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(Yahoo)   In addition to having no fun toys, playgrounds in Florida must also have signs saying "No Running." We now return to editorials whining that kids never play outside anymore   (news.yahoo.com) divider line
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5875 clicks; posted to Main » on 13 Jun 2007 at 9:00 PM (15 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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Confabulat [TotalFark]
2007-06-13 7:10:57 PM  
Today's playgrounds suck and offer no fun at all. Kids are supposed to break things and scab themselves up. It's why they heal so fast.
 
kkoch499
2007-06-13 7:17:31 PM  
the article is actually agreeing with subby.

they use the example of the "No Running" signs to show the stupidity of it.

I live near Broward. These signs are a collectors item around here. All my friends steal them.
 
CtrlAltDelete
2007-06-13 7:23:22 PM  
kkoch499: I live near Broward. These signs are a collectors item around here. All my friends steal them.

Well you know some genius is going to just put up another one along with a "Please don't steal the signs" sign.
 
Sensei Can You See [TotalFark]
2007-06-13 7:26:29 PM  
kkoch499: the article is actually agreeing with subby.

I wasn't aware anyone thought it didn't.
 
jay_vee
2007-06-13 7:27:12 PM  
CtrlAltDelete 2007-06-13 07:23:22 PM
Well you know some genius is going to just put up another one along with a "Please don't steal the signs" sign.

I don't think I've ever stolen anything in my life, but I'd have that.
 
Seth_The_Wide
2007-06-13 7:31:50 PM  
The road medians in Littleton, CO have little signs posted that say "POST NO SIGNS".
 
NeverDrunk23
2007-06-13 7:39:17 PM  
Confabulat
Kids are supposed to break things and scab themselves up.

WHAT?! Are you crazy?! Those little angels of the future must be protected from anything AND everything that can warp their fragile little minds! Children must be kept inside their germ-free bubbles that shields them from harmful, evil things like video games, playgrounds, books, education, free will, exercise, people, animals, meteorites, TV, and Crayola! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!

Overkill, yes I know, but that is the mindset of some of these satellite parents (the annoying evolved form of helicopter parents). They complain that children are getting hurt, so in turn, they keep them inside. This leads to children getting fat, and then parents complain about that. But they cannot let them outside because there are sexual deviates around every corner. Its the spiral of stupidity.

You are right: today's playgrounds suck (wood chips and plastic? Lame.) and kids have to play and enjoy this moment. Satellite parents have to understand that the whole world and Fate is not out to get their little Billy or Jamie.

/Think of the children.
//You know who always thinks of the children?
///Pedophiles......
 
wyltoknow
2007-06-13 7:51:02 PM  
In Broward County, Florida, playgrounds now come with signs that say "No Running."

It's weird, I haven't seen any of those kind of signs around here. Not to say I go to playgrounds specifically lookin for em, but still. And I don't see what's so bad about the rubber grounded ones, they're fun! *coughs*
 
DaCricket [TotalFark]
2007-06-13 7:56:16 PM  
FTA: Between 1990 and 2000, about 44 children under age 15 were killed on public playgrounds in the US

Okay, interesting bit of trivia there...now, how many kids died on playgrounds BEFORE all these rules went into effect?

And I'm sorry but it's not a playground without a merry-go-round and monkey bars.
 
Princess_Headbutt
2007-06-13 9:05:32 PM  
They should take it a step further like in Berkeley and ban public shouting, too.
 
Dear Jerk
2007-06-13 9:05:34 PM  
I can hardly go to a park without injuring a kid. The merry-go-round is all about rmp. It's that simple. I probably ruined it for everybody. Sorry.
 
Dear Jerk
2007-06-13 9:06:09 PM  
rmp? wtf? rpm.
 
LoveRBS
2007-06-13 9:07:21 PM  
I have the answer! Don't worry, I have it!

Ballfields.

Kids get 17 more friends and go to the friggin ballfields. Parents, organize something like that. It will work! Because, A) 18 or more kids aren't going to be able to picked off by any predator and B) Metal Bats. For whacking.
 
LordJiro [BareFark] [OhFark]
2007-06-13 9:07:31 PM  
satellite parents (the annoying evolved form of helicopter parents)

I hesitate to call parents like that 'evolved'
 
black_knight
2007-06-13 9:07:32 PM  
Umm...did img.fark.net go AWOL for this article?
 
Ditto
2007-06-13 9:07:38 PM  
Why do they need to run in playgrounds when they can just run around screaming in restaurants and grocery stores? Isn't that what they are for in the first place?
 
arcsecond
2007-06-13 9:09:11 PM  
When I was in elementary school our playground had a big concrete swiss cheese that you could crawl on and in and through. You could fall off the top, knock your head against it, one fat kid got stuck in one of the holes once. Not to mention, how surreal is it to have a giant concrete swiss cheese on a children's playground.

A workout for the mind and the body.
 
spleef420
2007-06-13 9:11:08 PM  
a sign I swiped off of a church fence..."Thou shalt not climb the fence".
 
