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

[The Straight Story]

Playgrounds don't look like they used to. Steep metal slides and wooden towers have given way to slow, plastic slides and carefully penned-in climbing contraptions. And forget about seesaws -- they're a thing of the past.

When kids are bored by unimaginative (read: safe) playground equipment, they're less active as a result, and with childhood obesity at epidemic proportions, that's a danger, too.

An interesting new investigation looks into this phenomenon. Researchers visited 34 daycare locations in suburbs and cities, including Head Starts, Montessori schools, YMCAs, and facilities at universities, corporations, and churches. Workers and parents were questioned about what they thought the main barriers to children's activity were. Injury concerns, financial constraints, and a wish to put academics first were among the chief reasons cited by parents and daycare employees for not encouraging more active play.

According to the study, the new, safer equipment often became boring because children mastered it so quickly. To make it more challenging, kids tended to improvise, walking up the slide the wrong way, or using supports as a climbing apparatus. Sometimes younger children were drawn to the older kids' equipment, presumably because it presented a more interesting set of challenges.

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

[Turbineguy]

1. I remember the swings

We used to "bail out". Kids discovered the laws of physics by breaking their arms.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Wow. Instant flashback.

[Downwinder]

10. It is not a swing unless you can pump it up and see over the bar.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Nothing like a metal slide on a hot summer day--in shorts!

I used to especially like those merry-go-round things--the ones with metal bars and you would get it spinning and jump on. Never understood the appeal of monkey bars--that was too much like work.

[geomon666]

8. Especially in Florida. We left pieces of our ass seared on to those things.

And monkey bars are cool if you could actually do it. I never could...

[Javaman]

35. my brother and I called those spinning things...

vomit machines. LOL

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

4. Merry go rounds were my addiction

You could get them really going fast and then jump on and see if you could match your center of gravity with the axle of the spinning device.



As an added benefit, they were made completely of unprotected metal there was always the chance of chipping a tooth, and with no speed control three or four kids could get it going so fast you'd get thrown off and into the monkey rings.

Good times...

[RandySF]

6. We had one just like that!!

[trackfan]

11. Those things were probably the most dangerous.

The bad boys would get them spinning real fast. If you were on the thing, it was terrifying. If you were trying to keep up with the ones pushing it, you could slip underneath and be crushed.

[Gormy Cuss]

31. And the nausea and vomiting!

Merry-go-rounds were a trip.

[RandySF]

5. I remember the good old days.

Recess at a grass-covered playground. Rusty monkey bars and swings with hard seats that always looked like they were on the verge of snapping off.

[msongs]

7. did u guys used to use wax paper on the really long metal slides? super zooming nt

[think]

9. yup :) /nt

[cyberswede]

12. We would slide gravel down the slide...

and the slide down on the gravel dust - super fast!

[provis99]

19. that's how my collarbone got broken when I was a kid!

the kid ahead of me threw gravel on the slide, which wrecked the consistent friction, throwing me off the slide and onto my shoulder. My teacher cried that day when she thought I broke my head!

[dmr]

21. Ow!

Sympathy pain.

[nadine_mn]

23. no - damn.. now I wish I had

I wonder if any old metal slides exist, and would it look odd for me to try it?

[Javaman]

37. Wow, that brings back a memory! nt

[progressoid]

13. Or maybe they are more interested in their Nintendos and Sony PSPs.

[white_wolf]

14. I remember when my elementary school installed a new playground.

I was in the 3rd or 4th grade I think, late 90s anyway. We had an awesome old wooden playground with slides a swingsets and this really need tree house type thing, alas they tore it down and gave us some really boring playground of plastic and metal. Lame.

[The Genealogist]

15. Back in my day (hehe)

Yes, it is going to be one of those "grumpy old man" rants. Back in my day, it wasn't a trip to the park unless you, someone you were with, or some random kid--SOMEONE--got hurt. Some kid jumped out of the swing when it was too high, and knocked the wind out of him or herself. Or someone climbing on wooden equipment got a big splinter, swallowed some sand, got burned on the scorching hot metal slide, or puked the rest of the day after one too many trips on those metal merry-go-round things you had to spin and risked getting caught under. Skinning your knee didn't really count as someone getting hurt unless they really took off some skin! I see the playground equipment in the park nowadays, and it doesn't look like it would be much fun for kids anymore. Lawsuits and concerned citizens, I guess, won.

[white_wolf]

16. Your comment about getting sick remnided me of tire swings.

I used to get so sick on those things, but they were so fun.

[The Genealogist]

18. Oh yes, tire swings are fun!

And parents would sometimes get a tractor tire that was big enough their kids (and neighbor kids!) could get inside and get rolled around. I was always too scared to try it, but I remember a family or two that had a big tire like that.

[blueamy66]

24. At our school, we had tractor tires,

painted different colors, imbedded about 1/3 of the way into the ground. We'd run up to them and straddle them and jump over them. I couldn't tell you how many face plants occurred!

[Lugnut]

22. I still have scars.

All of them represent pleasant memories of stupid things I did when I was a kid. How I ever made it to adulthood without ever breaking a bone is beyond me. It was a lot of fun.

