Dangerous playground equipment in Memorial Park? archived
Jun 9, 2012 at 6:57pm
The playground was unfortunately poorly conceived from the beginning. It looks and feels like space debris landed in the park.
I don't know anything about that. It just seemed to me that this piece of equipment provided the opportunity for some very dangerous activity. I know playground equipment can be inherently dangerous if kids are not properly supervised, but this thing seemed really poorly designed.
Attached is basically what that device looks like (however this one appears to perhaps be a bit more safe with 3 vertical bars whereas if I recall, Memorial Park's device has 2, not sure but this is the gist of it). When I moved here and introduced my kids to that park I was surprised with how abysmal it is. It is indeed poorly configured & equipped (for all ages of kids). The larger slide is complete hazard with basically no sidewalls, what is that about? I had never seen a slide with no clearly defined sidewalls. I later discovered my local school (Tuscan) has a tremendously superior playground for kids than Memorial Park and have not been back to Memorial Park since discovering Tuscan. Tuscan school's playground and Memorial Park? Night and Day contrasting difference (and Tuscan School does not have the crazy stand up spin thing, nor a slide with no sidewall like what is at Memorial Park).
I'm scared of most of the equipment at memorial park as are many of the kids I see there. That playground is also in serious need of new mulch. The landscape material is coming up under the baby slide and it's a major tripping hazard.
Spinners are actually are very good for stimulating children's vestibular systems and can aid in brain development. And kids do love them.
http://kaboom.org/build_playground/toolkit/accessibility/play_and_development/sensory_play/vestibular_play
However, ANY piece of equipment can be dangerous if not used correctly and children should (in an ideal world) always be supervised.
I will agree I dont quite get that slide thing.
http://kaboom.org/build_playground/toolkit/accessibility/play_and_development/sensory_play/vestibular_play
However, ANY piece of equipment can be dangerous if not used correctly and children should (in an ideal world) always be supervised.
I will agree I dont quite get that slide thing.
If you give a kid something that spins they are going to do exactly what you describe. It doesn't matter what it is, it is what kids do.
Yeah, I suppose so. This thing though, like the picture above but with only two bars instead of three, seemed particularly designed for torture.
When my son was little there was almost nothing for him to do there. He could climb up to certain spots and then he was stuck there with no where to go.
Is anybody going to ask what responsibility older kids had to stop the spinning? Honestly, its so easy to assign blame on the equipment, the designers, the planners....when as a society do we look at something and say "you know what the kids were doing something stupid". Have we lost our sense of personal ownership of the situation? I have 2 kids 11 & 13 and when they something stupid and it hurts them I point it out. Recently my eldest went to an amusement park and rode a rollercoaster too many times and when she got home her neck hurt. Do I blame the amusement park, the rollercoaster operator or my daughter? Bad decison for her and a teaching moment
It is an age old problem.
http://syberspace.typepad.com/adventures_in_syberspace/2009/04/the-death-of-the-playground-merrygoround.html
I think the slide is designed to throw your legs over the side and slide down that way.
http://syberspace.typepad.com/adventures_in_syberspace/2009/04/the-death-of-the-playground-merrygoround.html
I think the slide is designed to throw your legs over the side and slide down that way.
I think it was the kids or the circumstance, not the equipment. I have seen lots of kids enjoy that spinning thing, including my own. And 30 plus years ago I had a personal experience with a different kind of spinner - one you lie down on or sit on like a dish -- older kids would not stop it. It was scary. But I think it was poor judgment on the kids' part, not the design of the spinner.
Don't blame the playground equipment for bullying. That was bullying.
susan1014 said:
Don't blame the playground equipment for bullying. That was bullying.
+1
I think most any playground equipment can be dangerous if misused.
My 6yo loves, loves, LOVES that playground. He's a wicked climber and actually requested to go there yesterday instead of our regular "boring" playground (Borden).
My daughter also loves the playground and that spinner thingy. She is also a "climber". Isnt there a sign somewhere that give the recommended age for the playground. I believe it is geared towards an older group of kids AND intended to be more physically challenging (ie better exercise) for the kids.
I do agree, the mulch needs to be cleaned up and they need to keep a better eye on the equipment to ensure it is in good working condition.
Lastly, yes that was definitely bullying. I've asked kids to stop spinning someone after hearing them scream several times "STOP!".
I do agree, the mulch needs to be cleaned up and they need to keep a better eye on the equipment to ensure it is in good working condition.
Lastly, yes that was definitely bullying. I've asked kids to stop spinning someone after hearing them scream several times "STOP!".
That playground was built to replace another playground considered dangerous. They are all better than the playgrounds of my childhood with jungle gyms on cement. I do miss the big see saws though I cringe to think of how we much we tried to use them to kill our friends.
nan said:
That playground was built to replace another playground considered dangerous. They are all better than the playgrounds of my childhood with jungle gyms on cement. I do miss the big see saws though I cringe to think of how we much we tried to use them to kill our friends.
Yes, my elementary school had a ginormous single slide and one of those dome-climber thingies -- both on concrete! Such clear memories of my friend falling off the top of the slide, breaking his arm. And those old seesaws were the BEST (as a kid)/WORST (as a parent)! The whole point was to see how hard you could slam your friend's butt into the ground, right?
Exactly! You got them up high and then you jumped off quickly and let them fall. Tee hee. 
Funny thing is my kids love those old fashioned playgrounds. We visit some fairly rural areas with regularity and the playgrounds have the old see saws, slides and merry go rounds. We have had a lot of fun and some good physics lessons. It's great to watch them figure out how older much larger brother and younger small brother can see saw together. Of course they are supervised to use the equipment safely.
um, there should have been parents there to control the situation. and any adult who witnessed it should have jumped in immediately. that's what I do. I'm a Mom. I scold everyone equally.
Jun 10, 2012 at 3:18pm Edited
There were no adults around. And I watched the situation long enough to ascertain that they were not just playing. It was not immediately clear that they were not just playing on the equipment and the shouts were normal "fun" shouts, rather than "stop torturing me" shouts. They stopped when they saw me and I was getting ready to leave the tennis courts to stop them from spinning the girl. This was between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm, so I'm not surprised there were no adults on the playground.
I still think the rate of spinning speed achieveable on the spinner thing makes it a bit scary as a piece of playground equipment.
I still think the rate of spinning speed achieveable on the spinner thing makes it a bit scary as a piece of playground equipment.
Our family literally calls that the Dangerous Playground, ever since that new equipment came in (i.e., "Want to go to Borden Park, or the Dangerous Playground?"). It just seems like one spinal injury hazard after another.
That said, I do know lots of little kids who are great climbers who love the place, and lots of kids of all ages who love the spinners.
That said, I do know lots of little kids who are great climbers who love the place, and lots of kids of all ages who love the spinners.
I had some great times on one of these oh so long ago ... ate a good amount of dirt when flung from it as well.
I think it says 2-5 on that sign.dk50b said:
My daughter also loves the playground and that spinner thingy. She is also a "climber". Isnt there a sign somewhere that give the recommended age for the playground. I believe it is geared towards an older group of kids AND intended to be more physically challenging (ie better exercise) for the kids.
Jun 11, 2012 at 10:43am Edited
2-5 on the smaller section, 5-12 on the larger section, I believe.
This was obviously a bullying situation that you're speaking about, but in general my children L.O.V.E. the spinners particularly, and it is true that there has been research about spinning motion being good for children, especially those with sensory issue I have heard.
When we go on vacation to Cape Cod every summer, there is an old drive-in theater that has an old-style playground with that big flat spinner thing (and a bunch of other old "unsafe" equipment) and the kids absolutely love it. There are usually 20 kids hanging off of it.
This was obviously a bullying situation that you're speaking about, but in general my children L.O.V.E. the spinners particularly, and it is true that there has been research about spinning motion being good for children, especially those with sensory issue I have heard.
When we go on vacation to Cape Cod every summer, there is an old drive-in theater that has an old-style playground with that big flat spinner thing (and a bunch of other old "unsafe" equipment) and the kids absolutely love it. There are usually 20 kids hanging off of it.
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I watched from the tennis courts for about a minute while the girl shouted for the spinning to stop. The kids finally saw me watching and stopped before I went over there and made them stop. The girl on the equipment had no chance to leap off before the older boys started spinning her again. Once the spinning stopped, the girl was holding her head and the older girl was holding her up as the younger girl staggered around. The older boys couldn't have cared less.
I did a lot of stupid, dangerous stuff when I was the age of those kids and survived. But this piece of equipment reminded of some sort of medieval torture device, not really a great thing to have in a children's playground.