And while I appreciate your perspective, and hear your argument, I absolutely do not appreciate you telling me shame on you. I have done nothing remotely shameful, and honestly dont understand why youre so angry at a stranger about an article topic that may have some degree of personal meaning to you, but is not actually about you or your choices, past or present. German playgrounds are in international demand. "The Land! A playground on Harriet Island, St. Paul, Minnesota. Slectionner une page. Unfortunately, that runs smack into our culture's habit of underestimating kids, overestimating danger, and hiring trial lawyers. Those jungle gyms taught us about the values and dangers of freedom. An article in the Journal of Accident Analysis and Prevention noted that kids were twice as likely to sustain injuries if the drop is over 5 feet. | Professor. Keen to get away from the neighbours? One day, when my daughter and some friends were playing, one of the smaller boys fell through the space where the log had been, and his head got stuck. Playing alone meant enduring a radical and jarring shift as the climber moved over the ladders center of gravity. Join us and subscribe for more. Starz' long-planned Dangerous Liaisons TV series is set to film outside Prague, from 6 April for 25 weeks.. But burns weren't the issue; the real problem with slides was the dizzying climb up. Or, as a German insurance exec might put it, a risk-ignorance breeding ground. Just be glad you slipped through the cracks. Unfortunately that option wasnt available to the girls. Learn how your comment data is processed. Thank you for the pictures. It was great fun and we learned to hang on. I grew up with these playgrounds and certainly survivedbut looking at them nowwow! Der Stacheldrahtmann 2. None of this stuff actually seems that dangerous by comparison. Even back then was anyone being forced to participate? This article may be worth a skim: The Fallacy of the I Turned Out Fine Argument: You didnt use seatbelts when you were growing up and you lived to tell about it? I mean, how much fun, right? A mechanical greased pig is how Hill Standards Barrel-of-Fun was described in 1922. Worth a visit, especially with children. Todays playgrounds are just engineered to avoid lawsuitshas nothing to do with exercising the child. Gutfeld reveals why Germany is installing more dangerous playgrounds | Fox News Video. , PS: If you liked this article, please share it! Sure, we dont want playgrounds so dangerous they regularly cause injury, but, at the same time, is not life about using your freedom and taking individual risks? I dont know how tall it was, but I remember thinking that if I fell off it, I would probably end up breaking something. You might even get someone who disagrees with your subject matter and strongly thinks your article should be about all the injuries kids suffered from playing on that old equipment. I did a lot of research, and also spent plenty of time on hot slides and huge jungle gyms. "This is fantastic progress in understanding childhood as the right time for children to learn to recognize and mitigate risk," says Gever Tulley. Nancy Price, founder/owner/editor/writer/creator ClickAmericana.com. I entered school at age 5, in 1939, and most girls in the country school wore bloomers made out of flour sacks. I stumbled on this when looking into a piece of vintage playground equipment that myself and others were discussing on a Facebook group for our hometown. Most Dangerous Playgrounds For Kids The Top Fives show brings you informational and entertaining top five videos! Many of the items in your list still exist in the UK and Europe! Playgrounds, a growing number of educators, manufacturers and town planners argue, must stop striving for absolute safety and instead create challenging microcosms that teach children to navigate difficult situations even if the consequence is the odd broken bone. Your email address will not be published. He's founder of the San Francisco Brightworks School author of 50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do). ClickAmericana.com is made with and by Synchronista LLC 2011-2022. The real purge started in 1988, when a boy in Washington, D.C., fell from a climbing apparatus and was badly injured. Meanwhile, aresearch team based in Houston, Texas, conducted a study over a five year period to determine which kind of play park was most likely to be the location of serious injuries to kids. Our designs have significantly increased in height in recent years.'