Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 14:46     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have NEVER understood why those openings are permitted. I constantly worry my 5yo will do exactly that- either take a step back and fall or be jostled and fall. Honestly those openings seem like horrible design.


I agree!


But how do you have ladders and sliding poles then? I don't see how guardrails would work. Or do you suggest that the only way up a climbing structure be by stairs?


That would be a vast improvement.
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 14:46     Subject: Re:Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
DH is an orthopedic surgeon and have heard of so many nightmare stories over the years. Most are just broken bones but still..

I don’t care if people think I’m a helicopter parent. I watch my 2yo like a hawk. I often tell other kids to be careful. I will see 2-3yo kids on equipment meant for elementary aged kids with no parent or caregiver in sight.
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 14:43     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have NEVER understood why those openings are permitted. I constantly worry my 5yo will do exactly that- either take a step back and fall or be jostled and fall. Honestly those openings seem like horrible design.


I agree!


But how do you have ladders and sliding poles then? I don't see how guardrails would work. Or do you suggest that the only way up a climbing structure be by stairs?
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 14:39     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
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."


I completely agree. Something about the tone of his posts bothers me. I mean I can understand they are devastated and in denial. However, he seems to think his child will get a miracle - but there are so many people who have accidents who never get that miracle. One woman commented on his post that perhaps she didn't have enough faith because her child didn't get a miracle. I felt awful for her.


What?! THIS. This is why this faith/miracle/Jesus talk is NOT just inspirational and uplifting. If they weren't turning it into a social media frenzy, I'd pity them and hope they can come to terms with reality. But they're putting it out for the world to see and attracting vulnerable people that can spin their message as a indictment against them. Yeesh.


Weirder still -- I just went back to see if anyone had commented on her post and it appears to have been removed. Maybe I'm just not seeing it but I wonder....
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 14:34     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
Anonymous wrote:I have NEVER understood why those openings are permitted. I constantly worry my 5yo will do exactly that- either take a step back and fall or be jostled and fall. Honestly those openings seem like horrible design.


I agree!
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 14:17     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is this what the world has come to? Offering sympathy to someone (north the parent)


Well the mother isnt posting here. And I think it's completely appropriate to offer sympathy to someone who witnessed something like this. Witnessing an accident like this can be very traumatic.


Absolutely, but most people don't feel the need to ask for secondary sympathy on a public forum. They tell their friend/spouse/parent and move on with their day.
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 13:31     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
I have NEVER understood why those openings are permitted. I constantly worry my 5yo will do exactly that- either take a step back and fall or be jostled and fall. Honestly those openings seem like horrible design.
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 13:25     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
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."


I completely agree. Something about the tone of his posts bothers me. I mean I can understand they are devastated and in denial. However, he seems to think his child will get a miracle - but there are so many people who have accidents who never get that miracle. One woman commented on his post that perhaps she didn't have enough faith because her child didn't get a miracle. I felt awful for her.


What?! THIS. This is why this faith/miracle/Jesus talk is NOT just inspirational and uplifting. If they weren't turning it into a social media frenzy, I'd pity them and hope they can come to terms with reality. But they're putting it out for the world to see and attracting vulnerable people that can spin their message as a indictment against them. Yeesh.
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 13:23     Subject: Re:Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
According to our local playground gossip that my daughter brought home, a 4th grader fell off the play equipment and 'broke his neck'. Ambulance arrived and he was taken to the hospital. I was horrified to hear that but couldn't get any more details about the accident out of her. Hope the kid is okay and that broken neck story was just an exaggeration!
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 13:16     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
Poor kid. If he was passed out for that amount of time that sounds severe. There is a giant two-story play structure at Tuckahoe Elementary in Arlington and I refuse to let my kid climb on it - I can see something like this happening there.
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 13:06     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
Anonymous wrote: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?


supposedly they were going slowly down a street and she somehow fell off. She didn't fall all that far -- but she must have landed on her head for the degree of injury she sustained.
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 13:03     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
Anonymous wrote:
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."


I completely agree. Something about the tone of his posts bothers me. I mean I can understand they are devastated and in denial. However, he seems to think his child will get a miracle - but there are so many people who have accidents who never get that miracle. One woman commented on his post that perhaps she didn't have enough faith because her child didn't get a miracle. I felt awful for her.
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 12:58     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
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.


Is this true? Please don't share a link to some dopey internet article.

I would suspect that parents are more likely to bring their children in for head injuries than they were in the past. I got a concussion from jumping off a monkey bar set when I was a kid (it was a good idea at the time!) and my parents didn't take me to the doctor. Obviously I would bring my kid to the doctor in a similar scenario.
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 12:48     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
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.


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.


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.
Anonymous
Post 10/29/2019 12:47     Subject: Saw a kid fall off play equipment today
Anonymous wrote:
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."


Exactly, as if the Holy Father is counting votes. I know people do what they can to survive but this is so off putting and I think hurtful to others.