Dangerous Playgrounds Are Good For Kids
Darrell Hammond writes on the HuffPo:
It's National Playground Safety Week, but I'm not celebrating. In fact, I'd like to propose a National Playground Danger Week instead.Don't get me wrong: I appreciate playground safety. As the CEO of a national nonprofit that has built over 2,000 playgrounds in 15 years, there are certain precautions I'm glad we take. For instance, I'm glad we surface our playgrounds with engineered wood fiber instead of, say, cement. I'm glad that we follow guidelines for swing set placement so that a kid doesn't jump off a swing and sail smack into the side of a building.
That said, we as a country have taken playground safety too far. We have crossed the line from common sense (don't place a swing set next to a building) to that murky "What if?" territory in which we imagine every conceivable accident that could ever take place on a playground (what if a finger gets caught in a see-saw?) and try to guard against it.
The result? Boring, uninspired playgrounds that lack whimsy, risk, and -- yes -- see-saws.
We all have a natural instinct to protect children from harm. It's never fun to see a child hurt, even if it's just a scraped knee. But on the other hand, children need to take on physical challenges to learn and grow, and scraped knees and other bumps and bruises teach them valuable lessons about their own limits.
Now, here's a playground -- the Berkeley Adventure Playground pictured at the link. Here's their site. Scroll down for "history and background" here:
The Adventure Playground at the Berkeley Marina was opened 32 years ago in 1979. It is a wonderfully unique outdoor facility where staff encourage children to play and build creatively. Come climb on the many unusual kid designed and built forts, boats, and towers. Ride the zip line or hammer, saw, and paint.How can I as a parent or adult help when I am there?
When you are here, please, watch your child, respect our staff and our rules. Do not let your children under the age of 6 ride the zip line, even though you know think they could. Use good judgment and if what they are doing is destructive and dangerous- please stop them and cleanup. Remember children build these forts. Staff are making sure the playground is safe, you need to be sure your child is safe. Pick up the wood on the ground ( which is a trip hazard) and put it in the wood racks. If it is naily wood put it in the red zones. If you see things that might be dangerous, or if your child gets hurt, please tell the staff- so they can fix it and help you.
The place looks like fun:
via @freerangekids
Neat! I'd like to play there myself!
One of the best playgrounds I've ever seen is the City Museum in St. Louis.
A picture of the outside portion here: http://citymuseum.org/site/?p=66
Inside, they've got tunnels, slides, tarzan ropes, stuff to climb on and multi-level mazes that even adults get lost in -- all made out of stuff you'd find at the junk yard.
I think the best part is seeing the little kiddos there whose parents and older siblings are encouraging them to climb higher or go down the "big slide." And, once the kid reaches the top of whatever they're climbing, everyone around them bursts into applause. It's a beautiful thing.
sofar at April 27, 2012 8:41 AM
Oh, the park where I grew up was so much fun! And so dangerous! Trees to climb, and trees with thorns all over them. A sledding area that was safe from the street, but after you went down a hill, you had to drag your sled back up icy stone steps. In the summer we rode our bikes down these hills, where a boy I knew broke his arm doing just that. His sister rode her bike down one of the gravel roads and fell off her bike and landed face first on the gravel. Slid a little ways, too.
There was also a grandstand, basically a big cement square with a metal railing around it, on which certain children would practice their tight-rope walking skills.
They were already taming the place long before I left Michigan. They had removed all the branches low enough for kids to reach easily. I'm told I wouldn't recognize it now. It's very safe. Very groomed. I feel sad for today's kids, but it's just nostalgia. You can't miss what you never had.
Pricklypear at April 27, 2012 8:43 AM
My elementary playground in the 70s was effectively made up of junk. Nets for monkey bars (and real metal ones), looooooong balance beams that stretched for the length of the entire playground crossing trees five feet off the ground, lots of giant tractor tires and lots of giant wooden spools. It was heaven. Visiting it a few years ago we saw that the original playground was totally gone (even the nails in the trees howling the loooooong balance beam system were gone and was replaced by a few modern playground multi-actvity units. It went from the coolest place in the world to something that totally sucks.
Bill at April 27, 2012 2:08 PM
The playgrounds in NY are SO boring. No see-saws, no merrg go rounds...just this metal apparatus with linked sections. I too had awesome swings, a high space ship to climb on, monkey bars that went up 30feet in the air and once you got to the top, you can slide down poles in the middle. I was walking with a friend thru a park this weekened and I remarked at how boring the playground was and she said, "But older kids can be on the merry go round and going too fast for the small ones." I said so, no merry go round? "People will sue if their kid gets hurt or if you shoo the older kids."
Carmela at April 30, 2012 1:57 PM
OMG!!! Sand, wood - splinters!!! Grass, plants think of the allergies! Can you imagine a place like this in Santa Monica.?? Can anybody have a peanut butter sandwich?
That boy had a stick in his hand - maybe he thought it was a gun like the toast he had that morning.
I hear we have a new psychology study area that is called "nature deprivation," where we teach children NOT to go into the woods. LOL
Boring playgrounds that are popular today are padded with a new kind of faux material heaven forbid it should be sand - it might hurt the little kiddies - they may get sand in their shoes.
Wait until some kid is allergic to the rubber type padding on the playground - lawsuits to follow!!! No teeter-totter, no merry go round. I can only imagine what kind of adults our new world is raising.
venicementor at March 16, 2013 5:39 PM
Leave a comment