. Should others be held liable for accidents if people CHOOSE to go to the playground? Well done, and very interesting to read. A big Beckham birthday! Back in the day, kids play on a playground. Yet, when it comes to playgrounds, the stereotype is misleading: here, its the strict policing of standards that enables a risk-accepting culture in the first place. When it was very hot, we sat on an old towel or rag of some sort and to keep it slick we sat on a waxy bread wrapper or some waxed paper before sliding down. Cloud, Minn., sends the following description: A giant stride made by placing a hind wheel of a wagon on top of an Idaho cedar pole in the same way in which you would put a wheel on a wagon. Lots of injuries from falls, and just like the TV shows, if we could walk, the coach would say walk it off. I was a small kid, and the person at the other end was always heavier than me and would keep me up in the air threatening me that they would jump off and let me bang back down to earth. Two people would ride and a third would grab one of the swings inner chain and spin the swings by pulling from the center pole. Why Won't Maryland Sell Me a Goddamn Beer? Some adventurous youngsters would even step up on top, logrolling stylebut unlike that famous woodsmans sport, the inevitable spill was farther and the landing was neither soft nor splashy. Pillows so they can lay there and stare into their phone. 'If we want children to be prepared for risk, we need to allow them to come into contact with risk,' said the professor who works with councils and playground designers to develop challenging obstacles. As a reporter you are not supposed to be subjective, only objective. To be fair, playgrounds changed because of a lawsuit in the early 70s. Even so, Germanys dizzying climbing towers could soon become blueprints for playgrounds in Britain and the US. On the girls playground, Harriet Island, St. Paul, Minnesota, the girls had to swing high. Follow us on Facebook!. These boys and girls arent just flying high like, perilously close to the steel bars at the top of the structure but there are three swings with two kids each. Yes! Im 20 and I clearly remember being a kid and playing on a super tall climbring structure with my friends and it was absolutely fantastic. Panzer 38(t) (German Light Tank) Subscribe. And while the title may be slightly dramatic, many of these do NOT exist here in the US anymore, and havent for at least 25 years. I do think kids are too wrapped up in bubble wrap today. I read a fascinating article from the Atlantic a few years ago called The Overprotected Kid that there are actually more playground injuries today than pre-1980s because kids had to learn to be more careful when playing on concrete and asphalt. See vintage ride-on spring horse toys from the 50s to the 80s, Check out these 36 vintage metal swing sets that offered backyard fun for kids, The 1920s lingerie revolution: How women ditched corsets for comfort and freedom, Photos with Santa from decades ago dont really look all that different, See old 1920s Dodge cars from Dodge Brothers, 30 retro-futuristic space-age inventions, including several were still waiting for. Kids were meant to latch onto one of the lines of rope attached to the spinning wheel-like contraption atop the pole. Though somewhat rare, playground balance barrels still exist today, but they are nearly always situated above a bed of soft wood chips, built lower to the ground, and equipped with helpful handles to keep the user from taking a header. They combined their last names to. Genesis of Natural and Developmental Playgrounds German influence was instrumental in the emphasis on physical development and early apparatus equipped playgrounds in the United States. But its cool to hear about these sort of things every now and then because Im really curious of what it was like to use those playgrounds. Covered as much as shorts under dresses do now. Because when you are feeling insecure, you are also extra careful.. Giving maximum play area per dollar, the General Playground catalog offered the tallest version of the Fire Chief at the price of $178.. | Of course, if youre a parent its understandable to want to keep your kids safe. Professor Rolf Schwarz of Karlsruhe University of Education, argues that 'protected' playgrounds forestall kids from studying how to handle danger within the early levels of their growth. This playground contraption, built by Everwear Manufacturing Company, looked reminiscent of a teeter totterexcept it had the unique ability to leap forward (or backward) and whack its unsuspecting victims. I remember spending recess on an abomination of a playground with big wood posts that would give . (And how did the kid in the flying rings get into that position?! Berlin's playgrounds are some of the most physically challenging in the world, and German parents are fine with that. 11 items. Towering over a woodland playground on the northernmost outskirts of Berlin, the Triitopia climbing frame is the kind to cause worry in any