When did your kid master the monkey bars?

[Anonymous]

At 5. He really, really wanted to do them and worked hard to master them. One of the playgrounds we went to had some that angled downward just slightly (Turkey Thicket, for DC folks) and that was where he really got good at them.

[Anonymous]

My daughter was laser-beam focused on it and could do it incredibly well before her 4th birthday. She did break her wrist in the process, though.

[Anonymous]

My 2.5 year old can do the short set (5 bars maybe?) at Skillzone like 75% of the time. I think it's because she jumps down to them from above which gives her some momentum; also, because they're close to the ground/it's padded, she's not scared, so doesn't tense up/stop herself. On "real" playground ones (like at Maury) she can only do 1 bar or maybe 2 occasionally. So I think some of it depends on the setup.

[Anonymous]

How are kids breaking arms and wrists? Falling?

I'm not concerned about this-- maybe I should be (I'm OP). My kid has literally never been injured on the playground-- she always catches herself mid-fall, if that.

I'm kind of wondering if the reason this is a top injury-causer is because there's almost no other way to injure yourself on the playground anymore-- no merry-go-rounds, no trees to climb, etc. I mean, I assume bicycles cause a lot of injuries, too, but... *shrug emoji*

Could it also be that kids are doing them before they're ready? I see a LOT of parents putting their kids on this sort of equipment and "helping" them cross by holding them up. I wonder if that gives them a false sense of confidence? I know another surprising source of injuries is kids getting legs broken while their parents go down the slides with them. Hm.

I'd hate it if she weren't allowed on the monkey bars at school. That seems... Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are kids breaking arms and wrists? Falling?

I'm not concerned about this-- maybe I should be (I'm OP). My kid has literally never been injured on the playground-- she always catches herself mid-fall, if that.

I'm kind of wondering if the reason this is a top injury-causer is because there's almost no other way to injure yourself on the playground anymore-- no merry-go-rounds, no trees to climb, etc. I mean, I assume bicycles cause a lot of injuries, too, but... *shrug emoji*

Could it also be that kids are doing them before they're ready? I see a LOT of parents putting their kids on this sort of equipment and "helping" them cross by holding them up. I wonder if that gives them a false sense of confidence? I know another surprising source of injuries is kids getting legs broken while their parents go down the slides with them. Hm.

I'd hate it if she weren't allowed on the monkey bars at school. That seems... Wow.

I agree with you that monkey bars seem to be the last dangerous piece of playground equipment left so maybe that is why... Just the two google results for for MB injuries:
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2012/10/how_dangerous_are_monkey_bars_risky_play_and_the_case_for_banning_unsafe.html
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/103/5/e58.full.pdf?download=true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are kids breaking arms and wrists? Falling?

I'm not concerned about this-- maybe I should be (I'm OP). My kid has literally never been injured on the playground-- she always catches herself mid-fall, if that.

I'm kind of wondering if the reason this is a top injury-causer is because there's almost no other way to injure yourself on the playground anymore-- no merry-go-rounds, no trees to climb, etc. I mean, I assume bicycles cause a lot of injuries, too, but... *shrug emoji*

Could it also be that kids are doing them before they're ready? I see a LOT of parents putting their kids on this sort of equipment and "helping" them cross by holding them up. I wonder if that gives them a false sense of confidence? I know another surprising source of injuries is kids getting legs broken while their parents go down the slides with them. Hm.

I'd hate it if she weren't allowed on the monkey bars at school. That seems... Wow.

I agree with you that monkey bars seem to be the last dangerous piece of playground equipment left so maybe that is why... Just the two google results for for MB injuries:
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2012/10/how_dangerous_are_monkey_bars_risky_play_and_the_case_for_banning_unsafe.html
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/103/5/e58.full.pdf?download=true

Hm.

First article has this:

restricts kindergarteners from using the monkey bars unless an adult is spotting. “They just lack the arm strength to use them safely alone,” she says, “so this is a solution to that problem.”

Study says this:

adult supervision does not influence the injury pattern

[Anonymous]

My kid literally nearly ALWAYS lands on her feet, even when jumping from significant heights. She has her dad's crazy catlike reflexes. But I'm wondering if it's so bad if someday she does break her arm. Or rather-- if the significant (but minority) risk of that is not worth allowing her to climb trees and do the monkey bars.

[Anonymous]

4.5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, how old is your child?

She's almost 4. Quite petite, but sounds like she's well within the bell curve.

This is my daughter, too. She will be 4 at the end of May, and can do monkey bars like nobody's business. She is in the lower third of the curve for height, and at the bottom for weight.

Her older brothers, 7 and 5: 7-year-old really only got them about 6-9 months ago. 5-year-old is my least coordinated child; nowhere near able to do them.

[Anonymous]

I can see where trampolines (also cited) are unnatural and might cause weird or traumatic injuries, but monkey bars... I'm tying to figure out why there's anything inherently terrible about monkey bars besides increased risk aversion.

[Anonymous]

I'm 43 and I never mastered the monkey bars. Is that even a thing? Pretty sure I used to think I'd get hurt. Healthy sense of my own mortality in pre-school.

[Anonymous]

dc1-4
dc2-8 (he has low muscle tone and worked hard for about 6 months)
dc3-kindergarten

[Anonymous]

DSs are 6 and 7.5 and I don't think either can do them. Older DS is risk adverse and middle of the pack in terms of physical prowess (he is however really good at climbing trees; go figure). Younger DS might actually be able to do them but I haven't witnessed it yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are kids breaking arms and wrists? Falling?

I'm not concerned about this-- maybe I should be (I'm OP). My kid has literally never been injured on the playground-- she always catches herself mid-fall, if that.

I'm kind of wondering if the reason this is a top injury-causer is because there's almost no other way to injure yourself on the playground anymore-- no merry-go-rounds, no trees to climb, etc. I mean, I assume bicycles cause a lot of injuries, too, but... *shrug emoji*

Could it also be that kids are doing them before they're ready? I see a LOT of parents putting their kids on this sort of equipment and "helping" them cross by holding them up. I wonder if that gives them a false sense of confidence? I know another surprising source of injuries is kids getting legs broken while their parents go down the slides with them. Hm.

I'd hate it if she weren't allowed on the monkey bars at school. That seems... Wow.

You are giving a weird amount of thought to this.

[Anonymous]

My kid is almost 7 and can't do it. Very long limbed and very cautious.