Safe playgrounds

[Weird Harold]

This thread is the old farts hanging around on the general store's wooden porch, filching crackers and pickles from the barrels and bitching about how things were better in the old days.

Too cute!

I'm amazed that I and my peers survived what where common items of playground equipment in the 50s and 60s. There were some truly dangerous designs in the parks of my youth. It seems to me that the more dangerous a pieces of equipment was when used properly, the more popular it was, and if the equipment could be used improperly it was even more popular.


I do think the trend has gone too far the other way with all types of merry-go-rounds and most versions of teeter-totters banned as well as the other safety features required of parks today. Some are good and wise improvements, but others amount to bubble wrapping children.

 

[Pure]

stella //This thread is the old farts hanging around on the general store's wooden porch, filching crackers and pickles from the barrels and bitching about how things were better in the old days.

Too cute!//

Stella Omnipresent opines. Can be counted on to bump threads she doesn't approve! Tnx!

 

[Stella_Omega]

Wussification doesn't mean not doing what you can't afford, it means doing it and expecting somebody else to pay for your mistake. Wussification is keeping your child from knowing pain and suffering so when they get in the really world, they wonder what the fuck happened. Wussification, is the state choreographing each and every one of your moves from birth to grave.

Trying to do something is not being a wuss, not trying is.

Alrighty then, gramps, I'm glad we've cleared that up.

 

[R. Richard]

*a bitter laugh*

Not having health insurance turns any thinking person into a physical coward.

I do consider myself a thinking person. I didn't have health insurance whern I was younger, as I didn't even have money to buy food (I used to shop lift suipper.) I didn't/don't consider myself a physical coward. I did/do try to avoid trouble, when I reasonably can. However, if someone insists on making trouble, I try to avoid saddling anyone with medical care costs. The scumbags don't like what I do. (They do like pimpin' for they mama. I have directly discussed the matter with any number of them.)

 

[voluptuary_manque]

It is possible, however, to build sensible equipment. That's why I insist that Stella come over to use my powersaw when she needs wood cut up. Riving knives and blade shields don't make the saw less fun, they just reduce the chances of taking your hand off. Note reduce. Stupid is as stupid does.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I do consider myself a thinking person. I didn't have health insurance whern I was younger, as I didn't even have money to buy food (I used to shop lift suipper.) I didn't/don't consider myself a physical coward. I did/do try to avoid trouble, when I reasonably can. However, if someone insists on making trouble, I try to avoid saddling anyone with medical care costs. The scumbags don't like what I do. (They do like pimpin' for they mama. I have directly discussed the matter with any number of them.)

I think we were were talking about over-protecting ourselves and our kids from breaking bones during recreational activities that otherwise we would enjoy.

 

[mynameisben]

As long as the per capita death rate for a playground does not exceed that of a typical Los Angeles freeway, then playgrounds are plenty safe enough. I don't see CalTrans foam-padding guardrails or blanketing emergency shoulders with wood chips. Nope. The DOT counts on natural selection, to a reasonable degree, to assist in such matters.

There is a lesson in there for children, too.

 

[Stella_Omega]

It is possible, however, to build sensible equipment. That's why I insist that Stella come over to use my powersaw when she needs wood cut up. Riving knives and blade shields don't make the saw less fun, they just reduce the chances of taking your hand off. Note reduce. Stupid is as stupid does.

And man oh man, is that equipment a joy to use, too!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Cerritos College just replaced all their table saws with state-of-the-art. The staff is delighted and the students are drooling . . .

 

[mynameisben]

Cerritos College just replaced all their table saws with state-of-the-art. The staff is delighted and the students are drooling . . .

Ah, yes. The "other" UCLA. University of Cerritos, Left on Alondra. I have such fond memories.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Cerritos College just replaced all their table saws with state-of-the-art. The staff is delighted and the students are drooling . . .

I sure hope all those safety features don't turn the students into wusses!

Kids these days, never even worry about losing a finger onna bandsaw.. How are they gonna grow up I ask you!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I seem to have made it through both wood and metal shop in high school without the loss of fingers, toes, nose or other important parts. If your too stupid to follow instructions or think they don't apply to you, then there you go.

But don't blame the messenger.

 

[Pure]

the 'see saw' in the park where i took my nephew recently, is a maybe 12-foot-long
4"x4" about 16 inches above ground, with a round seat-disk at the ends. it's flexibly fixed in the center, with two giant springs, like in a truck, mounted about 2 feet either side of the center; they are maybe 6 ins in diameter coils. they 'give' very little in response to a kid's or even an adult's weight.

the amplitude of swing, at either end, is about one foot, i.e. about 6 inches down or up, from the 'rest', center position.

it's perhaps great for 2-3 year olds, esp. in parents' arms. a bit duller for a 10 year old boy! as the article mentions, the playgrounds or areas, now, are more suited to preschoolers than upper grade schoolers.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I seem to have made it through both wood and metal shop in high school without the loss of fingers, toes, nose or other important parts. If your too stupid to follow instructions or think they don't apply to you, then there you go.

But don't blame the messenger.

I think Zeb is saying that using safer equipment will turn students into wusses.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I think Zeb is saying that using safer equipment will turn students into wusses.

Unless you follow directions, there is no such thing as safe equipment. It doesn't matter how many guards, curbs, fences or backstops you put on the damn thing, if you don't know what you are doing or think you know better, you're fucked.

I'm all for safety, but most safety is just common sense. And from what I have seen in my many years is a whole lot of people without any.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Unless you follow directions, there is no such thing as safe equipment. It doesn't matter how many guards, curbs, fences or backstops you put on the damn thing, if you don't know what you are doing or think you know better, you're fucked.

