According to the articles "Tear Down the Swing Sets" by John Tierney and "Can a Playground Be Too Safe" by Nicholas Day many changes have been done to playground designs for many reasons like creative risks, lawsuits, and child safety. Playgrounds used to be fun, exciting and riskful but now due to playground design they are safe, yet boring.
In article one, Tear Down the Swing Sets, Nicholas Day has given us reasons why playground designs have changed over time. One reason is child safety. Days research shows on lines 35, he has stated," But there's this sense that if you talk about it that's enough. There's this very real reluctance to get involved in anything that might at least potentially cause an injury." This example shows that playgrounds
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One of the countless reasons Day has explained this is," So instead of physical risk, Rockwell talks about creative risk. At the Imagination Playground, you can dare to build whatever you want." This quote shows how safe playgrounds take the creativity and the diversity out of playgrounds and gives a risk to children.
In article two, Can a Playground Be Too Safe, the author John Tierney talks about how playgrounds nowadays are too safe to be enjoyable and should be rebound back to having dangerous exciting playgrounds. One of the reasons Tierney states is that people have a fear of lawsuits and a good example of this is," The old tall jungle gyms and slides disappeared from most American playgrounds across the country in recent decades because... fear of lawsuits." This example shows that playgrounds have gotten duller and less exciting is from having a fear of families that sued them.
Secondly, in article two, Can a Playground Be Too Safe, Tierney research tells us that playground design has changed because of federal guidelines. An example of this is," The old tall jungle gyms and slides disappeared from most American playgrounds across the country in recent decades because of... federal guidelines." This example shows that playground design has changed because they did not coexist with the federal
Vincent Van Gogh stated, "As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed." Indeed, we often find ourselves in hard circumstances, where our strength can be challenged and tested its limits on an array of unusual activities. After accomplishing all given difficulties, we would get new thrills like being the winner, overcoming fears of height, conquering the opponents, or just winning in new tough games. Children also need this thing to grow physical as well as mental health. Therefore, John Tierney wrote the article “Can a Playground Be Too Safe?” which was published on New York Times on July 18, 2011 to show a common issue in our society. The author wondered
People who say “Rockwell’s playground is still an adventure playground—a construction site with all the splintery edges sanded down. It’s what an adventure playground looks like in a risk-averse culture. And it promotes the kind of play we think children should be doing now: not with just their bodies, but with their minds. The Imagination Playground is a much more cognitive vision of the playground. No one would confuse it with a jungle gym.” (Day 2) This shows that children to Mr.Day should be using their heads more and playgrounds should be safer, but Commissioner of parks in New York Henry Stern has a different idea. He says “His philosophy seemed reactionary at the time, but today it’s shared by some researchers who question the value of safety-first playgrounds. Even if children do suffer fewer physical injuries — and the evidence for that is debatable — the critics say that these playgrounds may stunt emotional development, leaving children with anxieties and fears that are ultimately worse than a broken bone.” (Tierney 1) Showing that kids should be doing physical activities at parks and using their imagination somewhere else. Not only-but also David Ball says “There is no clear evidence that playground safety measures have lowered the average risk on playgrounds,” said David Ball, a professor of risk management at Middlesex University in London. He noted that the risk of some injuries, like long
In a playground sits a teenager on the swing, she bask in the bliss, as she swings care-freely, without minding any injuries she might suffer as a result of not being cautious of falling off. In other, to avoid accidents, different precautions are required and should be observed. Like for example, when crossing the road, teenagers and kids should observe road safety signs, use safety equipment when necessary and obey traffic rules for crossing the road. Furthermore, there
For those critics who claim LL is dangerous, there is danger and risk everywhere. If every young boy or girl lived in a protective bubble, no kids would ever interact. Those vocal LL critics should not cross streets, should not walk down crowded aisles in Wal-Mart and should not mow their lawns or drive to Wildwood on summer vacation because something threatening might unexpectedly happen.
