Sindawe
Member
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cplaygroundjul18,0,7619952.story
In the pursuit of safety, teeter-totters and swings are disappearing from playgrounds
By Chris Kahn
Education Writer
Posted July 18 2005
Andrea Levin is grateful that Broward County schools care about her daughter's safety. But this year when they posted a sign that demanded "no running" on the playground, it seemed like overkill.
"I realize we want to keep kids from cracking their heads open," said Levin, whose daughter is a Gator Run Elementary fifth grader in Weston. "But there has to be a place where they can get out and run."
<snip> The most telling part of this article? See below..
She scanned the tall metal sign while her daughters, Emma and Sarah, wandered with two other young girls through a sparse play area that's reserved for the youngest grades in school.
It warns 5- and 6-year-olds to "not use equipment in this playground without adult supervision" and "do not use equipment unless designed for your age group."
A third of the way down the sign, a stick-figure is pictured running with a red slash through the middle, followed by: "No running, pushing or shoving."
"I don't know if that would mean much to a 6-year-old," Bartleman said of the signs. "How does a child know what's appropriate for their age group?"
The girls tried out the horizontal ladder and balance beam for a few minutes before settling on a game of stacking plate-size dirt chunks into a neat pile.
"Making sand," explained Kristin Gonzalez, 6, as she crushed one in her hands and sprinkled the bits over the pile.
Bartleman, the only board member with children in elementary school, created a subcommittee this year to suggest ways to redesign school playgrounds. Safety is important, she said, but there's got to be a way to make Broward's playgrounds more interesting than dirt.
Hmmm...dirt is composed of decayed rock fragments and bits of organic matter, and its just teaming with bacteria and spores. Maybe dirt should be the next thing baned from play grounds after the last of the swing sets and climbing structures are gone. :banghead:
In the pursuit of safety, teeter-totters and swings are disappearing from playgrounds
By Chris Kahn
Education Writer
Posted July 18 2005
Andrea Levin is grateful that Broward County schools care about her daughter's safety. But this year when they posted a sign that demanded "no running" on the playground, it seemed like overkill.
"I realize we want to keep kids from cracking their heads open," said Levin, whose daughter is a Gator Run Elementary fifth grader in Weston. "But there has to be a place where they can get out and run."
<snip> The most telling part of this article? See below..
She scanned the tall metal sign while her daughters, Emma and Sarah, wandered with two other young girls through a sparse play area that's reserved for the youngest grades in school.
It warns 5- and 6-year-olds to "not use equipment in this playground without adult supervision" and "do not use equipment unless designed for your age group."
A third of the way down the sign, a stick-figure is pictured running with a red slash through the middle, followed by: "No running, pushing or shoving."
"I don't know if that would mean much to a 6-year-old," Bartleman said of the signs. "How does a child know what's appropriate for their age group?"
The girls tried out the horizontal ladder and balance beam for a few minutes before settling on a game of stacking plate-size dirt chunks into a neat pile.
"Making sand," explained Kristin Gonzalez, 6, as she crushed one in her hands and sprinkled the bits over the pile.
Bartleman, the only board member with children in elementary school, created a subcommittee this year to suggest ways to redesign school playgrounds. Safety is important, she said, but there's got to be a way to make Broward's playgrounds more interesting than dirt.
Hmmm...dirt is composed of decayed rock fragments and bits of organic matter, and its just teaming with bacteria and spores. Maybe dirt should be the next thing baned from play grounds after the last of the swing sets and climbing structures are gone. :banghead: