There's an article, only partially tongue-in-cheek, in today's Slate magazine on 'the danger of monkey bars'. An interesting counterpoint is the Play Yard of St. George's Episcopal Church, on East 16th Street in Manhattan's Gramercy Park area. Its 1967 design by artist David Aronson is an unusual relic from a time when hard edges and sharp angles weren't verboten. I'm assuming its survival is an indication that no injuries have been recorded in spite of its steely exterior, though I don't have any data on that.
But I'm interested in how this edgy, interesting playground space has managed to survive a risk-averse environment in which monkey bars can be used only with adult spotters (though note that it has bowed to the demand for rubber safety surfacing). It's in a private location of course, but at least one point in its favor I think, is that it is a fully realized space for play...an artist designed landscape, albeit of steel. Strong design statements inspire attachment and even--over time--affection, and that can help preserve them through changing fashions. Your thoughts?
(first found at archidose;
“Injuries such as those which can also occur during school and recreational sports are accepted as a calculable risk.” That's a quote from the German version of the European playground equipment standards documents. In other words: "kids break limbs when they make mistakes in football, right? So let's not worry overly if they break limbs when they make mistakes in a playground." O - and thanks for the plug Paige!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to the Slate article. Very interesting. I didn't get the sense the writer was being tongue-in-cheek at all.
ReplyDeleteI have an alternative hypothesis for why so many kids break bones on the monkey bars (and why it seems it's happening more). Perhaps it's not the dangers of the equipment. Maybe kids today have weaker bones than humans should have.
More than ever, we aren't eating what humans evolved to eat or spending time outdoors as much as we evolved doing. Sugar- and starch-based diets leach minerals from bones. We're depleted in magnesium, vitamin K and vitamin D -- critical components that make calcium go where it's supposed to go in our bodies (in bones and teeth, and out of arteries).
Maybe we're looking in the wrong place for the cause of all the broken bones.