New Playgrounds Are Safe—and That's Why Nobody Uses Them

[Krauter]

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/02/new-playgrounds-are-safe-and-thats-why-nobody-uses-them/252108/

The problem with safety guidelines is that they make most playgrounds so uninteresting as to contribute to reduced physical activity.

[soopaman2]

I am a concerned parent, I will let my kids do whatever they want as long as they are not bothering me while I am texting my girlfriends. When they do something stupid, I will promptly blame you because my children are so perfect and never do anything stupid. It is never my fault, or never theirs.

I plan on suing you, for alot. I need to get my nails done, and my unemployed live in boyfriend needs to pay his parole officer or he goes back into the clink.

[Krauter]

So... So you're leading a couple girls on.. AND you've got a boyfriend :o

You... You sir are good :O:

[Krauter]

Also, this makes me think of my coach and my childhood years.

1- My coach is from Moldova, moved to Russia, became a national wrestling champion in the Soviet Union (which was harder then winning the Olympics..), moved to Israel cause Soviets don't like Jews and then came here because he's a badass. Now he just complains about, pardon my russian "what pussy cats all the kids are today.

2- Makes me think of when I was a kid playing ball tag with a couple of friends on a playground. With a baseball.. (Think tag, you tag people by throwing balls at their faces..)

I was standing on the top of the playgrounds jungle gym, for lack of a better word, making fun of my friend for missing constantly with the ball when, finally having enough, he threw the ball with all his might. Hit me square in the nose which prompted me to fly backwards off the jungle gym (maybe 10-12 ft) onto the pebbles below. Had a pretty good bloody nose and some good cuts and bruises. I ran home to stuff paper towels up my nose so I could continue the game (I got the bugger back :smug: )

Nowadays, when I see kids playing (such as when I coach a highschool wrestling team) they can't even get a competitive atmosphere going and just run around like sissies.. :nope:

The coming generations are doomed.

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

Why use playground? All you need is:
1. winter with snow
2. hillside leading to frozen lake (preferably with strong ice but who cares to check?)
3. some birches, pines and rocks for obstacles
4. plastic sled
5. few competitors
Safe? :nope: Fun? :yeah:

[Gorduz]

kraznyi_oktjabr: You forgot the 10 kg round cheese that you have to chase!

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

kraznyi_oktjabr: You forgot the 10 kg round cheese that you have to chase!We used to do it in Formula style although sometimes it became more of demolition derby. :DL

Nice idea though.

[Dowly]

We used to do it in Formula style although sometimes it became more of demolition derby. :DL

Nice idea though.

We used to have F1 races with bicycles. We had few practice laps, qualifying
and of course the race.

Heck, we even had small water bottles with holes in them taped to our bikes to simulate
fuel, so we had to make pitstops and all that. :DL

[krashkart]

2- Makes me think of when I was a kid playing ball tag with a couple of friends on a playground. With a baseball.. (Think tag, you tag people by throwing balls at their faces..)

We used sticks, rocks, dirt clods, and sometimes marshmallows. Whatever we could get our grubby little hands on, we'd beat each other senseless with. :D

[Dowly]

We used sticks, rocks, dirt clods, and sometimes marshmallows. Whatever we could get our grubby little hands on, we'd beat each other senseless with. :D

Haha, we used pine cones. The ones that are long-ish and pretty darn hard. :haha:

[krashkart]

Haha, we used pine cones. The ones that are long-ish and pretty darn hard. :haha:

I forgot about the pine cones. Those things hurt like crazy! :rotfl2: The best ones to use are still green and sappy, so not only do you get good impact you also get tree sap on your opponents.

One night, in my early twenties, we got into a bagel fight behind a Bruegger's Bagels. Bagels are somewhat soft, but it don't feel too good when you get zinged in the nards with one. :dead:

[soopaman2]

Also, this makes me think of my coach and my childhood years.

1- My coach is from Moldova, moved to Russia, became a national wrestling champion in the Soviet Union (which was harder then winning the Olympics..), moved to Israel cause Soviets don't like Jews and then came here because he's a badass. Now he just complains about, pardon my russian "what pussy cats all the kids are today.

2- Makes me think of when I was a kid playing ball tag with a couple of friends on a playground. With a baseball.. (Think tag, you tag people by throwing balls at their faces..)

I was standing on the top of the playgrounds jungle gym, for lack of a better word, making fun of my friend for missing constantly with the ball when, finally having enough, he threw the ball with all his might. Hit me square in the nose which prompted me to fly backwards off the jungle gym (maybe 10-12 ft) onto the pebbles below. Had a pretty good bloody nose and some good cuts and bruises. I ran home to stuff paper towels up my nose so I could continue the game (I got the bugger back :smug: )

Nowadays, when I see kids playing (such as when I coach a highschool wrestling team) they can't even get a competitive atmosphere going and just run around like sissies.. :nope:

The coming generations are doomed.

I quote your entire post because I got a good chuckle. We used to play war with rocks as kids. Lets play rock fight! Right on, everyone loved that game. Sure people got hurt, but very rarely, most the time we had fun.

Then when we used to play football in a parking lot, and part of the end zone was concrete, we would "cream" each other onto that concrete. The other endzone had a tree in the middle, we would mash each other potatoes against it, then eat dinner at the kids house later that night.

