Dangerous playground equipment - GIF

Dangerous playground equipment.

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Previously:

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...719#post182847
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...531#post128073
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...2516#post76503
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...611#post139599
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...3553#post99425
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...710#post123833

Everything fun is dangerous. :(

Probably no more so than us kids trying to make our swings do full 360s.

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Originally Posted by Frank S

Probably no more so than us kids trying to make our swings do full 360s.

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In my day, Sonny, we did lots of fun things with swings... I seem to recall doing a 360 inverted... accompanied with some bumps and bruises. Maybe I didn't quite make the 360, but I was definitely inverted! ;)

We were tough kids. It was hard to kill us. Came close a few times. ;)

My kids were not so challenged, I'm afraid.

I just send that video to my son and his wife, due in October!!! With a note that we need to build one for their back yard!!!

It is NOT nearly as dangerous as many other things kids are exposed to today!!!

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Originally Posted by WmRMeyers

In my day, Sonny, we did lots of fun things with swings... I seem to recall doing a 360 inverted... accompanied with some bumps and bruises. Maybe I didn't quite make the 360, but I was definitely inverted! ;)

We were tough kids. It was hard to kill us. Came close a few times. ;)

My kids were not so challenged, I'm afraid.

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The playground swings we had were made by a local welder out of 4 1/2" drill stem. buried in the ground about 6 ft. and they were still about 20 feet to the top of the "A" 5 "A"s in a row spaced far enough apart that 2 cars could park side by between them the top pipe ran the full length with 3 swing seats per section the last section had a pair of 4 person double swings on them looked like a picnic table without the table those hung on 4 pipes each. the swings had heavy chains probably about 1/4" we used to stand in the strap seats hold onto the chains get going as high as we could then dive out of them into a pile of sand . I never made a full 360, either but got high enough that instead fo the return swinging arc I cam straight down barely missing the top pipe.
How did we ever survive swinging on those things or climbing a jungle jim that was as tall as the swing with a steel slide coming off the top.

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Originally Posted by hemmjo

I just send that video to my son and his wife, due in October!!! With a note that we need to build one for their back yard!!!

It is nearly as dangerous as many other things kids are exposed to today!!!

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I think this thing is much less dangerous that a lot of the stuff today's kids have to play with. If you mess up with it, all it will do is cripple or kill you. Some of the stuff they have to deal with now will do worse than that.

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Originally Posted by Frank S

The playground swings we had were made by a local welder out of 4 1/2" drill stem. buried in the ground about 6 ft. and they were still about 20 feet to the top of the "A" 5 "A"s in a row spaced far enough apart that 2 cars could park side by between them the top pipe ran the full length with 3 swing seats per section the last section had a pair of 4 person double swings on them looked like a picnic table without the table those hung on 4 pipes each. the swings had heavy chains probably about 1/4" we used to stand in the strap seats hold onto the chains get going as high as we could then dive out of them into a pile of sand . I never made a full 360, either but got high enough that instead fo the return swinging arc I cam straight down barely missing the top pipe.
How did we ever survive swinging on those things or climbing a jungle jim that was as tall as the swing with a steel slide coming off the top.

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Had something very much like those at the elementary school where I did kindergarten to 5th grade. We didn't have a sand pile by it, though. You could have a lot of fun on those swings! Those were the days, my friend...

When I was teaching, the district insurance company did a "risk assessment" of all of the schools, playgrounds etc. They made the district remove all of the moving type of playground equipment because it was too dangerous. This included swings, teeter totters (seesaw), merry go rounds you pushed, sliding boards etc.

The were replaced by "big toys" made from wood you could climb on, but no slides, etc. The FIRST DAY with-in the first hour, a student fell and broke his arm really badly. After that there were more falls, head bumps, splinters, etc. Those injuries seldom happened with the good "old fashioned" toys.

Now I am retired and even the big toys are gone, only lines painted on the pavement for games, etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hemmjo

When I was teaching, the district insurance company did a "risk assessment" of all of the schools, playgrounds etc. They made the district remove all of the moving type of playground equipment because it was too dangerous. This included swings, teeter totters (seesaw), merry go rounds you pushed, sliding boards etc.

The were replaced by "big toys" made from wood you could climb on, but no slides, etc. The FIRST DAY with-in the first hour, a student fell and broke his arm really badly. After that there were more falls, head bumps, splinters, etc. Those injuries seldom happened with the good "old fashioned" toys.

Now I am retired and even the big toys are gone, only lines painted on the pavement for games, etc.

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When I moved in here, the local elementary school in my neighborhood was doing weekly popcorn sales to students, faculty, and parents, to collect money to replace the old playground equipment that they'd had to take out. My youngest was born a few months before we bought the house, and my older kids started school at this school. When they left for other schools, when the youngest two kids were in, 3 & 5th grades, I think, the school was still doing the popcorn sales. The youngest is 24 this month. No playground equipment. And they had taken it out of the other schools in the district by the time I got my teaching license, in 2005. It's maybe a good thing my teaching career only lasted about 3 years.

Bill

I think hopscotch would be considered too dangerous for the kids today.

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Originally Posted by Frank S

I think hopscotch would be considered too dangerous for the kids today.

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The reason it is too dangerous is because there's no app to teach the kids how to play it. (Got to know and understand all the safety rules and how to make the game inclusive and diverse with an equitable outcome for everyone). Besides, where would we ever find a Mom or Dad to take the time to show them how to lay out a hopscotch grid on the sidewalk??? Has anyone stopped to consider the sheer cost of the safety gear involved? Probably upwards of $250 per kid, by the time you include safety helmet elbow pads, knee pads, special shoes and safety glasses. And don't forget that your Homeowners Insurance premiums will double once the insurance company finds out you are allowing the neighborhood kids to participate in dangerous activities on your property.
Were the good ol' days better? HELL, YEAH. I wouldn't trade a bloody nose or bruised knee from my childhood for anything!:soapbox:

What you don't hear is: three of those kids are now pulling down six figures in the cast of Ka in Vegas.

That is beautiful. Gravity making it go round. I wonder if they can make it go backwards too?

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Originally Posted by cmarlow

That is beautiful. Gravity making it go round. I wonder if they can make it go backwards too?

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Unless it has some sort of ratchetting mechanism, all you'd need to do would be to climb on from the other side. Or have someone heavier than the others walk the bottom arm backwards.

Yes, it's a neat piece of playground equipment. Poor kids these days don't know what they're missing.

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Originally Posted by WmRMeyers

Unless it has some sort of ratchetting mechanism, all you'd need to do would be to climb on from the other side. Or have someone heavier than the others walk the bottom arm backwards.

Yes, it's a neat piece of playground equipment. Poor kids these days don't know what they're missing.

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Actually all they have to do is change the timing of rising their arms. If they can make it go one way, they can make it go either way.

NANNY STATE

That is alarming! Children learning about co-operation, co-ordination,timing and physics plus being outside exposed to who knows what and exercising.
Absolutely deplorable.