Playgrounds: TOO safe?

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When I was a kid a never used a helmet, mitts, pads, or anything like that. I learned to ride a bike, and roller blades. I used to climb on tries and I never broke anything. I played with fire, and learned to cook that way. I played with a hammer, and learned a couple of things about carpentry. I played with needles, and know how to sew. I played with fireworks, and never had an accident. I think it's maybe because all that protection that kids now cannot play without getting hurt. They just do not know how to.

Maybe it's different where you guys live, but helmets are the law here. For everyone, even adults.

W.W.W.hhhhhhhhhat!?! That is...*shakes head*

I wish I wasn't born around this time. I wish I was born earlier, where kids could go walk anywhere and do things.

Even if I hadn't been born around the time that I was, my parents would've been overprotective..that's who they are.

Hey, I have a question: Do you read Yahoo articles all the time?

I read them often, as well as articles on Psychology Today.

Russian playgrounds, on the other hand, look like heaps of fun:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_il1m8NJbDY[/youtube]

http://englishrussia.com/2010/12/16/creepy-childrens-playgrounds/

Nice. Be sure to send any my way if you find good ones. You should check out instapaper.com it has some good articles.

Mine probably would too. Because of my Asperger's.

Same with me except my parents didn't know why I was the way I was! My Dad was so convinced that a paedo was going to bundle me into a white van (always white...) that he wouldn't let me and my brother play out even when I was 12 (brother was younger)! Incidentally, a paedo did take a child from a neighbouring estate but it was a blue van...

Would I have got into the blue van thinking that the blue van was safe? Probably not because I had read a book about not going anywhere with strangers! In other words I would have been fine out by myself and I probably wouldn't be so darned helpless now if he had let me have more freedom! As soon as I was allowed out for the first time I didn't know how to cope because it was all new to me. I got beaten up... a lot...

Some memories of growing up

-Trampolines with exposed springs and no safety enclosures. Even better was the lack of a "one person at a time" rule
-Forts built from wood using nothing but a hammer and nails. Board missing? No big deal, now it's a trap door or a secret entrance
-Swings made from cut up tires and then jumping out to see who can land the farthest away
-Huge metal slides, slides made from rollers, and steep slides
-Slides that would give you an electric shock when you went down them (every McDonalds we went to at the time had them)
-Bridges made with chains that you could bounce on and make waves
-Zip lines/flying foxes made from a simple cable suspended between two large trees and a tire attached to a pulley
-Spinning the roundabout as fast as you can and trying to hang on
-Playing on the see-saw with the goal of going down hard enough so that the person on the other end would lift up off their seat briefly
-Fireman's poles
-Rope and chain ladders
-Monkey bars that could be "modified" by moving pieces around

I do have memories of falling from a vertical ladder (no injuries), but I definitely do not have a fear of heights

If I had kids, I would love to raise them on these kind of things (with supervision of course, although I would probably want to play with them)

My parents weren't afraid I'd go with strangers, but they thought I would get myself into dangers.
Seriously, I wasn't allowed to ride a bike until I was 8, I wasn't allowed out of my neighborhood (a really small one) until I was 14, I was trapped most of my life.

I knew what to do if I got hurt (which happened, but I survived) and I knew how to fix mistakes...I never just got the chance to make them and grow up. Had I, I might have had a chance at having a life now. So, I feel your pain.

I was always scared of those because we had an above-ground one, and it had a hole. My sister bounced through it, and hit her head on the cement. Didn't stop me from bouncing, until they got rid of it.



Not from tires, but I remember the jumping game. I was glad for sand though. Whoever thought of wood chips needs a brain implant. One time I was swinging with my eyes closed and with no hands and I accidentally did a backflip and face-planted in the sand at my playground. Had it been concrete or wood chips, it could've ended up worse.



I remember those. But since we live in the desert, they were quickly abolished. They'd get so hot that they would burn you just to touch it, let alone slide down it.



Haha, yes! And then you'd chase the other kids to give them the shock.



Those were my second favorite, it was even better when they were ropes because it was riskier and you had to be careful to not get your foot stuck in it.



I never got to do that as a child, but I did go on a legitimate one at a cabin.



I wish, I'm too young for that. Though, they had one at the local science museum, and I would take to town on it.



I barely remember those.



My grandma has a pole in her backyard that we would always climb



I almost fell of a 100 foot cliff and I don't have much of a fear of heights.



Definitely!



I know, it'd be tempting to just have fun and climb around on it.....ah, I want to be a child again.

-Trampolines with exposed springs and no safety enclosures. Even better was the lack of a "one person at a time" rule-We had one of those in our backyard, no one person at a time rule here. I went to a camp that I had an in ground, and 4 people were allowed on it at time.

-Forts built from wood using nothing but a hammer and nails. Board missing? No big deal, now it's a trap door or a secret entrance-Don't remember these........

-Swings made from cut up tires and then jumping out to see who can land the farthest away-That jumping game was fun, I was always scared to jump off the swing, but I would do it at my friend's house.

-Huge metal slides, slides made from rollers, and steep slides-A lot of local parks had these. I remember there was this one park with a pool that I would go to, sometimes I would go down the slide with sunscreen and a bathing suit, and I would get stuck. It also burned. It was fun though.

-Slides that would give you an electric shock when you went down them (every McDonalds we went to at the time had them)-Yep. I remember this, and I thought I was the only one who got the shocks.

-Bridges made with chains that you could bounce on and make waves-Barely remember these, but I there were fun.

-Zip lines/flying foxes made from a simple cable suspended between two large trees and a tire attached to a pulley-We never had these.

-Spinning the roundabout as fast as you can and trying to hang on-Those roundabout things were fun, except, I got pushed off one once.

-Playing on the see-saw with the goal of going down hard enough so that the person on the other end would lift up off their seat briefly-We mostly had the ones that only one person at a time can go on that kind of bounced. I do remember this one park had the old see-saws and I remember loving them!

-Fireman's poles-Our school had a HUGE one, they took it away when I was in grade 2 or 3, I believe.

-Rope and chain ladders-Sort of remember these. At least the rope ladders.

-Monkey bars that could be "modified" by moving pieces around-Don't think we had these.