Is Childhood Today Too Sterilized?

To learn at a young age, or in general, you must learn to know the risks of whatever you are thinking of doing. If you take away what which makes you learn from that experience, what was the point? There is risk in most scenarios, and taking away risk in children’s lives will also take away correct decisive maneuvers later in their life. As of today’s children; I am sure there is risk in millions of young children’s lives. The impoverished and poor communities usually have more risk than wealthier families, yes, but that does not mean that kids do not have risk because a minute few are pampered. This article, in my opinion, relates mostly to the wealthy whenever it states “risk free”. Risk is the child’s, and parents, prerogative.

When I think about childhood safety today, some aspects of it seem a little ridiculous. Kids are having backpacks forced on them with leashes attached and everything else. “Back in the day”, as you might say kids could go off and do their own thing they just had to be home by the time the sun started to set. The way the world is today with all of the school shootings and police brutality I see why parents are most strict and overprotective. In a overall picture of today, I don’t think that kids childhoods are to risky, the world is growing and evolving so we are too. The children of today I think are going to be just fine.

In recent decades childhood has become safer and safer as risks continue to be removed from the daily lives of children. While this may initially seem to be a great thing, the benefit of such actions should be reconsidered. “Risk” can be defined as any exposure to potential danger. The argument to reduce and perhaps remove this risk altogether is in the definition of this risk: the possibility of incurring harm. Of course, regarding this situation, the parents know better than the children, and thus the naive children are likely to put themselves in danger. Subscribers to this school of thought believe that adults should utilize their experience to protect the children from harm. The argument against this sterilized childhood is, funnily enough, based on the exact same premise as the argument for it. The difference being that this side of the argument believes the exposure to danger to be a positive thing. They argue that the benefits of learning how to handle dangerous situations at a young age far outweigh the negatives of said dangerous situation. This is based on the fact that throughout the course of everybody’s lives, they will encounter stumbling blocks and will be put in trying situations on many occasions. In order to prepare for these situations, it is best to learn how to deal with them when the potential repercussions are much less. I personally agree with the latter school of thought, and believe that this issue stretches beyond just the physical risk mentioned.

Thinking about the playgrounds that I used to play on compared to the ones today, I can see some slight differences. Even the playset that I had in my backyard is probably more dangerous than the playsets for today's kids. I think that having “risk-enhanced” playgrounds is more of a positive thing over a negative thing. Introducing different risks anywhere from getting a splinter to using more unconventional toys such as tools can teach children a lot about themselves and their surroundings. In my opinion, I wouldn’t say that childhood is too sterilized, but as the time goes on, it become more and more sterilized with each generation. By introducing different forms of risk to children at a younger age prepares them for reality. As kids grow older they won’t have someone to constantly walk them through every step and keep them safe. Kids need to learn how to problem solve, avoid danger, and recognize what is actually a potential risk. I can remember being picked on by my older brother when I was younger for not being able to get all the way across the monkey bars but I was always told just to ignore it and have the name calling build my character. I feel like nowadays people can get offended easily by pretty much anything, and by constantly modifying and attempting to make things “safer” I think it is actually making them more dull, useless, and even harmful to things such as creativity that are so essential to the everyday life of children.

The playgrounds we played with as kids were safe and made to keep the kids from getting hurt. Nowadays they introduce kids to risk. There has been a shift from every kid is special and deserves an award. To life isn’t always fair and risks are ok for you to take. I remember when I was little and played in the intramural soccer league. I was never the best, I was taller and a little bit cumbersome. Asthma didn’t help my dream to improve. When the banquet rolled around, every single kid, from the star player to the kids who sat on defense and picked daisies. Everyone got a medal or trophy. I think introducing kids to risks at a younger age can be beneficial to their growth and development. The risks may need to be with adult supervision to make sure your kid isn’t hurt, but that is every parents main concern. Adding risks to the children's lives can open their brain to different ways of thinking and help better them in the future. It introduces an aspect of thinking that is different from normal everyday activity. A drawback of allowing children to play in “less safe” areas is that they could be injured more easily. As said in the article, “Now, Ms. Morris says proudly, ‘we have fires, we use knives, saws, different tools,’ all used under adult supervision.” Yes it is under adult supervision, but parents can become distracted and kids can wander. Kids wandering around with knives, saws, and tools can cause injuries to other children they are hanging around.