anxious parent. Playgrounds have become a ubiquitous part of the urban environment in Germany. Merry-go-rounds werescrapped by the dozen. There's a lot to love about raising kids in the US as opposed to Germany, but I have to say the german Beergarden/Playground combo (which is pretty common actually) beats the US version of sitting on the hot smelly . I run a memory program for aging seniors and they LOVE to talk about the playgrounds from the old days. | Readers who are sensitive to violent imagery may want to skip watching it, and just read the transcript. Do I go outside? All girls wore skirts to school then, the teachers would freak, take her inside, give her a couple of swats and make her stay inside for the rest of the day. Naomi is a playground designer focused on . The site of an old playground. I always wonder why we pass around the, your grandparents didnt need seatbelts meme. Those tall metal slides were still around in the 80s. It was a skinny metal tube with a steel ladder welded to the inside. Still like a good swing in my 70s. KIds were definitely stronger and tougher back then. 'What the spongy surface playgrounds don't do is teach kids that there is a consequence to falling, and they won't learn anything from it,' said Faulkner. Playscapes' friend Lianne sent through this climbing thicket in Munich German as a follow-on to the Florian Aigner post; she says it is at the intersection of Untersbergstrae & Weienseestrae in Munich. Its fascinating to look at the old playgrounds and how adventurous they were. Thanks for your feedback, and Im sorry you didnt like this article content. There are about 1,850 public playgrounds in Berlin, a city of nearly four million inhabitants, of which about half a million are under 18. No slacks then. This emphasis prevailed in schools and parks for older children into the 21st century. German playgrounds blighted by dioxin. Natural selection was alive and well until it began being gradually legislated away in the 1970s. I left school at 16 with six GCSEs - and became a self-made millionaire. And theres a lot of research to indicate that the current plastic playgrounds are actually stifling childhood creativity because theyre so canned (you can drive across the country and note that most of the playgrounds are the same five or so models made by the same few companies). More like a barrel leading to breaks and bumps and bruises. The idea, of . German Translation of " playground" | The official Collins English-German Dictionary online. of children's playgrounds throughout western Germany . Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Alex Murdaugh unanimously found GUILTY of murder of wife and son, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Two Russian tanks annihilated with bombs by Ukrainian armed forces, Isabel Oakeshott clashes with Nick Robinson over Hancock texts. Professor Rolf Schwarz of Karlsruhe University of Education, argues that 'safe' playgrounds prevent kids from learning how to handle risk in the early. 11.1.2021 2:04 PM. However, the dividing line between Abenteuerspielpltze (adventure playgrounds) and traditional play zones is increasingly disappearing. With young people spending an increasing amount of time in their own home, the umbrella association of statutory accident insurers in Germany last year called for more playgrounds that teach children to develop risk competence. Boomer parents believed it was too dangerous for the kids they raised. In 1978, a young boy in Chicago was severely injured in a fall after slipping through the railing atop a 12-foot slide. That's music to an actuaries' earsand also to some parents. Sure, the ground was just dirt, but that was probably safer than concrete. Monkey bars and seesaws are both on their way out of most American playgrounds because they're seen as too perilous by concerned doctors and traumatized parents. We see what the equipment is, but were still not sure what this one kid is doing or why. It was so high that it smelled musty up there! For example, the Giant Stride was pretty common, but its name is only visible in the caption for one of the old photos. Playgrounds are intended to be fun, safe places to take children to visit and play. Tail end of the BOOMERS here am so glad I didnt miss the adventure! (Photos from the Seattle Municipal Archives Collection). Theres a realisation [in the UK] that playgrounds have become too sanitised: if you look at them only as a series of potential hazards, you are missing something important., Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Like the traditional teeter totter, kids had to have a lot of trust in their partner to not send them thudding to the dirt. Quit trying to be ultra dramatic and pretend its so foreign. November 04, 2021. The most at-risk age group for playground-related injuries are children ages 5 to 9. 