Broken bones definitely happen at recess.

But no recess means overweight, anxious kids. I know which I would prefer for my kids. Hint: broken bones are a one-time, discrete injury and heal well in the vast majority of cases. As an anxious diabetic, I don’t wish my struggles on my kids.

Monkey bars don’t seem very risky to me if the child is not climbing on top of them. Used appropriately, their feet aren’t far off the ground and they won’t drop in a way that they’ll break an arm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:teach your child to make good choices

So every hurt kid is making a bad choice? Nobody is perfect and it's not always about choices. Some other kid can plow into one minding his own business and hurt him. Or the kid in front of you randomly stops on the slide and a bunch come right down after you and you're the one hurt. No choices were made unless you're suggesting never use the slide, or monkey bars, or any playground equipment.

That’s just as true if the victim is simply standing there and gets plowed into.

Life is risky. But avoiding risk caused more harm than facing it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:teach your child to make good choices

So every hurt kid is making a bad choice? Nobody is perfect and it's not always about choices. Some other kid can plow into one minding his own business and hurt him. Or the kid in front of you randomly stops on the slide and a bunch come right down after you and you're the one hurt. No choices were made unless you're suggesting never use the slide, or monkey bars, or any playground equipment.

And herein lies the problem; playgrounds are fraught with dangers lurking in every nook and cranny - the monkey bars, the swings, the whirly thingies, the oversized 7 year-old, the overly protective parent, the underly protective parent, the list goes on…

But, it is also crammed with many life lessons - watch out for the bigger kids, know how to share (and conversely, when not to share); don’t get get sandwiched on the slides, don’t walk under the adventurous swingers (entendre?), and listen to caregiver who says “stay where I can see you.” In other words, make good choices; and don’t be like the PP above who gaslights with specious argument…

My son fell off a stool and snapped both bones in his forearm.

Kids get hurt lots of ways, and they recover quickly. My son was in a long arm cast for four weeks and a forearm cast for two.

We still let him (once the cast was off) bike, rock climb, ice skate, etc.

I’m grateful my son’s school isn’t too protective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid broke his arm falling off a slide last year when kids created a backup and he got pushed out. The alternative is no play standing around. Accidents happen.

+1. I've actually never heard of a kid breaking their arm at recess, but I'm sure it happens. The alternative is worse though.

Really? One year 5 kids broke arms and at least one broke a leg at ours.

Really. I saw a kid fall off a structure once not at school and break his arm, but I've never heard of anything at school. It's possible my kid doesn't notice though, she's a bit of a space cadet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid broke his arm falling off a slide last year when kids created a backup and he got pushed out. The alternative is no play standing around. Accidents happen.

+1. I've actually never heard of a kid breaking their arm at recess, but I'm sure it happens. The alternative is worse though.

Really? One year 5 kids broke arms and at least one broke a leg at ours.

Anonymous wrote:teach your child to make good choices

So every hurt kid is making a bad choice? Nobody is perfect and it's not always about choices. Some other kid can plow into one minding his own business and hurt him. Or the kid in front of you randomly stops on the slide and a bunch come right down after you and you're the one hurt. No choices were made unless you're suggesting never use the slide, or monkey bars, or any playground equipment.

You can’t bubble wrap kids. My oldest are teenagers now, and their peers who I see making bad choices are the ones who were completely sheltered and never had to make a decision on their own. Teach your kids to make good choices at the playground and play on the equipment how it was intended to be used. If there is a backup or kids are doing something stupid, move on to something else

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid broke his arm falling off a slide last year when kids created a backup and he got pushed out. The alternative is no play standing around. Accidents happen.

+1. I've actually never heard of a kid breaking their arm at recess, but I'm sure it happens. The alternative is worse though.

My kid's broken arm wasn't the only one that year there were 2 but both cases were buckle fractures. They wore light braces for 6 weeks and were both fine. Another set of kids collided full speed knocking heads causing concussions and requiring stitches. Should we outlaw running at recess too? A 100% safe recess doesn't exist.

Anonymous wrote:My kid broke his arm falling off a slide last year when kids created a backup and he got pushed out. The alternative is no play standing around. Accidents happen.

+1. I've actually never heard of a kid breaking their arm at recess, but I'm sure it happens. The alternative is worse though.

teach your child to make good choices

My kid broke his arm falling off a slide last year when kids created a backup and he got pushed out. The alternative is no play standing around. Accidents happen.

Yeah, monkey bars are risky. My older DD got a bad bone bruise (shocked it wasn’t broken) from monkey bars which hurt more than her broken ankle (ump roping and landing weirdly).

I have heard of so many kids breaking arms and legs on the playground, mostly from Monkey Bars. Why do schools still have this equipment on their fields? MCPS just started last week and already we've had an ambulance take away a kid with a broken arm. I think MB are generally OK as long as there is proper supervision, but the ratio of adults:kids at recess is smaller than when I take my two kids to the playground.