, or whatever". It turns out she was shocked for the opposite reason.
I pointed out that when I was about 9 or 10 I took the Swiss trains alone from Geneva to Neuchatel. But she was all "But going into Lausanne, alone!" I pointed out that when I was 13 or 14 I rode around the Boston MBTA by myself and Boston is a MUCH bigger city than Lausanne.
I guess her parents were very protective. She suggested I drop her off, do some shopping, and pick her up right after the movie. Good lord.
My kid's 1, so it'll be a while, but really.
NicoleK at February 2, 2012 11:06 PM
@NicoleK: Right on. Our son has been taking the train alone to school for years now - since about the age of 10. Thankfully, this bubblewrap idiocy has not reached Switzerland!
Of course, it helps that "normal" people use public transport here. As you undoubtedly know, in some parts of the US, the only people on the public transport are people who have absolutely no other choice, in other words, not necessarily the best segment of the population.
I do understand where the desire for bubblewrap comes from. One of the hardest things to do as a parent is to watch your child take risks while smiling and waving. This is hard, but it is part of the job description of a parent.
As an example, one of our kids loves to climb trees, the higher the better. We taught him some basic rules (like avoiding dead branches), and let him discover his limits early. He's become a very competent and careful climber. If we had prohibited his early experiments, he would either have given up climbing entirely (a shame), or he would have taken stupid risks outside of parental supervision.
bradley13 at February 2, 2012 11:43 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/02/02/big_stupid_jour.html#comment-2952993">comment from NicoleKYay, Nicole, for not being a psycho parent. And congrats on the baby! (Hope you're getting some sleep.)
Amy Alkon at February 2, 2012 11:57 PM
Thanks, she's one now so the sleep thing is more or less ok!
... I hope I didn't just jinx it.
My brit ex-pat friends keep talking about how they are scared to let their kids walk to school because of kidnappers. WTF? We live in the Swiss countryside in a village of about 1100 people. Everyone knows everyone. There are lots of retired people and SAHMs who are at home during the day. The kids walk home en masse, they're all let out at the same time and there are about 2 or 3 main roads they walk home on, and they can all see each other.
Tree climbing is awesome. I never did make it to the top of a tree, but I had fun on the lower branches.
NicoleK at February 3, 2012 3:41 AM
"If that isnt the case cant you put up signs saying tresspassers will be prosected? Ater all if they are on your property illegally doent that cover you if they hurt themselves"
They're not trespassers; they're guests at my resort.
I think Lenona makes an excellent point. It was always hard for parents to watch their kids take risks, but parents had a different mindset a generation or so ago. Not just that kids will fail, get hurt, or get into trouble, but that when this happened, it wasn't necessarily THEIR fault.
Today, parents are judged quite harshly by society at large, and by each other. It's presumed that if a child is doing something wrong - having a tantrum in public or misbehaving at school - that the parents are to blame.
This carries over into taking risks. Years ago, if a kid fell out of a tree, a kid fell out of a tree. Today, the narrative would be that the parents "let him get hurt".
CPS and the like haven't helped this mindset either. Today, you can potentially be criminally charged for "letting" your child get hurt.
LS at February 3, 2012 4:30 AM
I think there's a strong case that this is at least partly a result of the feminization of society - and especially the epidemic of single parenthood, mostly single mothers.
Mothers are, by nature, more risk-averse and "nurturing" than fathers. Which has its place; in an intact family, calculated-risk-taking is balanced with caution. In a society where a strong plurality of children have only mothers at home, they're being raised without that balance. And teachers today report that it's showing; single moms project their feelings of vulnerability onto their kids, not letting them play outside, cooping them up indoors in front of the TV and video games.
Education, too, has been feminized for decades. Rough, aggressive play used to be what boys did at recess; now, it gets them punished, if they get recess at all.
Given the feminization of education and society, and the epidemic of children growing up without any male modeling, the question isn't "why is our society treating kids like breakable Hummel dolls". It's "why aren't things worse than they are?"
MItch Berg at February 3, 2012 5:23 AM
It all ties in together. Divorce has certainly contributed, with single parents of either gender worried to make a mistake.
"Letting" your child fall out of a tree has become grounds to be dragged back into court by the non-custodial parent and declared unfit. I've seen warring parents do this over tiny scrapes or even colds! ("he/she didn't take him to the doctor fast enough and an infection developed!")
I have a friend who is constantly in court over this kind of crap. If their son develops a cough or falls down, she's aware that the ex is watching her every move. It's sad because they live one street over from each other, but Dad makes an issue if she lets their 10 yr old walk the block to his house alone. The park is down the street too, but God forbid he be allowed there unsupervised and fall and hurt himself! Call the lawyers!
So, in this climate, it seems much smarter to a lot of parents to avoid risk at all costs.
LS at February 3, 2012 6:45 AM
it seems much smarter to a lot of parents to avoid risk at all costs
The best way for parents like this to keep their kids from getting hurt is really simple: don't have kids!
The world would be a better place...
a_random_guy at February 3, 2012 7:59 AM
The best way for parents like this to keep their kids from getting hurt is really simple: don't have kids!
The world would be a better place...
Posted by: a_random_guy at February 3, 2012 7:59 AM
Reminds me of what someone said at alt.support.childfree about "Brokeback Mountain" - that the clear message of the movie was: Having kids spoils everything. (grin)
lenona at February 3, 2012 10:52 AM
Who knew that "Logan's Run" would be the goal of...Americans?
"But grown adults can't be expected to take responsibility for their own safety, no matter how many waivers or "swim at your own risk" signs I might post."
LS, this is one reason why we sold the marina on Merritt Island. By 1983, the line of people and agencies with their hands out to be paid for "liabilities" was too long to endure.
It's been said a democracy is doomed when the electorate figures out it can vote itself money. We're there now, but some people noticed a long time ago that they could regulate to get the same thing.
Yes, a trespasser can sue for hurting himself while trespassing.
We, the people, suck.
Radwaste at February 3, 2012 4:23 PM
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