Swing sets removed at some W.Va. schools

[Micca]

Swing sets are very controversial. In fact, we could go back and forth on this all day.

 

[luvsJack]

The reason the county was liable was the amount of mulch or "fall zone material" that was under the swing.

Yes, the kid was doing something he shouldn't have; but that is sort of the nature of kids.

The fall zone has to be a certain depth and a certain number of feet away from the swing set and it all depends on how high the swings will go. If that was not maintained then the school, county or whatever was indeed liable. This has been a law in most states for many years.

I don't think they should remove the swings but I do think they should be made to maintain the fall zone.

 

[ckay87]

Slightly OT, but what about see saws? I guess they are mostly gone now, which is sad. From see saws I learned everything I ever needed to know about
1 - Gravity, and
2 - Choosing my friends wisely

Which is funny but....is it? I don't wish harm on any child, but sometimes stuff has to hurt for us to learn. My DS was messing around at our campfire last weekend, as he usually does despite our warnings. He burned the heck out of his finger and my only thought was "good! It's about time. Guess you won't do THAT again, will ya?"

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We went to a playground last week in Fairfax County, VA where 2 of my children saw their very first Merry go round. (Oldest saw and played on one at a Mission camp 2 years ago.). Anyway...it never occurred to me that I hadn't seen them Anywhere in years. Hubby commented that it might be due to lawsuits or something. My kids had a blast. A large vehicle showed up with a bunch of kids and I was cracking up when one announces to all..."Hey, let's go on the round spinnigng thing".

Truly a shame. One fine day, people will get sued for not encasing the premises in bubble wrap.

 

[tvguy]

Boy monkey bars, they took those out of our playgrounds 20 years ago!
Metal slides, all gone, wooden forts, all gone, everything is plastic, which means vandals can now burn down playground equipment.

Then there was the battle over what the ground had to be covered in. Grass or sand was the norm, but both got banned. They went with shredded old tires.....too hard. Now they use wood chips. I guess all the splinters aren't the subject of lawsuits.

 

[penn19]

Back in the day (in the 70's) my elementary school had a swing set and 2 sets of monkey bars. The ground cover was asphalt! If you were on the swings, and we all did the spinning around thing and the lets see how high we can go and jump thing, you could either land on the black asphalt, or the rough, grassy/rocky ground behind you. I honestly don't remember anyone getting hurt-hurt. Normal wear and tear yes. But hey, we were kids. Thats what you are supposed to do!