[nadine_mn]

25. It was a badge of honor... scars to point to that said you

were the warrior of a playground.

I remember getting my fingers pinched in those massive chain links holding the swings up.

Sigh... the good old days

[kentauros]

17. Everyone should be familiar with this clip:

[rppper]

20. the big red rockets were my favorite.....

you could climb up 30+ feet in the air and see the world....or smoke a cig...or herb...or make out with your girlfriend....lol...good times...

[Zoeisright]

26. In 4th grade, I broke my thumb on one of the old playgrounds.

Blacktop under the swings. That was 40 years ago. My husband got a concussion when a rope swing unraveled IN MIDAIR, his heels caught on a fence and he went down right on his head. On blacktop. Don't tell me that safer playgrounds are bad.

I don't think it's the "safer" playgrounds; those have saved lives and prevented many injuries. It's that kids have so many other sedentary things to pique their interest like computers and television. And it's more interesting to play Wii than just swing on swings.

[surrealAmerican]

27. The parents encourage those interests ...

... because they are afraid to let the kids go to the playground alone, and don't have the time to take them there.

[Hoyt]

28. Ah, wax paper on a metal slide. Lots of fun until kid almost hung himself on it. Gone next day. nt

[Patiod]

29. Can't agree completely - at least now they have soft surfaces

I've always wondered what the hell our parents were thinking, putting asphalt underneath playground equipment (swings, slides, monkey bars). Even old-fashioned dirt has to be easier to fall on then asphalt

The school associated with my Friend's Meeting put in a new playground several years ago, and the kids love it. It looks safe, but the kids seem to have fun on it. And if the kids fall, they fall into wood chips. Which makes a lot more sense to me than asphalt.

[MineralMan]

30. When I was in grammar school in the 50s,

All of the playground equipment, including the Giant Rotary Swing, which was a sort of merry go round where you held onto a handle, ran around, and then flew through the air, were on asphalt playgrounds. Skinned up knees were a standard decoration for most kids.

[hedgehog]

32. Not one person has mentioned the most significant difference

between the playgrounds of yore and of today:

Today, no child goes to a play ground without an adult!

If you allowed a child under the age of 12 outside, unaccompanied away from home, a lot of people would have you arrested! It's not protection from the real dangers of falling or otherwise being injured that stifles our children, it's the ever-present warnings against the boogyman who isn't really there!


And for those who are wiling to read on to find out what I'm talking about -

before I was 10 - I used to go out into the woods on a nearby vacant piece of land and climb trees - well out of the sight of adults.

before I was 10, - I used to take a sled down the street to go down a sled hill that more or less was a ravine into the Cuyahoga River Valley.

before I was 10 - I used to walk 1/2 mile by myself down the B&O mainline tracks to go ice skating.

[TwilightGardener]

33. When my kids were younger, we lived in a very small rural town, and they walked to school

and all over town, or down to the woods/creek, by themselves or with their friends, and I didn't worry too much about "stranger danger". In cities or large suburbs, I would have been more cautious. Which is really why we opted for a small town. It does make a difference.

[hedgehog]

34. The key to preventing "stranger danger" is to have a number of adults

around who are aware of who the kids are and what they are doing - more or less benign neglect. Sometimes the biggest human hazard to children is other children who are bullies!

In my small town, several small neighborhood schools with minimal playgrounds were always in plain site of adults. They were replaced with a large, modern school on the edge of town with a fantastic playground - hidden from public view at the center of the campus, but readily accessible to anyone driving through. I never allowed my kids to go their alone. It was the perfect location for a snatch and run!

[Nikia]

38. Although my sister and I walked to school from an early age when other kids were walking too

We weren't allowed to go more than a block and a half by ourselves at other times until we were around 10 or 11. Our parents or other relatives did take us to the playground though. Often they brought a book or another adult to talk to. I don't know if more parents are busy, lazy, or just not interested in taking their children places.
I am in my early thirties. We lived in a micropolitain area in the main city.

[oldhippie]

40. When I was eight years old, in 1956 .......

... my dad gave me my first pocketknife (as was customary at the time.) I've carried a pocketknife of one type or another in my left front pocket pretty much every day of my life since then. Also on my 8th birthday my parents sat me down and told me that I was now old enough to go to the parks, take the bus to visit Granny's house, go hike in the nearby woods, go fishing at the pond, or go to the playground. All by myself or with my friends. The only strict rule was to be home before 5:30 PM, or before dark, whichever came sooner. When we were 14 we kids would take our .22's and go woodchuck hunting after school. I got my 16 gauge shotgun when I was 16. I wonder how we ever survived.

Nowadays we worry about playgrounds. I guess that's progress and advanced civilization.

[Javaman]

36. My favorite was old rusted monkey bars built over concrete which was...

littered with bits of broken glass.

ahhh yes, the good old days of living in the city.

Good times. LOL

[mimitabby]

39. not always

new playgrounds in my neighborhood have good slides, good climbing areas (no safer than the nearby adult climbing wall)
and lots of things that kids can get hurt on. My whole family (sadly we're all adults) love to go there and play.

Maybe some playgrounds are getting dumbed down, but not all of them