'One of the things that we have noticed is that kids are really good at risk assessing their own behaviour,' she said. My heart was in my throat as I eavesdropped on the other parents at pick-up the following day. Additionally, it is imperative to have a small first aid kit on hand to treat common injuries . we immediately think of the clacking balls ona Newtons Cradle toy: (Top photo from the Seattle Municipal Archives Collection). The Triitopia tower is encased with boards and netting to ensure no child can take a tumble from a height above three metres. "First of all, [right-wing families] are nice and . A few years ago, when her daughter was in elementary school, she says, "The school replaced the standard playground equipment with four long, thick trees with their branches removed, all interconnected with wide ropes and wobbly bridges made of rubber. That injury has aggravated him his entire life. Survival of the fittest I guess. Its interesting though when you look at all the children in the photos they are all smiling! This way of making a giant stride keeps the children far apart, the ropes seldom get tangled and it gives the children a much better swing., A similar version, with a long tree trunk as the center. Certainly, we dont want to go back in time to the unsupervised barrel but neither do we want to insulate children from all risk-or fun. Er macht sich immer Sorgen, wenn seine Kinder auf dem Spielplatz sind. Thanks! K Katie Dean :: Artist / Printmaker / Artrepreneur Outdoor Learning Spaces German Translation of "dangerous" | The official Collins English-German Dictionary online. But, at least the injuries on playgrounds today are minor. From my elementary school, which just closed. From red roped climbing gyms to rainbow-shaped monkey bars to tunnel slides painted to look like a dragon's head,. You see it hosting about 40 kids who were up to all kinds of crazy shenanigans including just hanging out 20 feet above the ground. New German playgrounds are built to be dangerous, forcing children to negotiate perilous obstacles while risking injury if they fall according to a professor of motor development. The Panzer 38(t), originally designated as the KD LT vz. You will always want to look for the equipment listed above when visiting a new play area and avoid these areas, especially with younger children | The barrel was built to be anchored in a slab of concrete, and kids were encouraged to dive over the top of the 140-pound steel cask or attempt to hug its smooth surface and spin themselves silly. While our paranoid and litigious society boasts only a handful, Europe has hundreds, offering kids the opportunity to play with fire, use handsaws and sail across 50-foot zip lines. It opens in half an . Defined in addition to minimum requirements for rails and barriers were maximum fall heights and the form of impact attenuation material required under equipment. Germany is adding greater risk to its playgrounds. Since 1989, this Prenzlauer Berg play area has facilitated free play and innovation in amazing ways. The ones that I dont see now definitely existed when I was a kid 15 years ago. We love the kid hanging upside down (shes clearly having fun) but also hope recovery went well after one foot inevitably got stuck in a ring. See 20 forts built upon branches. How would I know? Emma Camp Thanks for visiting and for supporting a small business! Examples of these rides could be found up through the 1980s. I grew up with those also,they were great fun. (This phenomenon is also seen above. The undulating and wavelike motion of this playground attraction gleefully brought seasickness ashore. Almost every town or city park had swings, teeter totters, a jungle gym, monkey bars, horizontal bars (for the girls to do knee spins on), one or two or more steel slippery slides (what we called them) (and yes, they did get hot!). The rubber provides a soft ground for children to fall on. With young people spending an increasing amount of time in their own home, the umbrella association of statutory accident insurers in Germany last year called for more playgrounds that teach children to develop 'risk competence'. The idea of the playground as a method for imbuing children with a sense of fair play and good manners originated in Germany where playgrounds were erected in connection to schools. The most dangerous thing about metal play equipment is that it got scorching hot in the summer especially the slides. It is slow going, but interesting to be reminded of so much. recent fire in singapore 2022 Their lawyer had argued that the slide's slope was too steep, as it was at a 35 degree angle, rather than 30. "play:groundNYC is 50,000 square feet of magic," says executive