Link: The Politics of Playground, a History

[HejKatt]

From The Atlantic Cities:

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/03/politics-playgrounds-history/1480/

 

Excerpt:

"On the one side, you have the safety advocates who want lower structures, softer ground, and less opportunities for falling off or over, well, anything. On the other, those who worry that a safe playground is a boring playground that will do little to stimulate a child's imagination."

 

Personally, I'm on the safety advocates' side but I had to laugh when I read about the Berkeley playground having "lots of mud". I took the dc out for a walk in the rain yesterday, and they came home splattered with mud. Child + stick + mud = you know the rest of the story.. :001_smile:

[rieshy]

Interesting. My kids still bemoan a fabulous and completely unsafe playground they used to love that was torn out and replaced with a cookie-cutter "safe" one.

 

I'm not a fan of attempting make everything safe. I think it usually backfires.

[katilac]

There is a huge difference between advocating for safety in the sense of no one getting killed, and safety in the sense of no one getting hurt. I'm fine with my kids getting hurt ;)

 

By all means, use good design to eliminate known choking and entrapment hazards, and don't have spiky fences too near the swings. But it's ridiculous to eliminate everything that might result in occasional pain and suffering, but not severe injury or death (barring freak accidents).

 

Yes, I think most playgrounds are boring. I utterly despise the ubiquitous "tot lots" and I loathe the practice of age limits: This play area is for kids under 4, this one is for ages 4 to 8, and older kids can twiddle their thumbs, b/c apparently they aren't supposed to play after turning 9. Seriously, start checking every playground you come across, and see how few "allow" older kids. Depressing.

 

When my kids were toddlers, I couldn't believe how many people were horrified that I let them use the slide and - climbing bars, I guess? not monkey bars, but bars you could climb up to the bridge section, a whopping 3 feet or so off the ground. Seriously, they'd ask, "What if she FALLS??" in tones of near-panic. Uh, she'll go boom? She's not a china doll!

 

But we're reckless people, I guess. There is NO protective surface underneath our home swingset. Live large, kids!

[HejKatt]

Yes, I think most playgrounds are boring. I utterly despise the ubiquitous "tot lots" and I loathe the practice of age limits: This play area is for kids under 4, this one is for ages 4 to 8, and older kids can twiddle their thumbs, b/c apparently they aren't supposed to play after turning 9. Seriously, start checking every playground you come across, and see how few "allow" older kids. Depressing.

:001_smile: I'm in the minority on this thread so far, since I identify with the safe group. I would still like to advocate for the "under 4" separation at least, b/c the tots can still be unsteady when climbing, and I feel more relaxed when she is on the 2-3 ft slide than clambering up the older one (which also has bars for sliding down, fireman-style -if she were to try that, it would be falling 3x her height).

 

That said, I don't understand the distinction above 4 years (4-8 years, 8 years+). In practice, the dc at our local playground just mingle anyway.

[LisaKinVA]

I like tot lots...more because the older kids we've played around have no issues shoving past, running into, or otherwise paying no attention to those around them. The tots (even with supervision) are in more danger from the big kids rough-housing than the equipment. Same things happen in the tot-area at one of the local pools :glare:.

 

So, I guess I'm sort-of in the middle. I miss the merry-go-rounds, see-saws, rings, monkey bars... things that make the kids actually have to "work" while they are playing. I'd love to show my kids how to hang from the high-bars, and "flip" over...jump off...the things I used to do as a kid. I guess I should be happy the swings don't have safety harnesses :D -- or maybe just grateful we have swings!

[melissel]

I like tot lots...more because the older kids we've played around have no issues shoving past, running into, or otherwise paying no attention to those around them. The tots (even with supervision) are in more danger from the big kids rough-housing than the equipment.

 

I agree. I remember being horrified by the behavior I saw when I used to take DD9 to our local playground when she was little. I'm still horrified by it. Older kids seem to think nothing of shoving a small child standing at the top of slide, getting ready to go down, right out of the way so they can go first. But I also agree that any age distinction above that is unnecessary. I don't actually think I've seen that here though. Any park I can think of that has designated "little kid" equipment also has big kid equipment with no age specifications too. It makes me wonder if it has to do with the size of the children vs. the size of the equipment (openings, etc.)?

 

I guess I should be happy the swings don't have safety harnesses :D -- or maybe just grateful we have swings!

