Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is incorrect.

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

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.

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enormously sorry to hear about this - hopefully the boy is okay and healing. I read this when my kids were pre-school aged and it helped me relax a little (we've only dealt with one broken arm - so far) but managing my inclination to helicopter seemed important for their growth and development. This piece was super helpful: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/

Yeah, except for this is so arbitrary. We manage the "inclination to helicopter" only when the random process of social-media disapproval makes that particular helicoptering seem unacceptable. In other cases, I imagine you wouldn't be remonstrating with yourself for your instincts -- you don't have to restrain yourself from making sure your kid is buckled in, goes to the dentist, is doing OK in school, etc etc. People fixate on marignal issues like "playground are too safe! kids should be able to experience danger on playgrounds!" as a way of creating an in-group identity, not as a genuine assessment of risks and benefits.

uh, really? I'm not part of a clique or group that gets super jazzed about letting the kids engage in risky-seeming behavior on the playground. And actually - I'm less involved with their school work than I could be (figure it's their work to do, not mine). Taking calculated risks is part of growing up healthy. We're try to make decisions that help us parent our own kids well, not trying to fit in with the cool crowd.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is incorrect.

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

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.

Thanks geezer. And still, on some of the new equipment — think, spider web type climbing things — one false step and its down to the mulch or rubberized ground.

Not pp, but thanks rude b*.

Btw, Lynnbrook Park in Bethesda had a metal slide until about 10 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is incorrect.

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

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:Enormously sorry to hear about this - hopefully the boy is okay and healing. I read this when my kids were pre-school aged and it helped me relax a little (we've only dealt with one broken arm - so far) but managing my inclination to helicopter seemed important for their growth and development. This piece was super helpful: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/

Yeah, except for this is so arbitrary. We manage the "inclination to helicopter" only when the random process of social-media disapproval makes that particular helicoptering seem unacceptable. In other cases, I imagine you wouldn't be remonstrating with yourself for your instincts -- you don't have to restrain yourself from making sure your kid is buckled in, goes to the dentist, is doing OK in school, etc etc. People fixate on marignal issues like "playground are too safe! kids should be able to experience danger on playgrounds!" as a way of creating an in-group identity, not as a genuine assessment of risks and benefits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's gonna happen sometimes. The gravity is on all day, every day. You would quickly know if it wasn't!

Yeah live and learn. That kiddo will not make that mistake again. “Hard” lesson in life.

I hope you're joking? This was not a "mistake" of the type it's trendy to say that us terribly helicopter moms are forbidding kids to learn life lessons from. It's likely a traumatic brain injury, with life-long impacts.

The ugly truth is, the free-range ethos increases risk. That means that SOME kids are going to experience terrible results, while other kids (if you believe this) get healthy life lessons. If you're adamantly free-range you have to accept that it basically means many kids are going to be hurt who would have been otherwise protected.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is incorrect.

As someone who helped design a few playgrounds I agree. It’s all about risk.

traumatic brain injuries from playgrounds are increasing, not decreasing. the only think they do now is pad the surface, but that does not prevent major injuries from falls. my observation is that most new playgrounds are designed with obvious fall risks.

https://www.cdc.gov/safechild/playground/index.html

My observation is that playgrounds are safer but kids are a lot more clueless now than they ever were before.

They are because they have been so protected that they don't have the proper sense of danger and how to use their bodies.

Right, so no carseats either? No vaccines? No antibiotics?

I'm happy about safety improvements. IF you want your kid to play with rusty nails, you can do that in your own backyard.

Enormously sorry to hear about this - hopefully the boy is okay and healing. I read this when my kids were pre-school aged and it helped me relax a little (we've only dealt with one broken arm - so far) but managing my inclination to helicopter seemed important for their growth and development. This piece was super helpful: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/

Anonymous wrote:The thing that makes me crazy about the golf cart girl is how they keep praising Jesus. Apparently Christ can heal her but couldn't keep her in the cart in the first place. I wish them well but SMH.

Oh totally agree. Is the husband a minister? He speaks like one on their Caring Bridge page (yes, I admit to stalking them last night). It's one thing to be hopeful and wish for a miracle, it's another to be in denial and unable to face reality. I guess it doesn't hurt anyone except maybe their other kid, but yeesh it feels like "we love Jesus the most so we deserve a miracle more than everyone else in our situation."

The thing that makes me crazy about the golf cart girl is how they keep praising Jesus. Apparently Christ can heal her but couldn't keep her in the cart in the first place. I wish them well but SMH.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is incorrect.

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

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.

Thanks geezer. And still, on some of the new equipment — think, spider web type climbing things — one false step and its down to the mulch or rubberized ground.

No, thank you, Asshat.

I have a kid with SN who has participated in some activities run by a group founded by a woman whose child was injured at a very young age. The husband was practicing a golf swing and the child was hit in the head with the club when he came up quietly. It can be worse--you cause your kid's injury. I think I would just off myself at that point. How could you survive? The injured kid is now an adult in a wheelchair with a very low level of functionality.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is incorrect.

As someone who helped design a few playgrounds I agree. It’s all about risk.

traumatic brain injuries from playgrounds are increasing, not decreasing. the only think they do now is pad the surface, but that does not prevent major injuries from falls. my observation is that most new playgrounds are designed with obvious fall risks.

https://www.cdc.gov/safechild/playground/index.html

My observation is that playgrounds are safer but kids are a lot more clueless now than they ever were before.

They are because they have been so protected that they don't have the proper sense of danger and how to use their bodies.

How did that golf cart injury happen? Were they on concrete path? Falling out of a gold cart into grass, hard to see how trauma would get thru the skull. Maybe if driving fast and fell forward so more energy in the fall?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good lord. Hope that little dude is okay. I know kids are bouncy but I follow a woman on IG (lindsayletters) whose 7 year old daughter fell off a golf cart 2 months ago and suffered a devastating TBI. All but her brain stem destroyed by the damage. I will never look at a kid taking a simple tumble the same way ever again.

I’ve been following this too... devastating. Head injuries are terrifying.

I just looked them up, what a tragedy. We are one and done not by choice and the thought of something like that happening to my kid terrifies me to my core.

What?

Like, if you had a backup kid, you’d be less terrified?

I have no idea, but I think of losing my kid and no longer being a mother and never being able to be a mother again and I don't know what I would do. I'm a working professional and have lots of interests, etc., but I can't imagine how I could go on if I just wasn't a mother anymore. Obviously this girl is still alive so it's not a perfect parallel, but if I lost my only child I don't know what I would have to live for anymore.

Not the PP you're responding to, but I understood what you meant. I have two, and they aren't a "spare" for each other, but yeah, going from having a child/ren to not having any would add a profound change in your daily life on top of the most profound grief. Every small change in daily life would reinforce the loss over and over. It would change who you are in the world.