Reply to Saw a kid fall off play equipment today

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]That must have been traumatizing to watch.

I think playground equipment is designed with little thought to risk these days, especially with the number of kids that might cram onto one structure at crowded area parks and schools. [/quote]

This is incorrect.[/quote]

Playground equipment is MUCH safer now than when I was a kid.  (1970s)[/quote]

Haha, totally.  I remember this slide that was metal and I swear like 25 feet high at the top. It would burn us in the spring and Summer too.[/quote]

There was a toddler who tragically died from falling through the steps on a slide like that in the '70s and the mom led a campaign for safer playground equipment.  Sadly while the number of injuries on playground equipment has fallen with the new standards, severe injuries have increased.
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DP.  I feel for parents of kids who have been injured on playgrounds and I admit to some trepidation seeing my kids climbing and running around, but I don't think you can make a risk-free playground.  Will there be no climbing equipment whatsoever? Because anytime you go up, there's a possibility of falling off.  People were talking about the dangers of openings in structures from which you could fall off (just as the boy in the OP did) but if not those, how will you have ladders?  Should we not have monkey bars and swings (I used to swing up and then jump off)?  I'm all for things that can reduce injury like rubber flooring, but if you take out things like ladders and climbers, you seriously run the risk of kids not developing good gross motor skills and body/space awareness, which is going to lead to further injury.   [/quote]

No, you can't have a risk-free playground, but there are some very basic safety rules that are often violated, like having play structures too close to each other, or the lack of guardrails on openings that make falls like this one more possible.

I also think that school playgrounds should not have really high climbing structures and slides, period, because recess is never monitored that closely.  For the life of me, I can't figure out why our school opted to install a 2-story high play structure and uncovered slide.  I don't remember any play structures that tall when I was a kid.  I can only assume they installed it because some group of annoying RIE moms were all like "our kids need to take risks!"  So now we have an extremely padded surface and a 20-ft high play structure.  [/quote]

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