The Politics of Playgrounds
David Mills links to some essays dealing with the topic over at First Things:
Indeed, the article with which [Amanda] Erickson begins, Playgrounds that rip up the safety rules, quotes the Danish designer of “nature playgrounds” Helle Nebelong, who makes a practical argument that too safe encourages children in being less safe:
“I am convinced that standardised playgrounds are dangerous, just in another way: When the distance between all the rungs in a climbing net or a ladder is exactly the same, the child has no need to concentrate on where he puts his feet. Standardisation is dangerous because play becomes simplified and the child does not have to worry about his movements. This lesson cannot be carried over to all the knobbly and asymmetrical forms, with which one is confronted throughout life.”
It reminds me of playing hockey with friends on small frozen streams or ponds, which always included small islands or tufts of grass sticking up through the ice. You would have to keep them in mind as you skated, especially if you were playing defense and skating backwards, and having to do so made you a more alert player and gave you some experience in keeping track of several conditions (your teammates, the other team, the islands and tufts of grass) at once. It probably didn’t teach us much, but it taught us something. And it added to the pleasure of the game to boot.
Being a parent is a weird thing. You want to protect your children more than anything and yet you realize that the best preparation for the knobbly and asymmetrical forms of life is lots of practice when they're younger.
My children are very young and one of them is quite independent while the other sticks a bit closer to my skirt. But I encourage both of them to play hard and learn their limits.
Sadly, we're in an area where the playgrounds are pretty boring and you have to fight just to keep the swing sets in the old ones.
When I went to a funeral in California in November, my brother and I went back to our old playground and were flooded with memories of the unsafe merry-go-round, tether ball poles, and rickety slide.
Yes, body parts were broken. Yes, we got scared sometimes. And yes, we were completely unsupervised 90% of the time. I think my parents were pretty smart.
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May '10
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
When I see my sons climbing way up in trees in NH, I have to constantly remind myself that they are learning balance and agility and I must not interfere. Sometimes I have to go in the house, so I don't see it.
My husband has laid down a rule: "If you go up, you have to get yourself down. No rescues."
When I see them climbing way up in PA, I tell them to come down. I'm afraid the neighbors will call child welfare services, and I'll be arrested for neglect or endangerment.
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
That's me! The difference between my instincts and my actual parenting can be pretty significant.
Dec '10
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
I remember playing organized football in seventh and eighth grade. Even at that age I notice that I would hit harder when I was wearing pads. I was less likely to hurt myself if I drove my head into an opponent. The helmet protected me but was weapon against my opponent. It is like boxing gloves. You can hit your opponent harder because you will not hurt your hand. I am not sure that the net result is more safety.
Aug '10
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
That's me! The difference between my instincts and my actual parenting can be pretty significant.
And the difference between parents can be pretty significant, too.
My father absolutely forbid us from climbing trees. (Something about a cousin who had died falling out of a tree.) I, being a (mostly) obedient child did as my father commanded for many years, but I pined for tree-climbing. My mom eventually figured this out. Her solution was to sneak out sometimes and climb trees with us until she was confident we could climb them without supervision.
There's nothing like being cradled in the arms of a gently swaying beech, especially on a moonlit night.
Sometimes I'd take the kids I babysat tree-climbing, too, if I thought they were up to it. I wonder if they ever told their parents... Parents never complained about it, so maybe not.
May '10
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
I know social sensibilities enter into the discussion, but this is also about the free market. The amount of litigation to which a city/township exposes itself by constructing a playground is enormous. The padded ground and rubberized play structures are surely responding to the dictates of an insurance company.
May '10
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
Anybody have friends maimed or crippled for life because of bike accidents and unsafe play equipt? I have. My vote is for bike helmets & safe playgrounds. Of course we're like a pendulum swinging from extreme to extreme and passing the midpoint at maximum velocity, so it is necessary to look for safe places to fail, get those bruises and abrasions &tc. That's one reason why Boy Scouts is so valuable an experience. Forget your sleeping bag & pitch your tent wrong, too bad sleep cold and wet and next time you'll know better.
