Risks At Playgrounds, Monkey Bars?

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 05:42:57 +0000

The ‘Playground equipment sparks debate‘ an article published in The Banner on July 14, 2011 definitely sparked debate everywhere. ‘A piece of playground equipment in Confederation Park is under the microscope as residents are divided on weather to have it removed or leave it in place.‘, page 1.

Ada Johnson Playground

I thought I join this debate also, since I am very frequent visitor to the playgrounds in Aurora. Of course not by myself, with my 3 year old son.

My thoughts …

Playground equipment is not designed for one age. It is designed for range of ages. It is my responsibility as a parent to recognize my child’s climbing and maneuverability skills and let them play with the monkey bars, double hump camel climber or other equipment. Would I let my three year old now, or four year old next year climb such? No, he is a talker, but definitely not a climber at this stage of his life.

Ada Johnson Playground

Monkey bars, double hump camel climber and some other equipment I have seen are definitely for 10 year old children or older. Children at this age are more skilled but also bigger in size so falling through would be little difficult, never mind less distance to fall.

I am very protective parent. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Anything that my child wants to climb and I determined that it is not for him, he either is assisted or not allowed to use that piece of equipment.

Playgrounds are not just for fun, they are also learning experience for our children. Children fall, then they learn about pain and danger. We tell our children they cannot climb this or that, they learn about discipline. Children climb slides, we teach them about playground rules.

Children don’t know much about danger and are spontaneous. That goes with some of us too. Children are fearless. Again, as I responsible parent I must see danger ahead of my child, and warn them. If I cannot climb monkey bars, double hump camel climber or other equipment and probably cannot, then it is not for my child. If I know that my child likes to try new things, I watch him like a hawk. They learn, sometimes a spontaneous move can hurt.

My child fell backwards from top of the slide onto the stairs. My mistake, I should have examined the slide. There was a very little land for him to sit, he lost balance and fell backwards. Should I ask for the redesign. No, I assisted him until he became older and more skilled in maneuvering around. I learn too.

My child almost burned himself on the metal slide. Yes, we still have those in Aurora. My mistake, I took my child to the playground around lunch time, at the peak temperature. I did not examined the slide again. It was metal, and not plastic and you could almost cook an egg on its surface. No more visiting this playground. On the second thought, this is the playground I would suggest to replace.

Ada Johnson Playground

My conclusion …

Be responsible for your child they are fearless little creatures.

On the second hand I don’t understand what the subtitle on the page one of The Banner under ‘Playground equipment sparks debate‘ reading ‘Initiative promotes carpooling, public transit use‘, has to do with the whole article. A typo?

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Risks At Playgrounds, Monkey Bars?