When children commit a horrible act such as a school shooting their parents often look for someone or something to blame rather than looking at what role they, as parents, may have had in the tragedy. The often targeted entertainers, video game developers, teachers, drug companies, and writers are rarely, if ever, responsible for such tragic outcomes and, unfortunately, often become victims as a result of lawsuits filed in an attempt to place blame on them. The parents of dangerous children must be scrutinized and sued alongside every other entity being blamed for the heinous crimes that children commit.
At this age, children are prone to injuries that involve falling. Ginsburg (1992) says, “the child begins to take an interest in the “utensils, tools and...
My own experience with this comes from my early childhood. At the age of six, I was playing on the jungle gym playground like a normal child care free and e...
Let’s pause for a second, let’s take a look what nature has for us. It is beautiful and yet harmless. Kids’ don’t spend the sufficient time to intake the benefits of nature. Louv says, “Playtime, especially unstructured imaginative, exploratory play is increasingly recognized as an essential component of wholesome child development” (48). He is saying to let our kids free and explore on their own. It is what brings fun to their lives. Knowing what comes next it’s pretty boring. Imagination brings excitement and knowledge to the human kind.
The lack of playgrounds gave my friend and I the opportunity to create games and scenarios out of thin air. Alondra and I could be zookeepers chasing after our favorite animals or space explorers who eventually discover an alien race! Not having playgrounds forced Alondra and I to open our minds and that lead to endless possibilities of fun. Imagination has a colossal effect on a child’s mind as they grow into adults. Stimulating your imagination when you are young can lead to out of the box thinking which can benefit a child’s learning.
... in the toy industry is to make toy safety the number one priority and to fulfill the customers’ needs.
To compare against the educators’ childhood experiences, the world of children today turns to have less opportunities to free play with risks (Early Childhood Australia, 2013). Risk is generally viewed from two domains: positive for children development and negative for children’s physical health (Early Childhood Australia, 2013). Educators’ thoughtfully plan activities and environments in the centres can facilitate children to achieve the outcomes of the EYLF effectively. According to XXX, she suggests that educators can discuss risks with children, the potential risks of the activities and the risky play (Dwyer, 2016) for the purpose of building children’s senses of
Most of the conversations that I heard was work related and not having enough time to do somethings. Also while I was there, most of the questions I was asking myself was, “where are they other parents?” are they too busy working, can’t afford to spend time with their children so they leave it up to the babysitter or the nanny. What I noticed was that the majority of the kids were exceptionally happy, the sound of laughter and enthusiasm was starting to give me a headache. Then of course we have those childrens who are crying a throwing tantrums because they really want to go on the swing but it is not their turn yet or there aren't any available swings. It is also interesting to see how the parent handles this kind of situations. At one point a little boy starting crying and yelling at his mom to let him get on a swing, There wasn’t any available swings left so his told him that he had to wait, and he refused and started yelling even louder to get on the swing. What amazed me was what the mom did, She got up and went over to the swing and ask a little girl if his son could get a turn so he would stop crying. In my opinion, i didn’t think that was the right thing to do and it doesn’t teaches the kid anything. If that the
The Play Strategy for Scotland is a national initiative that is very much relevant to my topic. The main aim is to create the best place for children to grow up in Scotland. It also aims to achieve making children able to play safely in their environment. The initiative links to my topic as it identifies the importance of play being a life-enhancing daily experience and its contribution to a happy, healthy childhood. The Play Strategy also protects children’s ability to play. (The Scottish Government, 2013)
A specific playground was selected, to be the Pembroke playground, due to its recent refurbishment of the floor surface and new equipment which also gave me the opportunity to learn the process from the restorers of the site themselves. At M Quip Co. Ltd., the whole construction process was explained from the formation to the placing of the Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) tiles used for the safety surfacing of the selected playground.
Pelegrini, A. D. (1995) School recess and playground behavior: Educational and developmental roles, New York City: SUNY Press.