The Moderate Voice - Latest Comments in Smart, Safe Ideas For Kids

Re: Smart, Safe Ideas For Kids

kritt11 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:19:27 -0000

The design easily could be made safe with rubber rocks, as others here have suggested. While its fine to emphasize safety, sometimes we go too far ---as in prohibiting games of tag for example.

Re: Smart, Safe Ideas For Kids

Slamfu — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:40:33 -0000

I used to slide down a 15ft pole from a wood fort like thing in our park. That pole was sunk in a 3 ft wide circle of concrete which served as our landing point. Also, tanbark was our cushion outside that. You get sweaty and it gets everywhere. Back in my day all we had was splintering wooden stuctures, steel poles and hard landings, AND WE LIKED IT!!

Re: Smart, Safe Ideas For Kids

Davebo — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:57:19 -0000

lurxst, I may be biased by my own experiences growing up but you're right about how insulated children are today.

I grew up on a boat. By 12 I was allowed to take out a powerboat alone and go wherever. We would ride our bikes all the way into the next county and if necessary hitch a ride home from a pickup that could haul our bikes. By 13 we'd spend the night out on the lake alone fishing, we'd water ski from Easter till the first freeze and all the other things you might expect.

It's sad to me that todays kids will most likely never get such opportunities.

Re: Smart, Safe Ideas For Kids

lurxst — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:48:33 -0000

Considering my playground falls were met with sand, dirt and sometimes concrete, that recycled tire stuff they use these days is pretty nice. Its important to let kids test themselves, I fought with my children's mom for many years about what they should be allowed to attempt. Her concerns always played back to the fear card, fear of them getting hurt or kidnapped. I had to argue that there is never a guarantee of safety in anything we do and that we had to allow them to use their own judgment instead of relying on their parents constantly. I think Davebo is on the right track that we have a generation that is growing up more indoors and insulated, probably making the risks of the great outdoors seem even more exagerrated.

"but there might be bears..."

Re: Smart, Safe Ideas For Kids

T-Steel — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:46:47 -0000

Those "sharp greyish-blue rocks" most likely are the foam rubber chips that all the playgrounds in my area have. I agree with both AnnaK and Davebo, WHAT FUN!

My two daughters (11 and 10) are climbers. And they have fell off the monkey bars many times but the good ol' foam rubber chips saved cushioned them well.

Re: Smart, Safe Ideas For Kids

Davebo — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:15:08 -0000

I've gotta go with Anna here.

It looks like it would be a blast to play on. And certainly not as dangerous as climbing the oak tree in my back yard.

But then again I tend to believe America has lost their head a bit when it comes to child safety.

Re: Smart, Safe Ideas For Kids

AnnaK — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:38:54 -0000

Unless the 'sharp greyish-blue rocks' is actually a soft, slightly bouncy surface of recycled shredded tires, which is the case at our local playground, and which looks like the surface in the photos.

I think the thing looks fun. And it looks a heck of a lot safer than the equipment in playgrounds when I was growing up.