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'Tis the season for blog chains. This chain is all about balance, of any sort people want to write about. The previous post is about being a mother. I don't know what it's like to be a parent, so I'll talk about children instead. Or more specifically, balancing the needs of children to play and be safe.
I live on a council estate (cheap rented homes) built in the '80s. There was a lot of idealism in the design of the estate. Green spaces and playparks were scattered everywhere. One of the local playparks was called The Horses by the local kids. It had a wooden horse, donkey and pig. I wanted to call it The Donkeys, but that never caught on. Once the council got round to finishing it, a wooden castle with slides also appeared. The playpark was renamed The Castle. Children are a hotbed of imagination when it comes to naming playparks.
The Castle survived for years, but the same wasn't true of many of the other playparks. The balance started to shift away from providing play equipment with the rise of everyone suing everyone else. Anytime a child had an accident, the toy was blamed and was removed from all the playparks. Swings, round-abouts, sew-saws, climbing frames and slides were deemed to be too dangerous. There wasn't much left after that.
Stranger danger was also becoming a big thing when I was a child. The first thing they did was to run awareness campaigns in schools and put signs up at the playparks warning children. Just like the worries about the safety of play equipment, this escalated. Most of the playparks were removed completely, so that nasty strangers couldn't wait there for the kids. There's nothing but a patch of concrete marking where they were (which ballgames are banned from, because balls are dangerous).
Eventually The Castle was replaced by a preschool playpark. Everything was soft and safe. It's like the scene in 'Finding Nemo', where Marlin thinks Nemo should play on the sponges with the little kids. This year, the playpark finally lost the battle. It was removed and turfed.
This is the replacement for the playpark. The iron fence doesn't look arty to me, but maybe it's a modern art exhibit? Who knows. Since this picture they added a few trees (they haven't removed the arty fencing). Now old folk can sit and watch the trees.
So where do the kids play? In the road and the local woodland. There aren't any rules banning ballgames from the road and trees make an impromptu toy. A child is more likely to die from a speeding car than a fall from a slide, but the council doesn't have the money to keep paying out compensation every time a child breaks an arm at a playpark. They don't get sued if a car kills a child. It doesn't take a genius to see this isn't the way to balance child safety with child entertainment.
The solution? Anytime you meet a parent wanting to sue over a minor playpark injury, cover them with sparklies and call them stupid.
I'm the end of the chain, but you can circle back around to the start at The Unfocused Life.
Or visit the other chainers: The Unfocused Life * Auria Cortes * Spontaneous Derivation * Organized Chaos * The Writer's Round-About * Spynotes * Williebee * My Path to Publication * Even in a Little Thing * Spittin' (out words) Like a Llama * A Thoughtful Life * Life in Scribbletown * For the First Time * Polenth's Quill
11 ink splashes:
I really like your sparklies suggestion. I may invest in some, ready for stupidity of all sorts.
The world was quite different when I was growing up. Bike helmets? What were those? If you knocked out a tooth while riding your bike, it was your fault for doing some foolish thing you knew you weren't supposed to do. Now, you can't take your kids outside unless they're wrapped in bubble wrap! I'm glad my kids have lots of dirt to get dirty in. Nice post!
It makes me very angry that people don't watch their children and then feel the need to sue when their unsupervised children get hurt.
Equally at fault are the insurance companies, who have decided to fold and pay off the sue-happy families. Sure.. it is less expensive to pay off the family than to take it to court, but it isn't RIGHT! Make it a point to take them to court EVERY TIME and pretty soon you'll get a reputation as a company that doesn't fold.
Dang... now I'm mad.... Grrrrrrr..
Thanks for the great post!
I remember hanging upside down on the monkey bars when I was a kid. I think the "play surface" I was hanging over was concrete, but it might have been asphalt. I think your entry makes a good point -- decision makers, including parents, need to make good, balanced decisions that let kids put themselves in a certain amount of risk, so they can learn how to handle it, without the death penalty for misjudging the risk involved.
Excellent post. Now I'm off to get me some sparklies.
My sister and I practically raised ourselves. Our parents weren't involved in our upbringing - in a positive way, that is.
When we got hurt our parents didn't sue. Instead they hit us for being irresponsible.
Gotta say, I wish they sued. :-)
I'm glad that no one wanted to put children into growing pods to keep them safe till they're grown up... that'd be scary.
And yes, go get some sparklies. They make everything better.
This reminds me of the moron who try to sue McDonalds for giving them coffee that was so hot that it burnt him when he spilled on himself. Here, have some sparklies!
Don't be silly, the kids are all inside playing their video games! Spring is near and it's sad to drive down the streets and not have to worry about watching for kids darting between cars to get the stray kickball.
I agree, sparklies for all sue-happy parents who weren't watching their kids!
Ah, America. Land of the lawsuit and Everyone Else Is Responsible For My Kids Except Me.
I live in the UK. The lawsuit disease spreads...
We have loads of kids playing outside around here. Perhaps because it's a poorer area so they'll have fewer expensive gadgets at home. They're just running out of places they're allowed to play.
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