The idea never crossed my mind that kids nowadays don’t have enough risk in their lives and that the risks should be introduced in their playgrounds. Even though I never realized this was a problem I agree with Ms. Morris and believe that kids need to be introduced to risk in order to learn to be aware of their surroundings, and learn what consequences come from the decisions they make. While Britain is working to create risks for their kids the U.S. is pretty much doing the opposite. We have backpacks with leashes to put on our kids. That does not allow them to make decisions for themselves. When I was younger we were sheltered and protected during school and in everyday life. Our kids are not given risky situations when they are kids and in turn may not know what to do in situations they face in the future.

When I was in elementary school, the playgrounds I was accustomed to were bright, colorful slides, monkey bars and and climbing walls, all very safe and enough to keep me and all of my classmates happy. It’s really interesting to see that England is incorporating “risk” into their playgrounds, and how adventurous the kids get to be. One of the benefits to having these types of playgrounds is that it teaches kids to be more aware of their surroundings, and how to learn from them. They get to have more action filled playgrounds while learning from the “spiky bushes” as mentioned by Moran. Overall, it’s great to see these kinds of playgrounds being put around, allowing for kids to grow up, learning from their mistakes, yet having fun while they do it.

I think it is very interesting to hear that Britain and other countries are making efforts for schools to be less safe. They say it will make a generation of more gritty people and I agree but to an extent. My mom is super overprotective, and it seems that most moms of her generation are. She always warned me, even at a small private school, to be wary of the man in a white van with candy who wants to abduct me. I think that did more harm to me than good, because she was always worried about something whether it was bike helmets or the hot stove. It's not that I'm afraid of those things now but that I felt restrained with her always looking over my shoulder. Kids need the freedom to make their own mistakes and learn from them. The kids in Britain are playing with knives and fire and they'll realize that it hurts to get cut and they'll avoid it, as any human being would do. Our parents rightfully see us as inferior, especially at a very young age, but are underestimating our logical reasoning. Logic is something you learn but is also something that everyone naturally has. People in Britain are realizing this and giving kids some freedom back.

When I was little, my house was located right next to the park, so my family and I would walk down to the playground almost every day so my sister and I could go play. I don’t remember it, but my dad has told me how we would play for hours, always keeping ourselves busy. That playground was like the ones some people would describe as boring or too safe. Personally, I think that people trying to make playgrounds more risky have the right idea, but overall I think it’s a little silly. Some children have more of a daredevil trait than others, and they can find adventure anywhere, no matter the type of playground they’re playing on. Making playgrounds more risky, supervised or not, is a bad idea because even with the playgrounds today, arms get broken, knees get scraped, and children find some way to end up hurt. Also in the article, Meghan Talarowski states that playgrounds in America are “a rubber floor, a little structure surrounded by a fence, and are like a little play jail.” This statement is simply untrue. I live in America, I’ve played on numerous playgrounds as a child, and I’ve seen just how fun they can be. Heck, even as a fifteen year old I find fun in going to the park and playing at the playground. I mean, just look up pictures of playgrounds at school on google and you’ll find just how fun they look, and there’s plenty of supervised risk to go around.

I definitely agree that there are pros and cons to all devices like you said. I also choose to use my phone for reminders instead of a calendar or planner. An app helps so much more than a book that you can misplace somewhere. Yes you can always lose your phone, but I believe it is much less likely. It is more reliable for actually reminding you because it will send out an alert straight from the phone, unlike a planner that will just sit there and do nothing when the time comes for whatever you have to do. With the Apple Watch people complain that it’s an inconvenience to have to tilt your wrist forward but even with this flaw people still prefer an Apple Watch. Similarly with my calendar on my phone there are issues like not having my phone or my phone being off. These problems aside people still prefer the old technology. The playgrounds I played on as a kid were the plastic, fiberglass ones that most elementary schools had. They definitely were not dangerous unless you purposely jumped off the top of the slide or something. Everything was pretty much child proof with the close watch from teachers making sure we weren’t getting into trouble. They definitely are not comparable to the playgrounds in Britain. I know I don’t remember any kids making catapults and launching bricks in the air. That aside, I think those “risk-enhanced” playgrounds are a good idea because kids can learn well from mistakes.

Some of my best childhood memories happened in the woods behind my house, the little stream that went through my neighborhood, not the uber safe bubble playgrounds that won’t even put real mulch down for risk of splinters. We climbed the towering trees, jumped from rock to rock in the stream, and chased each other throughout the flora waving sticks around because they were our “swords”. I feel like kids today don’t get to experience the sense of adventure that we did because of these “sterilized” playgrounds and that is incredibly saddening. Being sheltered and “babied” your whole adolescent life in no way prepares anyone for the real world. By not having the chance to make mistakes or have accidents we can’t learn from those situations and walk into new situations unprepared. These Risky-Playgrounds teach kids how to be independent and introduces them to in the moment problem solving. By never introducing kids to risk, the helicopter parent and the oh so dependent kid relationship develops and lord knows that’s the last thing a kid wants growing up. As Ms. Hughes said “If they don’t have all that risk out there when the child is four, the adult isn’t going to do that,” and it’s important to make sure that as kids grow into adults that they are able to take those risks. There are risks in the real world, and children need to learn that growing up with risks.