I'm all for safety, but most safety is just common sense. And from what I have seen in my many years is a whole lot of people without any.

So... Is that a yes, or a no, on the wussification issue?

Or is this some other rant altogether?

Does "hold my beer and watch this" rate higher as a non-wuss thing, or lower as a damnfool thing?

And does a mother not wanting to risk her kid's arm on playground equipment rate as a wuss, or as someone showing common sense about safety?

 

[SweetWitch]

It is possible, however, to build sensible equipment. That's why I insist that Stella come over to use my powersaw when she needs wood cut up. Riving knives and blade shields don't make the saw less fun, they just reduce the chances of taking your hand off. Note reduce. Stupid is as stupid does.

It's good to see someone quoting that great philosopher, Forrest Gump.

 

[SweetWitch]

So... Is that a yes, or a no, on the wussification issue?

Or is this some other rant altogether?

Does "hold my beer and watch this" rate higher as a non-wuss thing, or lower as a damnfool thing?

And does a mother not wanting to risk her kid's arm on playground equipment rate as a wuss, or as someone showing common sense about safety?

Bwaahaahaaahaahaaa!

Oh, damn, but I remember hearing that too many times in my youth. I can still see a man's hand disappearing in a cloud of red-tinted smoke after he lit a half-stick of dynamite.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Bwaahaahaaahaahaaa!

Oh, damn, but I remember hearing that too many times in my youth. I can still see a man's hand disappearing in a cloud of red-tinted smoke after he lit a half-stick of dynamite.

OMFuckingG.

 

[oggbashan]

One of the recent news stories in the UK is that today's generation of children are more obese and less physically active than their parents at that age, who themselves were more obese and less physically active than the grandparents at the same age. Could today's twenty-year olds have landed, carrying all the required equipment, on the D-Day beaches, or taken part in the ferocious island-hopping campaigns of the Pacific?

Politically motivated discouragement of competitive sports and avoidance of all possible, even unlikely, risks are blamed. Even the Health and Safety professionals are complaining that "Health and Safety" is being used to mollycoddle children instead of making reasoned judgements about acceptable risks.

A major factor, even in the UK, is ambulance chasing lawyers who are making teachers and any people working with children reluctant to risk being sued. The risk of a speculative law suit is greater than any other risk facing teachers and youth leaders. Insurance companies are weaseling out of claims by insisting that ridiculous precautions have to be taken and fully documented or else they will not pay out for compensation law suits. The consequence could be personal bankruptcy for the teacher or youth leader even if they had taken reasonable actions to avoid injury to the child.

 

[mynameisben]

One of the recent news stories in the UK is that today's generation of children are more obese and less physically active than their parents at that age, who themselves were more obese and less physically active than the grandparents at the same age. Could today's twenty-year olds have landed, carrying all the required equipment, on the D-Day beaches, or taken part in the ferocious island-hopping campaigns of the Pacific?

Politically motivated discouragement of competitive sports and avoidance of all possible, even unlikely, risks are blamed. Even the Health and Safety professionals are complaining that "Health and Safety" is being used to mollycoddle children instead of making reasoned judgements about acceptable risks.

A major factor, even in the UK, is ambulance chasing lawyers who are making teachers and any people working with children reluctant to risk being sued. The risk of a speculative law suit is greater than any other risk facing teachers and youth leaders. Insurance companies are weaseling out of claims by insisting that ridiculous precautions have to be taken and fully documented or else they will not pay out for compensation law suits. The consequence could be personal bankruptcy for the teacher or youth leader even if they had taken reasonable actions to avoid injury to the child.

Yep. It's a society in full meltdown. It ain't just in the UK, either.

 

[rgraham666]

Zeb, you've convinced me. Our kids are wusses. They know nothing about pain and toughness.

So, from this day forth every time I encounter a kid I'll give them a punch in the head. They'll learn to be tough and how to handle pain in jig time.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a255/ahuacate/sarcasm.gif in case you missed it.

 

[Stella_Omega]

One of the recent news stories in the UK is that today's generation of children are more obese and less physically active than their parents at that age, who themselves were more obese and less physically active than the grandparents at the same age. Could today's twenty-year olds have landed, carrying all the required equipment, on the D-Day beaches, or taken part in the ferocious island-hopping campaigns of the Pacific?

Politically motivated discouragement of competitive sports and avoidance of all possible, even unlikely, risks are blamed. Even the Health and Safety professionals are complaining that "Health and Safety" is being used to mollycoddle children instead of making reasoned judgements about acceptable risks.

A major factor, even in the UK, is ambulance chasing lawyers who are making teachers and any people working with children reluctant to risk being sued. The risk of a speculative law suit is greater than any other risk facing teachers and youth leaders. Insurance companies are weaseling out of claims by insisting that ridiculous precautions have to be taken and fully documented or else they will not pay out for compensation law suits. The consequence could be personal bankruptcy for the teacher or youth leader even if they had taken reasonable actions to avoid injury to the child.

This is what happens when just basic life is become a money game.

Think about it-- qui bono when children can't go to the parks to play freely? The shopping malls, for one... Electronic devices fill some of the innate restlessness of teen years-- at an astounding price tag.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Bwaahaahaaahaahaaa!

Oh, damn, but I remember hearing that too many times in my youth. I can still see a man's hand disappearing in a cloud of red-tinted smoke after he lit a half-stick of dynamite.

OMFuckingG.

Male <30 yrs. + alcohol = Darwin Award, far too often.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Male <30 yrs. + alcohol = Darwin Award, far too often.

All Darwin needs is one fertilised ovum, really. Any stupidity after that doesn't count.