Ceph
2007-06-13 9:12:22 PM  
Between 1990 and 2000, about 44 children under age 15 were killed on public playgrounds in the US

How were they killed? Also, how many kids were in the US between those two years? How many tens of millions? Let's take a conservative estimate of 10 million. That's 0.0000044%. That means you can take your kid to the park 1 million times and still only have a 4.4% risk of death. A parent could only hope their fat sacks of shiathead children want to go to a park 1 million times!
 
Pinhedd
2007-06-13 9:15:11 PM  
someone please explain to me why we are forcing evolution to a stop? If kids dont get hurt in their childhood then they'll never learn to avoid making those same mistakes as an adult, and we'll end up with a whole generation of 20 year old babies.
 
Ninja Wicked
2007-06-13 9:15:27 PM  
and yet this obesity problem remains a mystery...
next kids wont be allowed outside because its scary, honestly this is retarded
 
LordOfBacon
2007-06-13 9:16:07 PM  
Those rubber bottomed play grounds are fun. When I take my niece to the play-ground, I like walking across them.

Bouncy bouncy bouncy.

Now all that's needed is a pretty lady with big breasts to go bouncy bouncy bouncy with me.

::sigh::
 
mtman900
2007-06-13 9:16:19 PM  
Ceph

Your statistics are incorrect. The estimate you came up with is that if you have 1 million children, 4.4 would die on a public playground. The actual number of children dying would have to take into account the number of times a child has visited a playground in those years.

/not to mention, some playgrounds are more dangerous than others
 
tweekster
2007-06-13 9:17:05 PM  
Ceph:

How did they die? by being stupid. Survival of the fittest.

We are gonna have some serious problems in another 50 or so years, the results of all these stupid children hooking up with other stupid children that should have been darwined a long time ago.
 
sidewaysplatypus
2007-06-13 9:17:22 PM  
FTA:

The inspiration for this magical look comes from his childhood in Canada. His Jewish grandmother would bring home live carp and park them in the bathtub, allowing him to marvel at their lustrous movements.


For some reason this part made me giggle.
 
GriffinHousePuppet
2007-06-13 9:18:02 PM  
Between 1990 and 2000, about 44 children under age 15 were killed on public playgrounds in the US

thats 4.4 kids a year, which begs the obivious question: If you kill 4/10th of a child, is that crippling him for life?
 
OriginalReaper
2007-06-13 9:18:06 PM  
When I was about 3 years old in pre-school... our playground was pretty big, about the size of an olympic pool. One of the toys were painted car tires, which we would push and roll around. I remember one of them had a nail in it and I pricked my hand.

Amazing story, I know. But I survived.

/but that was in venezuela
 
Greenline
2007-06-13 9:18:16 PM  
Here's the good news:

If I'm right, the millenials will set things back in order when they start having kids. There's no greater motivation to not be a helicopter parent than having a helicopter parent.

/I speak from experience.
//You think millenials suck? Try growing up with them.
 
Ceph
2007-06-13 9:19:57 PM  
I'm sorry, my maths were wrong. It doesn't stop Imhotep from being invisible, though.
 
Mighty_Dog
2007-06-13 9:20:23 PM  
Now let's see...

Liberals want to eliminate competitive sports in government schools to boost self esteem. They want to ban old-school playground equipment and running because of potential injury.

In addition to these crusades, they want to 'address the crisis' of childhood obesity by banning 'unhealthy' food and drink from government schools.


Hmmmm...
 
limeyfellow
2007-06-13 9:20:27 PM  
Not to say I go to playgrounds specifically lookin for em

That sounds even worse. What are you doing going to the playgrounds then?
 
Tallgordon
2007-06-13 9:20:59 PM  
Bring back merry go rounds!!

/The self-propelled ones made of metal. Not the ones with animals and crap. That's what they're called, right?
 
Feldspar Q. Walrustitty
2007-06-13 9:23:35 PM  
Ceph

Better estimate of children 0-15 in that 10 years in the US would be closer to 50 million, probably more.

15 years is 5481 days.

44 dead kids out of 50 million is a 0.00000088 to 1 chance of dying over 10 years, assuming all things being equal, which they aren't. Most likely the dead kids were 100% unsupervised in any way at the time.

So if you take your kid to the unsafe playground every day of his/her life until age 15 and leave them unsupervised, the kid has a 0.000482 to 1 chance of dying. (over 10 years)

THe little bastard is far more likely to be shot by his parents.
 
Ceph
2007-06-13 9:25:12 PM  
Mighty_Dog, what "liberals" are you ranting about? Please, show me where these "liberals" have crusaded against competitive sports while simultaneously announcing their political spectrum.