Nov '10
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
Bill Cosby, as ever, was saying this 50 years ago. And it's still funny (and right).
Aug '10
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
When I was 7-8 years old, fun was having the afternoon hacking your way through a deep creekbed, using a machete or a cornknife. The long blades made for quick work through the weeds, that way you could get a clear shot at the squirrels, because we also .22 rifles and a box of bullets.
No one got hurt, except the squirrels. This was inside the city limits, so we were probably breaking the law as well. No one ever got in trouble either. Except the squirrels.
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
I think this is the hardest part of letting go -- realizing that your children might injure themselves or worse. It's a very difficult balance to manage.
Apr '11
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
Hah!
Very nice.
Jun '10
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
I grew up in a small town where, when I didn't have chores, I was free to roam with my pals (and we all had BB guns).
The guys who ended up in a cast had the functional equivalent of a red badge of courage.
I'm all for bike helmets, seat belts, and safe-enough playgrounds (prudence is a good thing, but it's not the only thing). But we cannot eliminate risk--it's an inherent part of life. And the sooner our kids begin to learn about risk via the trial-and-error method the better.
Oct '11
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
We are blessed with a 90-year old avocado tree in our front yard and my kids spent a lot of time in it. I even willingly made lunch deliveries via a swing which they would pull up.
For all kids we have had the same rule: you are old enough to climb the tree when you are old enough to climb the tree. In other words, no boosts.
And the older I get the more I admire my mother and father. I had a brother killed while on a bike - he was 8, I was 6. Three years later Santa brought my sister and me bikes. My mother had a perfect excuse to never allow her children to ride a bike and she took the risk regardless. And her kids were better off for it.
And she helped me pack and waved me good-bye when I went on my first motorcycle trip with my husband - 4500 miles. CA to Glacier National Park, north to Edmonton, west to Vancouver Island, south to home. What an adventure.
Jan '11
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
It is a tragedy for any child to be crippled for life. Even if we were able to eliminate all the unsafe or poorly constructed structures in our world we would not prevent children from crippling accidents.
It is relatively easy to measure injuries and lawsuits. It is not so easy to measure the larger accidents that do not happen because smaller accidents were allowed to happen earlier.
May '10
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
Several thoughts. The Danish designer is certainly correct....but perhaps Danes are less litigious than Americans. Different spaced rungs are a plea to sue someone. Still, the element of risk and uncertainty is part of what makes play fun.
On tree climbing: my parent's had a wonderful Chinese Hackberry tree in their front yard that my brother, sister, and I used to climb. It was particularly fun in later years because it was huge and you could easily climb 35 or 40 feet up in the air to be rocked in the breezes. The last time I climbed it was just before my parents moved to a retirement community. I was 52.
The local community park had a cool slide. It was an upside-down T handle that slid in a barn door track suspended on each end. I rode it on my 50th birthday.....hanging by my knees. Way better than the safer, intended manner of operation.
May '10
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
We had a similar rule: No boosts into the tree, no help getting out of the tree. It teaches kids early to evaluate risk.
May '10
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
Democrats love slides... into debt.
Dec '11
Re: The Politics of Playgrounds
I have been a manager in the parks and recreation field for about 15 years, and during that time have seen a consistent dumbing down of children's play equipment. This comes from parental pressure for "safer" playgrounds and from the cost of litigation from injuries.
In the search for safety, we are losing the challenge for children that "less safe" playgrounds offered. Consider the teeter-totter, now almost extinct in playgrounds. Kids learned that they had to cooperate to enjoy a ride, and also how to guard against a dirty trick by a playmate jumping off while you are in the elevated position.
Or the Tarzan swing in NYC's Central Park on which my younger son learned about overcoming fear. A few years ago we revisited that playground and found the swing removed, and learned that it was at the initiative of overprotective parents.
The long term implications of trying to remove risk from childhood are not well understood. In my view, we risk raising a generation that is not challenged enough and that may be less adept and more risk averse. Many park professionals and designers are having second thoughts about this trend.