One thing that caught my eye was the protest against no running on the playground. In my elementary school, we were only allowed to run in areas where it was considered safe to fall, or not a hazard to others, ie on any area covered in chips or grass. Running on the blacktop or on cement was a huge no-no. It was against the rules on the numerous elementary school playgrounds my mother supervised. Running was only allowed if you were playing basketball--otherwise all running had to be done on the grass or another safe area. Running around the playground was against the rules on my mother's playgrounds as more often than not the games kids were playing with each other around the playground were games where other non-running kids could get trampled. So usually kids were told if they wanted to play tag or some other game they had to take it to the grass. Oh, and I started elementary school in 1987. So that's 19 years without running on blacktop and no running around the play structure.
I think people like the author of the article above fail to realize how dangerous elementary school playgrounds are, even with safe play structures. A supervisor of any such playground (and I've worked in this job) has to keep an eye out for a multitude of problems. The play structure should be the least of their worries. Strangers are a problem. Needles being found by students are another. Johnny punching Billy. Danny touching Sally inappropriately. Problems that started in the classroom and bleed out on to the playground. And on and on and on. Yes, kids need to run and play and do all those things. But we really should make the environment in which they can do so as safe as possible, especially considering how many students they stick on to a modern playground with a minimum of supervision. Playground aides don't have twenty eyes in their head, they have two, and they are the first to get the blame when Johnny gets hurt--which is exactly why my mother quit.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Last edited by snowy; 05-09-2006 at 10:41 AM..
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