Get real. The behavior of wimping down schools and everything else is as much a "conservative" phenomenon as it is "liberal". It's retarded enough on its own account and has plenty of things to make fun of it for without resorting to political name calling.
 
gorgor
2007-06-13 9:26:50 PM  
That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going. When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go... you know... I went.
 
mtman900
2007-06-13 9:27:54 PM  
Feldspar Q. Walrustitty

Once again, let me point out that it's kind of pointless to do the estimate the way it is being done. You cannot simply divide by the total number of children
 
SinisterDexter
2007-06-13 9:28:17 PM  
Pinhedd: someone please explain to me why we are forcing evolution to a stop? If kids dont get hurt in their childhood then they'll never learn to avoid making those same mistakes as an adult, and we'll end up with a whole generation of 20 year old babies.

We have that now.

/lawn. off. now.
 
mtman900
2007-06-13 9:29:13 PM  
Hmm, my previous post left out the end due tot the HTML, so I'm leaving HTML out this time.

Feldspar Q. Walrustitty

Once again, let me point out that it's kind of pointless to do the estimate the way it is being done. You cannot simply divide by the total number of children 15 during the time period; that just means that a certain percentage of those kids died on a playground. Instead, you'd have to figure an average number of playground visits per child and estimate the number of deaths per playground visits.
 
TheGreatGazoo
2007-06-13 9:30:18 PM  
As someone who was an instigator of these policies (18 stitches when falling onto asphalt from a jungle gym when I was 5), I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

The creepy signs I have been seeing around Atlanta are the ones basically saying adults without kids are not welcome there. Not sure how much it is enforced.
 
chaddsfarkprefect
2007-06-13 9:31:36 PM  
TFA: His buildings often come with whimsical curves (from which they could fall) and colors that are outside the sandbox of other architects (from which they might succomb to seizures).


Heavy sigh.
 
_
2007-06-13 9:32:28 PM  
tooshocking.comView Full Size


Between 1990 and 2000, about 44 children under age 15 were killed on public playgrounds in the US.

- 563,700 people will die of cancer this year.
- 42,884 people died in car accidents in 2003.

A thousand people will probably die from fire hydrant overexposure, or from inhaling Cheetos wrong.

Jesus Christ. 44 kids in 10 years?
 
LordOfBacon
2007-06-13 9:33:47 PM  
Tallgordon 2007-06-13 09:20:59 PM
Bring back merry go rounds!!

/The self-propelled ones made of metal. Not the ones with animals and crap. That's what they're called, right?

Bah! You mean the spinning metal vortex of death?! You spin those puppies fast enough and your children will go back in time (Clockwise in the northern hemisphere, opposite in the southern) and then they'll have to deal with the likes of Doc Holiday or Gengus Khan!
 
chaddsfarkprefect
2007-06-13 9:35:28 PM  
We need new laws!!!!


(To make us feel better.)
 
cyrus_hunter
2007-06-13 9:37:09 PM  
thats 4.4 kids a year, which begs the obivious question: If you kill 4/10th of a child, is that crippling him for life?

Not to be a math nazi, but shouldn't that be expressed as 2/5ths of a child?

/Why do I picture somebody saying that phrase in a splatter-comedy?
 
Critter Hill
2007-06-13 9:37:43 PM  
Tallgordon
Bring back merry go rounds!!

I have memories of my friends getting it up to infinite speed with me on it and not letting me off... Whimper...
 
dumpstergirl
2007-06-13 9:37:46 PM  
Between 1990 and 2000, about 44 children under age 15 were killed on public playgrounds in the US.

"were killed on playgrounds" doesn't mean they were killed by playground equipment. I find it likely that 90% of these were killed by human involvement. Hell, "killed on public playgrounds" could mean choking on a hamburger.

4.4 children/year out of several hundred million seems pretty low.
 
MikeBoomshadow [TotalFark]
2007-06-13 9:39:18 PM  
I'm from img.fark.net, and I think the tag should apply.
 
woogs
2007-06-13 9:39:59 PM  
Let's do something proactive about this - a list of everything a good playground should have!

#1 A large, climable tree with exposed roots of some sort. Lets you learn all kinds of lessons like "bark is tougher than skin", "limbs break", "going up is easier than going down".

#2 Some large, stainless steel structure. A pole, slide, whatever. Lets you learn that metal gets burning hot in the midday sun, and if you have real seasons, you learn that you shouldn't lick some things.

#3 A poorly maintained wooden, climbable structure of some kind. That gives you splinters. 'nuff said.

#4 A structure large enough or high enough that you can jump off and break something(s). You don't get over a fear of heights by staying on the ground! (Personal experience there)

#5 Enough trees, shrubs, grass or dirt that you can effectively play hide and go seek. A concrete slab with structures is not a playground!


Anyone else got some good ones to add to the list?
 
Mighty_Dog
2007-06-13 9:43:00 PM  
woogs

Anyone else got some good ones to add to the list?


A sand box that's always manned by one insane kid. That'll teach them about the middle east.
 
orielbean
2007-06-13 9:43:05 PM  
Lord of Bacon - have you seen the video where there are two girls in the middle of the round, then a dude holds his full size scooter to the side and gives it gas? It is unbearably satisfying to watch. I think the Earth slowed its rotation just a bit when they cranked on the throttle.
 
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