director Rebecca Faulkner. Up to 40 children could ride while this structure simultaneously rotated and oscillated. The best beach in Britain that you've never heard of: Seaside town is braced for tourism boom after Kate Garraway reveals Derek's heartbreaking words when they thought he had just minutes left to live. We are not trying to avoid every broken leg possible.. I remember being thrown off of a merry-go-round many times, and learning how to fall properly to avoid injury. They want kids to grow up "risk competent." Risk exposure can also make them safer psychologically and physically. A thousand of these "adventure playgrounds" exist across northern Europe, dotting the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, and beyond. german playground dangerous. With equipment that made a mockery of the universal conditions of gravity and physics, the schoolyards of the early 20th century were a treacherous labyrinth of concussion and contusion. More like this Land Art Dream Garden Garden Art Diy Garden Garden Poems Garden Drawing Shade Garden Front Garden Herb Garden I love love love this!!! Gutfeld. When we design new playground structures, we try to build in challenges: an obstacle, for example, that a child may fail to overcome the first nine times but then manages at the tenth attempt., The aim is to allow the greatest amount of freedom while guaranteeing the greatest amount of safety. Insurance companies in the UK have taken a different approach by refusing to insure playgrounds deemed too 'high-risk' to avoid the cost of paying out on accidents. Accordingly, the Triitopia tower in Berlin-Frohnau is encased with boards and netting to ensure no child can take a tumble from a height above three metres. The modern Witches Hat (called the ocean wave here) are really, really popular as are the spinners (we call them Gally Spins)! The big problem with wood log play equipment is that it rots within a relatively short period of time making it not only dangerous and unstable, but expensive to repair. The International Organisation for Standardisation is reviewing its standards for sports and recreational equipment, and could in the future encourage playground designers to consider not just the risks but the benefits of wobbly bridges, lopsided steps and tree-tall climbing frames. O dear Lord those playgrounds were killer! Neuland-Park 65 Parks Playgrounds By Hawen12 Has big events too. If you look closely enough, though, you can see ropes or chains that prove hes just on a swing. They were flat boards, on long chains, that you could jump from at the apex of your swing. Tulley should know. MORE: Huge old outdoor public swimming pools like these made summertime cool for everyone 100 years ago. Some of its climbing structures are now three stories high. July 6, 2022 Moreover: With young people spending an increasing amount of time in their own home, the umbrella association of statutory accident insurers in Germany last year called for more playgrounds that teach children to develop "risk competence". One type of merry-go-round (roundabout) was where there was a circular rotating bench with a stationary wheel in the middle. I was laughing because on my birthday park outing I got hit in the forehead with the end of one of these and vividly remember the goose egg. Im on a Village council here in the UK and in the process of updating one of our play areas. I remember the jungle gym in the first grade, at lease once a week this one girl would hang upside down about six off the ground. Note: This article may feature affiliate links, and purchases made may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. This one looks like it might be one of the smallest Ferris Wheels ever. The Berliner Seilfabrik company manufactures climbing frames and play equipment . Sure, there were bound to be some breaks, bumps and bruises among the survivors but, based on the simple fact that youre reading this right now, your ancestors clearly made it through childhood with their personal equipment intact. And whenever they do use them they use them in their own risky ways like climbing on the roofs above the slide tops. Yes, I do. It sort of looks like a minimalist Ikea version of a play structure. Maybe because someone had to call emergency services when little Timmy fell from the top, and hit all the tiers on the way down? Falls. 