They playgrounds I played on were usually nice and neat. Those compared to the risk enhanced ones, there more safer. I would prefer the ones i played because it was so nice, neat and organized. Some might be and some might not be, i just think it depends on the environment that the park it is in. It helps the children be more safe and safe from bugs and other bacteria. If children don't learn to take chances, they can get infections or get very sick from stuff. Sometimes, if something is more safe, it makes it more fun than it was. Yes i think i have, i wasn't no reckless little child not taking cautious.

I think kids should learn about and experience risk at a young age, so they learn from it and won't make that mistake again. I do think childhood is really sterilized today, parents should let their child have a little freedom to make mistakes and learn from them.

The playgrounds i played on as a child had lots of slides and swings, similar to the ones nowadays. No, they don't compare to the risk playgrounds described in the article. Some benefits from risks at early age, are that when the kids grow up. They'll be used to risks so it'll be easier to overcome some challenges in later life. Although some drawbacks are that some children could get hurt, or even get killed on these risk playgrounds. I think i have been exposed to such risks, it affected me by knowing that even though some of these risks are scary, you can overcome.

By introducing risk to children at a young age could teach them responsibility and that risk is an aspect of life. By introducing risk in playgrounds could potentially help them in adulthood by making them be aware. Children can't always be protected by their guardians and by being comfortable with risk, young children will not have the fears that come with risk. Risk could provide many opportunities like gaining money, creating new friendships, and maybe getting a new job. Children should be comfortable with risks because that is an aspect of life.

When i was a little girl and was in pre-school and elenmentary school playgrounds were a castle in our little minds. Now we look at them and are like what the point for these? My old playgrounds were metal,shiny and painted red and blue. Swings had mulch on the ground. I would rather chose the playgrounds we have now rather than the un risky playgrounds because it will show you how to live in fear and the real world in my oppinon. Benefits of introducing risk at young ages include they will be prepared when scary or unready risk occur. I feel i have been exposed to risk to know how to be prepared but it was not to major risks and i still know how to live today. A few drawbacks of not making playgrounds less safe include injuries, and parents not taking them to the playground.

I think it is to risk free and thats a good and bad thing. Good becasue children are more safe now but bad because the best way to learn is from their mistakes.

When I was kid and played on the play ground it was safe to play on but we still managed to get hurt. Although we got hurt, we learned from it and never did the same thing again. I think this play ground is a little too risk taking for kids to play on but I also agree to making play ground a little risk just so the kids can learn from their mistakes. When you introduce risk at a young age kids learn at an early age to where they won't do it again. I have been exposed to risk but i think i could've and should've been exposed to more; I would've learned more from my mistakes than I do because i haven't been in those risky situations. With that being said I believe that this play ground is a good idea for young kids to be exposed to risks that they can learn from.

Playgrounds were a lot safer when I was little than these risk-enhanced playgrounds. I think childhood today is a little bit too sterilized as kids are too sheltered at home. Kids need to be more rounded and know how to behave in a more dangerous environment when they grow up. I think I have been exposed to enough risk during my childhood and I know how to behave in a more hazardous environment.

My parents also raised me to take risks. They said that so i would take risk instead of being scared to do everything that had risks involved.I think the playground is a great idea because the children take risks every time they play on it.

Yes because we need to teach the younger children of today that you learn from your mistakes.

Yes i think that the world today is a little bit to sterile, kids today should be able to have mary go rounds, sea saws, and other playground thigns banned for being to risky

I do think childhood today is too sterilized because parents think there child are not allowed to make mistakes, but childhood is all about making mistakes. I think parents should let there child have a little more freedom to make mistakes so they can learn from them.

I think that kids need to learn about risk a good stage of age. Not to little not to big. To learn about risk at a young age you will either learn to never do those things again or learn how to do it in a better way from your mistakes. If kids never learn to take chances they would live a boring life.

I think a risk-enhanced playground is good. Good to teach kids good and bad at a young age. So they wont do stupid stuff when they get older.