 

The swings at our local park do :lol: I'd never seen that before! They're like car seats with swing-down fronts! There are more of those than regular swings (I think there are two regular swings, four harness swings, and four baby swings).

[PeacefulChaos]

Interesting. My kids still bemoan a fabulous and completely unsafe playground they used to love that was torn out and replaced with a cookie-cutter "safe" one.

 

I'm not a fan of attempting make everything safe. I think it usually backfires.

 

There is a huge difference between advocating for safety in the sense of no one getting killed, and safety in the sense of no one getting hurt. I'm fine with my kids getting hurt ;)

 

By all means, use good design to eliminate known choking and entrapment hazards, and don't have spiky fences too near the swings. But it's ridiculous to eliminate everything that might result in occasional pain and suffering, but not severe injury or death (barring freak accidents).

 

Yes, I think most playgrounds are boring. I utterly despise the ubiquitous "tot lots" and I loathe the practice of age limits: This play area is for kids under 4, this one is for ages 4 to 8, and older kids can twiddle their thumbs, b/c apparently they aren't supposed to play after turning 9. Seriously, start checking every playground you come across, and see how few "allow" older kids. Depressing.

 

When my kids were toddlers, I couldn't believe how many people were horrified that I let them use the slide and - climbing bars, I guess? not monkey bars, but bars you could climb up to the bridge section, a whopping 3 feet or so off the ground. Seriously, they'd ask, "What if she FALLS??" in tones of near-panic. Uh, she'll go boom? She's not a china doll!

 

But we're reckless people, I guess. There is NO protective surface underneath our home swingset. Live large, kids!

 

:iagree::iagree:

We have 3 parks in town - the oldest has seesaws, a merry go round, swings, etc, but not a whole lot of any of them - it's not too bad. The one closest to our house (we could walk there) is a 'play structure' with the seemingly required 3 slides, etc. Our newest one is awesome - especially for older kids. It has tons of stuff, and part of it is 3 levels. When we first took DD, we were a little hesitant about the ladders between levels, but now (we've been 3 times total) she does them well. :) I've also found that, while my boys like the other two playgrounds, also, the newest one is geared toward them the most - plenty of things to climb over, etc - whereas the others come off a little more as 'older kids shouldn't be playing'. (Granted, when we were there, an 8-9 year old boy did nothing but walk around listening to his iPod :001_huh: while his younger siblings played and his mom sat in the car on the phone. It made me sort of sad, actually - he's my oldest son's age, and had NO interest in playing whatsoever. It was just...odd to me.) Of course, I remember playing on my neighbor's playset until we were probably 10-11. I guess we were just 'immature' that way. :glare:

I'm not a huge fan of 'safety' in the instance where it makes life boring. I get being safe enough. But I have no concerns as to whether my kid could get bumps, bruises, etc. They're supposed to get those - they are kids. I really don't understand any other way of thinking.

[AndyJoy]

The swings at our local park do :lol: I'd never seen that before! They're like car seats with swing-down fronts! There are more of those than regular swings (I think there are two regular swings, four harness swings, and four baby swings).

 

Are these swings large enough for adults? If so, I believe they are intended for children/teens/adults with special needs. I've been to several parks that are advertised as being handicapped accessible and that's the point of these swings.

[Julie in Austin]

Several playgrounds in our area have recently been redone with equipment that looks way more dangerous and way more fun. I commented on this to a friend and she said that, yes, it was more dangerous, but on the older, safer, equipment, kids looking to have a little fun misused the equipment (like: climbing on the outside of a covered slide, or walking along the top of a handrail) and had *more* accidents than on the newer equipment. I thought that was interesting.

[melissad2]

I think I'm from the kids will be kids and they will get hurt camp. I wouldn't give my kids a knife to play with or let them play on the monkey bars with drawstring hoodies, but some things have just gone too far. One McDonalds in our town recently remodeled and they took out their grand play place and put in a plastic toddler area that is absolutely NO fun at all even for my 2yo.

 

And yes, we have a trampoline. :leaving:

[PeacefulChaos]

Several playgrounds in our area have recently been redone with equipment that looks way more dangerous and way more fun. I commented on this to a friend and she said that, yes, it was more dangerous, but on the older, safer, equipment, kids looking to have a little fun misused the equipment (like: climbing on the outside of a covered slide, or walking along the top of a handrail) and had *more* accidents than on the newer equipment. I thought that was interesting.