3. Accessibility | Fun set of pictures, thanks! "Even international safety standards organizationsso often the 'fun police' when it comes to playgroundsare coming round to a more balanced, pro-risk view," says Tim Gill, author of Urban Playgrounds: How Child-Friendly Planning and Design Can Save Cities. The company is engaged in the development, production & distribution of playground equipment and large playgrounds for the play and leisure sector, especially for cities and municipalities, kindergartens and schools as well as amusement parks. That sounds less like a fun thing to play on at recess, and more like a splinter delivery device. A kid could easily climb out and hang off the side (which we sometimes did!) The real purge started in 1988, when a boy in. ALSO SEE: Wonder horses! Awesome 80s cereal, including old brands & cool flavors you probably forgot! It led to fears that councils and local authorities responsible for paying the insurance premiums on playgrounds would simply water down the challenges posed by the structures in an effort to keep insurance costs low. According to the 1930 catalog, the bather released the swing with a foot pedal and swooped along the waves, pausing at the top of the arc before being hurdled forward. Yes, there are fall limits and specifications for surfaces and safety is very important, but encouraging age appropriate risk taking is still an important part of playground provision. These spinny things ended up lasting and being loved for decades. See 20 forts built upon branches. RM KR0F6A - 1960s, urban playground, a young boy and girl play on an old abandoned car on inner-city wasteland at the back of terraced houses, England. Interactive map reveals when you may see SNOW. The ad for this spinner said,There is plenty of action, bringing into play every muscle in the childs body., DONT MISS: Vintage playhouses & forts: Old-fashioned fun for kids. As an American, I nervously anticipated the outrage that would surely follow. In 1975, a medical journal wrote of some of the danger: The youngest children were at particular risk on equipment such as the wooden rocking horse or roundabout, when the speed of operation could be controlled by older children., Certainly, the adults of the time must have told the kids to be careful. Due to the danger presented by Giant Strides, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission putthem on the equipment not recommended list [PDF]. It's important to note that there is no mention of cultural enrichment in this documentary. The thousands of people who didnt survive the playgrounds of yesteryear, though, arent here to remind us how good we really do have it here in the 21st century. Sign in Home bayer leverkusen whoscored; kids cricket near bengaluru, karnataka; gbaps human resources; fire sprinkler distance from air vent; pros and cons of being a blood spatter analyst Lenore Skenazyis president of Let Grow, a nonprofit promoting childhood independence and resilience, and founder of the Free-Range Kids movement. Eventually modern playgrounds will be little more than big piles of pillows. And we even drank water from the garden hose. (Millenniums lol). Humanitarians saw playgrounds as the solution to cramped quarters, poor air quality, and social isolation. To me the staying inside was the worst part, but then the next week she would do it again. The Ocean Wave was an old favorite by the time General Playground offered this version for $195 in 1940. They often say with a smile, I dont know how we survived. The heights. Play:ground NYC's research suggests that children are better than we think at assessing risk, while Faulkner claimed that over sanitising and scrutinising kids could in fact cause more accidents. Germany is often perceived to be a politically and economically risk-averse nation, where everyday life is regulated by a strict regime of rules and regulations. New German playgrounds are built to be dangerous, forcing children to negotiate perilous obstacles while risking injury if they fall according to a professor of motor development. Also, FYI, many of the crowded photos of kids sitting astride slides and atop monkey bars are actually group photos. Heres how one of these playgrounds looked minus the kids. Cruise-goers reveal their most terrifying incidents at sea - from watching a ferocious Do YOU know your Adam and Eve from your Ruby Murray? Now, perhaps it's up to us to let our kids play with a bit more abandon, and be willing to encourage them to test themselves, even if it means failing and falling. I once took refuge in that structure while having to walk home from school in a snowstorm. Have been trying to explain the chain ladders circling the pole ( were rope ladders in the Chicago Park District in the 60s) to my children they could NOT imagine anyone allowing those! When it comes to human history, survival of the fittest meant more than just our prehistoric evolution. german playground dangerous. Note: ClickAmericana.com features authentic historical information, and is not intended to represent current best practices on any topic, particularly with regard to health and safety, but also in terms of outdated cultural depictions and social values.