5yr. old kick/pushed off slide in MS nothing done

[Chowder Head]

She was deemed to hurt herself. This story is picking up speed on my news feed.

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/justic ... 9805828764

I also found this article

http://realitywives.net/blogs/little-gi ... ured-self/

I just don't buy that the 5 year old "hurt" herself.

[Mama Mia]

I don't know, I've seen it going around on Facebook too. If the girl says someone kicked her than it's very likely it happened, but as to the injuries themselves-- I've had kids do some pretty remarkable face plants off of playground equipment and it looked pretty much like that.

[Coconut Flan]

I looked worse than that and all I did was fall in the kitchen. I did hit my head on something on the way down.

I've seen schools try to minimize incidents and I was told once that if a teacher didn't see something nothing could be done. So I watched from outside the classroom door and took video of a repeated problem.

Those photos weren't all taken the same day it doesn't seem.

I

[BrownieMomma]

The mom set up a gofundme account. Interesting.

[Coconut Flan]

That's disturbing. No matter if the child fell or was kicked, why is she asking for money?

[Curious]

Poor kiddo. What do they make playgrounds at schools out of nowdays? Back in the ancient times it was cement or asphalt and if you took a dive you'd take some damage, speaking as one of the world's clumsiest children ;) Her face doesn't look like that kind of damage though. No real scraps or abrasions that you'd see from hitting and sliding a bit on that kind of surface.

I know sometimes park playgrounds have that woodchip type material for the ground now. Do schools also use that? That wouldn't leave the same kind of marks, I wouldn't think.

It says in the second article that the gofundme is for medical bills and had raised $1000 in one day already. One one hand I can see potentially needing help with medical bills. On the other, this issue clearly isn't resolved yet. So if you are going to consider suing the school or parents if you can figure out who did the damage, it seems like the gofundme is a bit premature.

[JHeathen]

Our school playground, as well as all the public playgrounds in our area, have wood chips. I believe there are national safety standards for playgrounds, which is why there are no more teeter-totters. :(

[JHeathen]

Finally clicked the links....holy CRAP. Sorry, those look WAY more like injuries an adult would give to a child, rather than a beat down from other kids her age. For that much damage, someone either had to hold her in place or come after her repeatedly.

[Marianne]

Our school playground, as well as all the public playgrounds in our area, have wood chips. I believe there are national safety standards for playgrounds, which is why there are no more teeter-totters. :(

But teeter-totters are so cool ! It's not dangerous, you can't kill yourself on it. The worst that can happen is to broke a bones (I broke my arm and two ribbings when I was 11 on a swing, but when all was good I come back to the swing. Broking one or two bones when you're a little child is not cool, but normal.)

[BrownieMomma]

I saw two different pictures, in one picture she was banged up on both eyes, in another picture there was nothing at all on the left side of her face. I googled the school district to see if they had released anything publicly, didn't find anything but did see the different picture.

If her kid really did get hurt like that at all, then the mom had every right to call the police. Last I read the police were doing nothing further about it.

The issue should be the lack of supervision on the playground, instead I found quite a few mentions of the gofundme account.

[formergothardite]

But teeter-totters are so cool ! It's not dangerous, you can't kill yourself on it. The worst that can happen is to broke a bones (I broke my arm and two ribbings when I was 11 on a swing, but when all was good I come back to the swing. Broking one or two bones when you're a little child is not cool, but normal.)

None of the schools in my district even have swings. They are too dangerous. :( No way the giant metal slides from my childhood days would be allowed today. My oldest was looking at old picture albums and saw one of me and one of my sisters on a teeter-totter and didn't know what it was. It made me sad because there are just none around anymore and they were so much fun.

[Savoring Samsara]

None of the schools in my district even have swings. They are too dangerous. :( No way the giant metal slides from my childhood days would be allowed today. My oldest was looking at old picture albums and saw one of me and one of my sisters on a teeter-totter and didn't know what it was. It made me sad because there are just none around anymore and they were so much fun.

Yeah, I think safer playgrounds have become too much of a good thing in some ways. I've read some articles recently talking about how the push to make safe playground equipment has backlashed a bit by making spaces that are so safe that older kids can't find anything fun or challenging to do on them. This leads to increasingly sedentary lifestyles and all the problems that come along with that. Not saying there should necessarily be 15 foot high slides over blacktop made of burning hot metal anymore (I remember seeing some kids get really seriously hurt on stuff like that), but the pendulum should really swing back the other way a bit.

[Marianne]

Yeah, I think safer playgrounds have become too much of a good thing in some ways. I've read some articles recently talking about how the push to make safe playground equipment has backlashed a bit by making spaces that are so safe that older kids can't find anything fun or challenging to do on them. This leads to increasingly sedentary lifestyles and all the problems that come along with that. Not saying there should necessarily be 15 foot high slides over blacktop made of burning hot metal anymore (I remember seeing some kids get really seriously hurt on stuff like that), but the pendulum should really swing back the other way a bit.

