Backlash against 'safe playgrounds'

[buttmunch]

Playgrounds are being toughened up because a generation of children is failing to learn how to handle risk, it emerged.

A growing backlash against boring play areas is transforming parks around the country after repeated health and safety crackdowns stripped them of fun and adventure.

Many recreation areas have become so tame that youngsters are choosing sedentary activities or turning to dangerous railway lines and building sites for thrills.

Now latest playground designs are exposing children to a degree of risk with the aim of helping them learn how to take safe decisions in future.

The heights of climbing frames and slides are being raised and long-forgotten pieces of equipment such as firemen's poles are being resurrected.

Leading play expert Rob Wheway, a playground inspector, said: "People are at last beginning to want adventure in play.

"Local authorities, where they are commissioning new playgrounds, are saying they want something that is more imaginative, challenging and exciting.

"I have seen several recently which a few years ago would not have been put in. They are giving children opportunities for climbing and clambering over a bigger area and to higher heights. There is also more swinging, sliding and gliding."

Mr Wheway, play safety adviser for the Child Accident Prevention Trust, said over-zealous bureaucrats had in the past of interpreted safety guidelines too cautiously and torn up playgrounds when only modifications were needed.

He said: "The problem has often been council officers who have misunderstood the guidance. The easiest way round it is just to say no.

"But it has moved on quite a pace. Some of the key manufacturers are now putting forward quite imaginative equipment and children love them."

Leisure bosses admit the playground at Parliament Hill on London's Hampstead Heath had become "sterile" and "risk-evasive".

It included low climbing frames and slides and the static shell of a train which children climbed into and sat inside.

There was also a tame helter-skelter which children preferred to play on top of than slide down and several roundabouts all virtually identical.

Paul Maskell, the heath's leisure and events manager, commissioned a refurbishment and a new-look playground opened in May.

It now includes two climbing walls, one with "firemen's poles" on either side children can slide down.

A "multi-play" frame combines ladders, bridges, slides, balance beams and climbing apparatus that is high and robust enough to challenge adults.

There is even a modernised version of the notorious "witches hat" roundabout which was ripped out of playgrounds from the 1970s onwards following a spate of injuries.

The updated model rotates and rocks but features braking mechanisms so children cannot fly off at high speed.

There is also a see-saw, sand pit and paddling pool.

Mr Maskell said: "The playground that was there before had very limited play value and no imagination and no challenge."

He said children were misusing the installations because they found them so boring.

"My personal view is that children do need to take some risks to understand in adult life what risk-taking is.

"If we can't let our children take risks, it is a sad world."

He said the playground had been recently inspected and passed by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

This proved that physically challenging equipment could comply with safety regulations.

Mr Maskell said the new playground was still "safe" with staff patrolling the area and special surfacing to guard against head injuries.

The firm which created the new playground, Lappset, said some parents were initially dubious about the controlled-risk approach.

Gareth Minor, managing director, said: "Concerns were mitigated as parents realised that opportunities for their children to learn about risk are becoming rare in society today.

"Children are not learning about risk any more, in the way we did when we were kids."

Meanwhile in Southampton, the council has commissioned a revamp of the playground at Houndwell Park in the city centre.

Construction is due to begin next year on an "experimental playground kit" made up of movable objects children can put together to create slopes, slides and balance beams.

Snug and Outdoor, the play consultancy behind the redesign, said the kit had already transformed an "aggressive and chaotic" playground in an inner London primary.

Hattie Coppard, director, said: "We feel it is irresponsible of local authorities and schools not to provide children with an environment where they can experience challenge and risk but in a controlled environment.

"Children have to learn how to take care of themselves."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

I wonder if they've been reading our rants about the lazy, scared, over-rotected kids we keep moaning about.

[Grimmlok]

Playgrounds are being toughened up because a generation of children is failing to learn how to handle risk, it emerged.

WELL NO FUCKING SHIT, LADY. How many millions of dollars did you pay some egghead to figure that out over half a decade?

Fuck!

[A*O]

Jeez - I remember the Death Zone kiddies playgrounds we used to hang out in as kids. I remember the 'witches hat', the junglejim set in concrete, the 20ft slides with absolutely NO safety rails, the swings with lovely wooden seats that would brain any kid foolish enough to walk too close, the roundabouts that would exert enough centrifugal force to fling a child at terminal velocity into the brick wall nearby, the wooden see-saw that could clock you under the chin and break your jaw. Happy days.......... happy days.

[Lil]

I remember those witches hat things. They swung out as well as round, and were particularly good for swinging violently at an unsuspecting person standing too close on the other side.

Our juniour school (so that's under 11s) had a play area that consisted of a sanded area (OK so far, apart from the fact that all the local cats used it as a loo) with sharp edged concrete cylinders of varying heights and we would jump from one to the other. Oh the fun we had, scraping acres of skin from our legs when we missed, oh the broken teeth and stitched chins.

Memories *sigh*.

[Mr. Authority]

About damn time! There's nothing wrong with kids getting hurt a lil bit, as long as they're having fun.

My park's playground was really fun. I remember the large 'rocket' looking tower thing. It was really high (like 3 stories) and had the loud banging stell. I would always go to the top and challenege everyone to try and take over my "castle". So awesome.

They tore it down and replaced it with a gay ass jungle gym.

[zorbeet]

Grew up playing on steel or galvanized playground equipment. Lived to talk about it!

Underneath the sliding boards and swings was gravel mixed in with broken glass. Life was good and the toys were great.

No pressure treated wood with recycled tires for fall protection. If you fell you picked the gravel and/or glass out and kept going. ( Done without the intervention of legal advice)

[LynnieD]

Bout time these youngsters are toughened up. I remember too the huge monkey bars over concrete. And the swing set that, when you got going high enough on the swing, would practically tip over.

[A*O]

Ah yes, gravel rash and blood blisters - badges of honour.

[Sojiita]

[BoogsBun]

You can't forget about the 3rd degree burns one got while sliding down the metal slide during summer.

[Daphne]

Originally Posted by BoogsBun

You can't forget about the 3rd degree burns one got while sliding down the metal slide during summer.

I will never forget how hot the metal slides would get here in Vegas during the summer.