monkey bars are dangerous

[Anonymous]

My four siblings and I survived childhood without ever having broken an arm or leg and we did some crazy (unsupervised) things. I remember sitting on top of the monkey bars and hanging upside down and the hard smack that accompanied the impact when we fell onto the baked Texas ground below.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband is an Orthopaedic surgeon and says that all the time.

Well, sure. The orthopedic surgeon sees the kids who break bones. He don't see the vast majority of kids who play on trampolines and monkey bars who don't break bones. Observer bias. I'll admit that kids who sit quietly under the tree smelling flowers are not seen by the surgeon, either.

F you. He sees kids that break all kinds of bones from all kinds of injuries. A large portion of these injuries are from monkey bars...more so than any other playground equipment. But way to be an ass.

Whoa! The PP was stating the obvious. People don't go into my BIL's neurological office unless they have a neurological condition. Kids going into your husband's office have broken bones and the PP's right, he's not going to see the kids that aren't breaking bones on the monkey bars. He's also not going to see the kids who aren't willing to play rough or take risks.

I think you and your DH would have a heart attack if you saw the things I let my kids do. I allow all sorts of risky things as long as they are wearing helmets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep broke my arm on them in 1984, after accidentally flipping upside down and landing on a non-mulched surface. Ah, the 80's.

as are swingsets from the 70s

as I broke BOTH arms falling off a swing at the age of 3

Hey! I had that exact swing set in my back yard. It was awesome. I didn't break bones on it, though!

[Anonymous]

How about monkey bars sized to smaller kids? our kids preschool has a set just taller than they are, so they won't fall very far. I'm sure they can still cause injury, but they seem to reduce the risk of injury while allowing for kids to master a physically challenging skill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband is an Orthopaedic surgeon and says that all the time.

Well, sure. The orthopedic surgeon sees the kids who break bones. He don't see the vast majority of kids who play on trampolines and monkey bars who don't break bones. Observer bias. I'll admit that kids who sit quietly under the tree smelling flowers are not seen by the surgeon, either.

F you. He sees kids that break all kinds of bones from all kinds of injuries. A large portion of these injuries are from monkey bars...more so than any other playground equipment. But way to be an ass.

Holy overreaction, Batman!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The article says--

Have parents advocated for the end of the monkey bars at Jamestown Elementary? Despite the helicoptering moms and dads buzzing around our suburban Virginia enclave, Kenwyn Schaffner, my daughters’ principal, says they have not.

Thank God- since they have outlawed tag. My first grader is crushed. That is what little boy like to do.

It's a shame with so much childhood obesity they have outlawed the 1 playground game with the most running.

Shame on you Arlington County (and all of t he fear-mongering parents that support this).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My four siblings and I survived childhood without ever having broken an arm or leg and we did some crazy (unsupervised) things. I remember sitting on top of the monkey bars and hanging upside down and the hard smack that accompanied the impact when we fell onto the baked Texas ground below.

Penny drops and all....us too! My brother and his friends used too build some crazy-ass ramps that they launched bikes and skateboards over...littler ones following on big wheels

[Anonymous]

I work in an ER and agree an extremely large percentage of injuries are from monkey bars. I think many are missing the point that of course we only see those children who have breaks, however the percentage of injuries that are attributed to monkey bars is extremely high as compared to, for example, swings. Most playgrounds don't have merry go rounds like we grew up with either. I don't feel strongly one way or the other about having monkey bars, but it is true they cause many injuries.
As for some of the logic that monkey bars were used back in the day and we all survived, well we didn't wear seatbelts either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school won't let the kids run on the playground because they might fall on the mulch or run into the playground equipment.

Safety sounds great, but there is nothing risk free. They are trading the risks of playground equipment for the risks of obesity and sedentary life.

Schools are terrified of allowing students to do anything because

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Showers are dangerous. Maybe we should outlaw those, too. : )

Actually, a shower door (brand new) shattered on my 7 yo daughter! scared the fuck out of me! Thankfully, she only cut her toe!! But it was a bloody mess and a pile of glass!

awful!

We still shower, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school won't let the kids run on the playground because they might fall on the mulch or run into the playground equipment.

Safety sounds great, but there is nothing risk free. They are trading the risks of playground equipment for the risks of obesity and sedentary life.

Agree with you. Then the next problem is these kids are hyper because they can't burn off some steam from sitting in class for hours. Oh yeah, then you medicate them for ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband is an Orthopaedic surgeon and says that all the time.

Well, sure. The orthopedic surgeon sees the kids who break bones. He don't see the vast majority of kids who play on trampolines and monkey bars who don't break bones. Observer bias. I'll admit that kids who sit quietly under the tree smelling flowers are not seen by the surgeon, either.

It's not observer bias. The original post refers to a doctor who sees all types of broken bones and attributes a large percentage to monkey bars. He's seeing a large sampling of many injuries. Your comparison of those who are not injured is irrelevant to that post you quoted. You are comparing those kids who break bones to those who do don't, which is not the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lol, yeah my brother broke his arm on the monkey bars- mid 80s, prob in first grade...and had to walk a half mile home by himself holding it! Omg different times...

My brother was forced to hop on one foot to the office when he broke his leg on the playground. The culprit was a bigger kid. No talk about outlawing those...

I like the Norwegians' take. Risky play is good.

Also agree with PP about reduced recess and reduced allowed activity AT recess being a possible contributor to the increase in ADD/ ADHD diagnoses. If my kid is diagnosed with one of these (and it's likely she will be, given what we're seeing so far) I'm going to agitate for an official assistance plan to include MORE outside running time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My four siblings and I survived childhood without ever having broken an arm or leg and we did some crazy (unsupervised) things. I remember sitting on top of the monkey bars and hanging upside down and the hard smack that accompanied the impact when we fell onto the baked Texas ground below.

Penny drops and all....us too! My brother and his friends used too build some crazy-ass ramps that they launched bikes and skateboards over...littler ones following on big wheels

I was SHOCKED to find out recently that a group of teenage competitive gymnasts did not know what penny drops were. I'm sure kids have always broken their arms on monkey bars, but I wonder if it's more common now that playtime is so sanitized that kids don't get any practice doing "dangerous" things and learning how to fall properly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My four siblings and I survived childhood without ever having broken an arm or leg and we did some crazy (unsupervised) things. I remember sitting on top of the monkey bars and hanging upside down and the hard smack that accompanied the impact when we fell onto the baked Texas ground below.

Penny drops and all....us too! My brother and his friends used too build some crazy-ass ramps that they launched bikes and skateboards over...littler ones following on big wheels

I was SHOCKED to find out recently that a group of teenage competitive gymnasts did not know what penny drops were. I'm sure kids have always broken their arms on monkey bars, but I wonder if it's more common now that playtime is so sanitized that kids don't get any practice doing "dangerous" things and learning how to fall properly.

You may be onto something.