We're lucky here, people are not very paranoid, so we have swing and teeter-totters (we call them "tape-cul" --> "to hurt your ass" :lol: )

How this children can know what is dangerous and what is not ? How can they learn to challenge themselves ? How can they learn that sometimes you hurt yourself so you have to be careful ? How can they learn to play, climb tree, to catch frogs in their hands, and - Oh My God - sometimes hurt themselves ? :( Carl Honoré speak about it in : "Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting". Very good book.

[BrownieMomma]

School is a place to be "safe" not to learn how to handle dangerous situations or be challenged.

[Marianne]

I don't believe it. When I was in school, we have a lot of game who can be dangerous : tree, teeters-totters, swing, slide. We play in it, but our teacher look at us and often play with us. Sometimes we fell. Teacher treated us and ask forgiveness to the parents. Now, in the school that have been builted 5 years ago in my city, there is not tree, teeters-totters, swing or slide. Oh, children are safe, but teachers talks to each other instead of monitoring and helping children.

In school, you learn how to handle dangerous situation. And you can do it while being safe.

[twin2]

None of the schools in my district even have swings. They are too dangerous. :( No way the giant metal slides from my childhood days would be allowed today. My oldest was looking at old picture albums and saw one of me and one of my sisters on a teeter-totter and didn't know what it was. It made me sad because there are just none around anymore and they were so much fun.

Or the good old fashioned marry-go-rounds. I also remember the giant metal slides. Going down those on a hot summer day was torturous.

It seems in some ways that societies have lost the ability to assess risk vs benefit. Are there risks that should no longer be taken. Of course, woodchips instead of backtop. It is a no-brainer there is little benefit to blacktop and a big risk. Swings? Sure there is a risk of injury if one falls off, but a life-imperiling injury, possible but not overly likely. Today it seems like any risk, no matter how remote, is unacceptable. Is that a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know. I hate the stupid things people from my generation post on face book along the lines of "like if when you were a kid you were spanked with a belt, drank out of water hose, rode in the back of a pick-up truck, ect. and lived". Just because people used to do those things and didn't die, doesn't mean that it isn't better that we don't do them now. However, have we swung so far to eliminate all risk, we are eliminating more valuable benefits. One can argue as to how society got to this point and if it is for the best. Not sure what is the best.

[Curious]

Wow I had no idea playgrounds have changed so much. That is kind of sad. I played on many a playground as a kid, as did all of us of my generation I'm sure and we lived to tell the tale.

I dislocated my shoulder twice and my elbow once as a kid. Did I mention I was the world's clumsiest kid?

So you'd think I would have been bubble wrapped at the playground right? Nope, I fell off the dining room chair....twice (both shoulder dislocations..it was the same shoulder) and my bike once. I wasn't even riding the bike. Just sitting on it, balancing (or not balancing as it turned out) while I talked to someone.

I sprained my ankle jumping off the porch once. I don't think I ever hurt myself other than at home though really.

I only broke something once and that was also at home, on the 4th of July. I tripped over one of the littler kids when I was lighting a firework and didn't want to land on him, so I twisted funny and came down really badly on my wrist and broke it.

Kids can get hurt ANYWHERE. Keeping them from having experiences won't stop that it just keeps them sheltered :(

[Curious]

Or the good old fashioned marry-go-rounds. I also remember the giant metal slides. Going down those on a hot summer day was torturous.

It seems in some ways that societies have lost the ability to assess risk vs benefit. Are there risks that should no longer be taken. Of course, woodchips instead of backtop. It is a no-brainer there is little benefit to blacktop and a big risk. Swings? Sure there is a risk of injury if one falls off, but a life-imperiling injury, possible but not overly likely. Today it seems like any risk, no matter how remote, is unacceptable. Is that a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know. I hate the stupid things people from my generation post on face book along the lines of "like if when you were a kid you were spanked with a belt, drank out of water hose, rode in the back of a pick-up truck, ect. and lived". Just because people used to do those things and didn't die, doesn't mean that it isn't better that we don't do them now. However, have we swung so far to eliminate all risk, we are eliminating more valuable benefits. One can argue as to how society got to this point and if it is for the best. Not sure what is the best.

I like the saying "When you KNOW better you DO better." I most often use them when it comes to dogs (surprise), but it applies to people as well. One of my biggest pet peeves is the "outside dog." Dogs are pack animals and want to be with their pack, that is their human(s), in the majority of cases. When you tell someone that they can't adopt a 5 pound dog because they keep their other dog as an "outside dog" they don't understand. "When I was a kid we always had outside dogs!!!!!"

Yes, I'm sure you did and many years ago we didn't understand dog psychology like we do now. However, now we DO understand that it's detrimental to dogs to be alone all the time, so no you won't be adopting a 5 pound dog that you may decide has done something you don't like and is relegated to being an "outside dog" as well.