But go back to the 1800s, where at 14 you had to be a "man" or else you fell victim to life.

As society advances it becomes weaker and more reliant on authourities to protect it, which explains all the "laws" to "protect" us from stupidity, rather than letting Darwins law work its wonders, as it did in the past, since we hunted with a spear, and painted stick figures in cave walls, after all we are still here.

Your last sentence resonates with me though.

We really are doomed.

[tater]

We threw chestnuts, and tulip tree seed pod things at each other. Acorns, too. Later, we did so while riding at high speed on our bikes playing fighters. The goal was to shoot the other bike down (cartwheeling wreckage, ideally). Much road-rash was had by all.

[krashkart]

I got knocked off a merry-go-round when I was a kid. Ended up with a concussion. I know parents want their children to be safe and remain unbroken, but seriously... after two concussions, a broken tailbone, and an abnormally-mended broken rib I managed to reach this age I'm at now in relatively good health. (*twitch twitch*) Do kids really need rubber mats to land on when they fall off the monkey bars? Dry hardpan is soft enough. How are they supposed to learn to stand up if they never fall down and get hurt? :-?


EDIT: The real trick is learning not to fall off the monkey bars in the first place.

[Krauter]

Whatever we could get our grubby little hands on, we'd beat each other senseless with. :D

:rotfl2: So very true!

How are they supposed to learn to stand up if they never fall down and get hurt? :-?


EDIT: The real trick is learning not to fall off the monkey bars in the first place.

This This and more of This. I get that parents want to protect their kids, but all they're doing is hurting them later in life by coddling them.

@ Edit: Naah, the real trick was to make your opponent fall of the monkey bars, then land on top of them :O:

[soopaman2]

:rotfl2: So very true!



This This and more of This. I get that parents want to protect their kids, but all they're doing is hurting them later in life by coddling them.

@ Edit: Naah, the real trick was to make your opponent fall of the monkey bars, then land on top of them :O:

You look at the past few posts and it looks like pure brutality, truth is it was fun for us.

Look at todays little league, everyone gets a trophy, no one is a loser.

In order to win, you must know how tragic it is to lose.

My quote, don't steal it.:D

We have lost our "testes" as a country, or as a society.

[Krauter]

Look at todays little league, everyone gets a trophy, no one is a loser.

In order to win, you must know how tragic it is to lose


Exactly, one of the things my coach loves to tell us is that you cannot be afraid of losing. All you have to do is remember how ****ty you felt the last time you lost and all you will want to do is avoid that feeling.

[Osmium Steele]

Last summer I took the kids to a lake north of Mundellein, Illinois (near Chicago) that had an incredible play area. It covered about 1/4 acre, the predominant building material was landscaping blocks. It had multiple levels, tunnels, a big rock to climb on. The 8 - 10' walls were easy to climb and the ground was a 2 foot layer of shredded tires. Even the "adult" bleachers were made from the landscaping blocks and integrated into the play area. The "modern" play area; swings, bridges, fort, slides and poles was on the upper level.

It was the most fun I've had with the kids in years. But if it was safe and fun for a 46 year old fat man, perhaps it was too safe?

Krashkart's point was brilliant. Where's the incentive to hold on for dear life if the ground is soft enough to break your fall and not your arm?

[antikristuseke]

Haha, we used pine cones. The ones that are long-ish and pretty darn hard. :haha:

We used pinecones when things were friendly, but there were rivalries between kids in different appartment buildings so things escalated to stones, was awesome.:D

[Marcantilan]

With a 3 years daughter, I watch a lot Disney´s channels. In Mickey Mouse CLubhouse everything is dull. Really, I prefer the times when Donald smoked and Black Pete was really a badass.

Anyway...

[Bilge_Rat]

I remember when I was 10-11, for fun during the winter, we would toboggan down a run near our house, but it was no ordinary run, about a 30 degree angle, maybe 10 feet wide with trees on both sides and at the very end of the slope was a brick wall so we had to do a very quick stop to avoid it. We never thought twice about it. It still amazes me no one was ever hurt.

I also remember having BB gun fights with live pellets. Eye injury? what's that.:arrgh!:


good old days.

[Buddahaid]

I just had a BB gun fight last weekend with bronze and steel BB's. Been doing it for years but we have headgear to keep the head from damage. I was hit a good 140 times and have several nice welts to show for it and at 56 I should retire but it's just too damned fun.

[u crank]

Between the ages 8 to 12 years old I lived at Camp Borden, a military base about 70 km. north of Toronto, Canada. My Dad was in the Air force but our house was about 100 yds from the Army training area. Guess where we played? My two brothers and our friends would spend most of our summer vacation roaming this vast playground. We'd watch the tanks, hide from the M.P.s and have a riot. We'd bring home live ammo, 303 rounds that my Dad would use to hunt deer. I also learned how to smoke out there. Every day was a new adventure. I shudder at the thought of my kids or my 12 yr. old grandson doing this but we thought nothing of it. My Dad knew but Mom had no idea. Times have definitely changed. This was '58-'62.

This is what happens when you don't have computers or video games! :har: