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In contrast to the modern trend of helicopter parenting and safety-first playgrounds, one school in New Zealand has decided to completely do away with rules during recess playtime to great effect. They aren't alone in this reversal, some of which can be justified by a study showing that children who injured themselves by falling from heights grow up to be less fearful of heights than those who weren't hurt.
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New Zealand School Tries Recess With No Rules
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A man was reading The Canterbury Tales one Saturday morning, when his
wife asked "What have you got there?" Replied he, "Just my cup and Chaucer."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Geotti on Friday June 13 2014, @09:49AM
FTFY.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Sir Garlon on Friday June 13 2014, @10:24AM
You can address the severity of likely injury micro-managing the kids' behavior. For example, don't build the jungle gym high enough that a child will have a high probability of head or spinal injury if she falls. Cut down the trees inside the playground so the children can't climb 10 meters high and fall onto asphalt. Then you can create a playground where as long as the kids stay inside the fence, they're safe enough -- for an engineer's (or an actuary's) definition of safety.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Sir Garlon on Friday June 13 2014, @11:42AM
Drat, I posted before coffee. First sentence should read, "You can address the severity of likely injury *without* micro-managing the kids' behavior."
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Friday June 13 2014, @01:18PM
Forget climbing, does this mean the kids can play tag?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 13 2014, @01:35PM
They can do anything they want. They can even do stuff where they hurt each other as long as all the kids involved are OK with getting hurt (i.e. no bullying, but tackle football is fine).
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 13 2014, @12:19PM
> if they survived
If you read the second article, they address that. Turns out that despite ratcheting up all the safety designs and rules over over the last couple of decades, the rate of the playground deaths have barely changed. Like about 10 less per year. The difference is basically statistical noise.
So, the kids aren't significantly safer but they are significantly less prepared for adult life.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Snow on Friday June 13 2014, @07:08PM
I think it's more a sign that kids like danger. If you make the playground too safe, then the kids will use the equipment in ways that was not intended, making it more fun, but also more dangerous. Kids need some level of risk.
There are no more flying foxes. Swings are now only 10ish feet high. It's rare to see a slide more than 5 feet long. Play equipment is low to the ground. Everything is plastic and easily sanitized. Gravel ground is being replaced with rubber. Tire swings are becoming extinct.
Playgrounds are ordered as kits, so every paygound is more or less the same. Being a kid has never been more safe^H^H^H^Hboring.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by My Silly Name on Friday June 13 2014, @03:54PM
Otherwise, we might just as well adopt the "barrel method" of child rearing: keep your offspring in a barrel for the first 30 or so years of its life, then decide whether or not to hammer the bung in.
(Score: 2) by gringer on Friday June 13 2014, @09:25PM
You need to fall a long way to kill yourself, assuming some measure of sanity about not landing with every muscle completely rigid. Children are also lighter than adults, so have less of the squishy force when they hit the ground, making damage much less severe than it would be had an adult fallen the same distance.
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