I rode a bike with no helmet, as did most of us, I'm sure. My children worse helmets and when skateboarding knee and elbow pads. Most of us were never injured riding bikes, though I do know some kids that were hurt (not killed, but fairly seriously hurt) when I was a kid, but helmets were not an option back then. Now they are so NOW we do better.

I didn't know drinking out of the hose was bad now. I'm apparently really out of the loop.

When my kids were little, even though I was a nervous parent (surprise!), I didn't want MY problems to be their problems, so I let them do stuff that I did and if there was a safety item that didn't exist when I was a kid, we used it. I didn't put them in bubble wrap and never let them do anything. My son got some boo-boos as a result, but that's kind of part of being a kid. He was over every one of them (and back to playing) long before I was ;)

[utter solitude]

I would think some of the "taking out (not really) dangerous equipment from the playground" would be motivated by money.

When I was in elementary school, part of the playground equipment had a wooden bridge like this:

It was higher off the ground than that model, and had two metal bars that were closer to the bottom. Well, one day, half it broke while of us were on it (we use to jump up and down on it) one girl hit her head on one of the bars on her way down. Her mother was, understandably, upset, but immediately went into how she was going to "sue" the school "for every penny". Now, she never did, I'm not sure she would have had a serious case, and I don't remember what came of it, but that threat is a very real thing. One serious injury from a child coupled with a litigious parent could ruin a school financially.

I'm not saying any of that is okay or even likely, but schools have to consider these possibilities.

[Curious]

What did schools do in the old days when we had death traps like swings and MONKEY BARS! I'm only half-joking. I'm sure kids must have gotten hurt on the playground when we were kids. I can't recall anyone in my school getting seriously injured, but it could have happened in years before or after my age range was in school (about 4-6 grades depending on the level of school). I went to a relatively small school so I think if anyone had been *seriously* hurt I would probably have hurt about it. My high school grouping 9-12 grades had a shade over 400 students, so probably elementary has maybe 550-600 total.

[formergothardite]

What is wrong with drinking out of the hose? My oldest does that when she doesn't want to come in and get a glass of water.

One thing that really annoys me about all the new playgrounds around here, there is no shade. When I was little there were trees in most of the parks even though the Large Metal Slide of Second Degree Burns was usually placed in the direct sun, but now there are no trees and no place to go stand in the shade. It gets so hot here in the summer that the parks are unusable unless it is early in the morning or late in the evening.

[twin2]

What is wrong with drinking out of the hose? My oldest does that when she doesn't want to come in and get a glass of water.

One thing that really annoys me about all the new playgrounds around here, there is no shade. When I was little there were trees in most of the parks even though the Large Metal Slide of Second Degree Burns was usually placed in the direct sun, but now there are no trees and no place to go stand in the shade. It gets so hot here in the summer that the parks are unusable unless it is early in the morning or late in the evening.

I'm not sure about the hose, but it always shows up on the list. The only thing I can think of is that when you turn it off and some water is stuck bacteria could grow. Or perhaps it is something with the metal end?

[Savoring Samsara]

I'm not sure about the hose, but it always shows up on the list. The only thing I can think of is that when you turn it off and some water is stuck bacteria could grow. Or perhaps it is something with the metal end?

Some garden hoses have lead compounds present in the lining that can leach into the water.

[RandomTrivia]

What is wrong with drinking out of the hose? My oldest does that when she doesn't want to come in and get a glass of water.

One thing that really annoys me about all the new playgrounds around here, there is no shade. When I was little there were trees in most of the parks even though the Large Metal Slide of Second Degree Burns was usually placed in the direct sun, but now there are no trees and no place to go stand in the shade. It gets so hot here in the summer that the parks are unusable unless it is early in the morning or late in the evening.

Hose issue is probably lead or whatever plastic-related chemical people are freaking out about these days. Is it still BPA, or have they found a new one?

I agree about shade on the playgrounds. We have a nice one near our house, but out in the sun. Even the parents' bench is out in the sun, not under one of the small trees around the playground. There are benches nearby in the shade, but not with a view of the playground. Our school does have a sunshade over the slide/playset contraption, which I think is great in the summer. They're apparently bucking the trend though - we still have swings! Although the tire swing disappeared over the summer - I'm guessing because the tree it was hanging in is starting to look a little iffy.

[Feberin]

I think with swings it's a bigger issue of kids not paying attention and walking into them. Most non-school playgrounds around me offer them and we also have metal slides around here still. What I really love though is the newest trend of natural playgrounds where there are trees to climb instead of plastic equipment.

I'm not sure what is going on with that little girl's story. It's sad but I'm confused has she named her attackers? I find the gofundme account weird. Didn't it say in the article that her mother just took her to a doctor who determined that her injuries wouldn't cause lasting damage? I saw nothing about her needing surgery or anything. Shouldn't $1,000 more than cover a single doctor's visit? We typically get charged around $150 for a sick visit for my kids while we're waiting to hit our deductible each year.