 

I could definitely see that. Here there are always kids climbing over things that they aren't necessarily supposed to climb over. ;) Haven't seen that at the new playground yet, though...maybe because it's interesting enough on its own? :)

[justamouse]

My older cousin (49?) got her finger ripped off at an unsafe playground. she was using the monkey bars, which used to be bolted together with crews and nuts, and her ring got caught. When she went to jump off, her finger stayed with the ring. It was able to be reattached, but she's never had full movement.

 

I'm for balance. Nuts and bolts don't belong on monkeybars, but I'm not for wrapping kids in bubblewrap, either.

[melissel]

Are these swings large enough for adults? If so, I believe they are intended for children/teens/adults with special needs. I've been to several parks that are advertised as being handicapped accessible and that's the point of these swings.

 

Oh, I never thought about that. You may be right. They're definitely not large enough for adults, but I can see how they'd be useful for special needs kids.

 

My older cousin (49?) got her finger ripped off at an unsafe playground. she was using the monkey bars, which used to be bolted together with crews and nuts, and her ring got caught. When she went to jump off, her finger stayed with the ring. It was able to be reattached, but she's never had full movement.

 

I'm for balance. Nuts and bolts don't belong on monkeybars, but I'm not for wrapping kids in bubblewrap, either.

 

:svengo:

[katilac]

I like tot lots...more because the older kids we've played around have no issues shoving past, running into, or otherwise paying no attention to those around them. The tots (even with supervision) are in more danger from the big kids rough-housing than the equipment. Same things happen in the tot-area at one of the local pools :glare:.

 

So, I guess I'm sort-of in the middle. I miss the merry-go-rounds, see-saws, rings, monkey bars... things that make the kids actually have to "work" while they are playing. I'd love to show my kids how to hang from the high-bars, and "flip" over...jump off...the things I used to do as a kid. I guess I should be happy the swings don't have safety harnesses :D -- or maybe just grateful we have swings![/QUOTE]

 

I don't dislike tot lots as such, I suppose, but rather the trend I am seeing for tot lots to replace mixed age playgrounds, and to be seen as sufficient, as if older children don't have just as strong of a need for a play space. If I had to choose, I would actually say that older children need them more, b/c toddlers are more easily challenged just by 'life,' kwim? In any case, I would be a lot happier with age segregation IF it didn't seem to result in an an upper age of about 8 in so many cases.

 

And, yes, be grateful you have swings! We have to drive about 15 minutes to find parks with swings; none of the nearby parks have them. I wonder if anyone has researched a possible link between the huge decline in park swings, and the increase in kids getting occupational therapy? Swinging is frequently used to promote sensory integration and other theraputic goals.

 

Most kids love to swing, and many of them do so daily when a swing is readily availabe. It seems quite self-evident that swinging is a strong natural impulse, or even instinct. Ironically, swings are being eliminated for both safety and cost issues, with what I bet is the exact opposite result. Money is saved building the playground, and no one breaks their arm jumping off the swing, but countless kids are then sent to OT and encouraged to . . . swing.

[Bluegoat]

i think that it's important for playgrounds to be safe in the sense that when kids use them they can't get their fingers ripped off, or cuts on equipment, that sort of thing. But creating a perfectly safe playground with no possibility of injury is really not possible or desirable IMO.

 

I thing small kid areas can be nice in a busy playground for less adventurous or physical toddlers, but I don't like the idea of restricting play structures for older kids or removing them.

[AvasMom]

Interesting. My kids still bemoan a fabulous and completely unsafe playground they used to love that was torn out and replaced with a cookie-cutter "safe" one.

 

I'm not a fan of attempting make everything safe. I think it usually backfires.

 

:iagree:

[AvasMom]

My older cousin (49?) got her finger ripped off at an unsafe playground. she was using the monkey bars, which used to be bolted together with crews and nuts, and her ring got caught. When she went to jump off, her finger stayed with the ring. It was able to be reattached, but she's never had full movement.

 

I'm for balance. Nuts and bolts don't belong on monkeybars, but I'm not for wrapping kids in bubblewrap, either.

 

:leaving::scared::ack2: I'm going to be walking around holding my finger all day now. *shudder*