My “childhood” playgrounds were normal, everyday, playgrounds. Filled with swings, monkeybars, slides, etc. If I was say 4, 5, or 6 and had access to knives and hammers and such who knows what I would’ve done. Kids those ages usually have tempers, and when they get annoyed they might do something. It only takes a short second to cause harm and teachers can’t always be there. If I had the opportunity to play in a playground like that, I certainly would. It seems like a lot of fun to be honest

I think that Parents should let their kids experience with different things as long as it's not too dangerous. The way people learn right from wrong, and what you should and should not do, is by experimenting and trying things. You shouldn't try and make your kids surroundings too safe to where it isn't fun for the child. Anywhere you go, there is a risk of injury or infection so trapping your child will do nothing in the long run.

The introduction of risk to maturing adolescents is integral for their development. Risk of injury is always a potential aspect of life, and introducing these dangers in a controlled setting can be beneficial. Teaching kids how to behave in dangerous environment may help them later in life so they are more rounded and less sheltered.

Just by reading the title of this article I became very intrigued. My parents raised me in a very similar way. They both wanted me to take risks as much as possible at a young age. I think there goal was to get me to be able to handle situations that go south better when I grew up and I believe that it worked. Growing up, the play grounds I played on were nothing like this. They were all plastic, boring, and most of all super safe. Now yes I understand it is important to give kids a somewhat safe play environment but these playgrounds went too far trying to make the playgrounds safe that it actually made them boring. Me and my friends always ended up playing in the woods or finding a pile of boulders and running across the as fast as we could because it was more FUN. Now do I think that children should be able to play with saws and knifes, absolutely not. But, more unregulated play is necessary for the child's brain development.

Ask a protective parent and they will say no. Ask a troubled child and they will say no. Ask my parents and they will say yes, and I have to agree with them. My life to too easy, we should be able to take risks and learn from our mistakes. Why are we able to leave high school and be considered adults and not know how to do taxes, not know how to use a bank account, or even know how to manage our money, forget about retirement. My childhood is too risk free for decisions that will affect me once I get a job and become a real adult. Evolution is an important thing, we've used it since the beginning of mankind, why get in the way of it now -- especially when its just to stop a scrape or a splinter. If you do something and it hurts a scientist might do it again to see if that always happens, but for the rest of us... we learn from our mistake and won't do it again, if we can help it.

Risk enhanced playgrounds seemed a bit insane to me at first, what with all the loose bricks, saws, and chucks of wood flying about, but perhaps this is the path to living a safer, more aware life. By eliminating risk from your childhood, you never learn the consequences of a dangerous action, nor how to avoid it. You can try to prevent your child from getting hurt, but it’s inevitable that they will one day. What’s important is that they learn from it, and avoid the same mistake the next time around. Do you remember when you did something dangerous and stupid in your childhood? You probably didn’t repeat the same mistake. You’ve learned not to juggle sharp objects, throw rocks at hornet’s nests, or let your brother pitch a baseball to you when you’re 3 feet away from him. There’s no better way to learn about danger than through personal experiences; no textbook or wiki article can teach you like pain can. Besides, the risks of certain things just makes them more appealing. British playgrounds with equipment such as high swings and climbing equipment received 55% more visitors overall, and honestly, I probably would’ve loved them as a kid. No more passing off colorful three inch plastic slabs as scissors, give kids the real deal and let them learn.

When I was a child, the playgrounds were all made of plastic and metal, and some were even made of wood. The main differences were in the foundations of each. Some had a rubber ground, some had a woodchip or mulch ground, and some were just plain grass and dirt. They were a little more sheltered than the risk-enhanced playground depicted here, but they aren’t as sheltered as they are now. I would have preferred these enhanced playgrounds just for the sake of teaching what pain, fear, and even common sense are. Childhood is way too sterilized today. In many cases, we are trying to protect our children from hurting themselves (even minor injuries) just so they don’t get hurt. However, I do believe that we need to let certain injuries happen; it builds resilience. If children don’t learn to take chances, they may never find what they enjoy and dislike; they may be misled to hating something that they will actually like doing. A drawback, however, is major injuries (maybe even fatal injuries). However, there should be supervision for the kind of activities that could cause these injuries. I think that I have been exposed to enough risk especially during my teenage years and I think that its exposure has been beneficial to my future. It has taught me what the real world has to offer and it has taught me what causes my mistakes have.

The playground at my elementary school was an old parking lot with some picnic tables, a playhouse, some monkey bars, and a swing set thrown in. Kids were always getting their knees and elbows scratched up and there were multiple broken bones. This is the playground of my early EARLY years in school. As the years went by, our playgrounds became more of the risk free playground you'd see in america today. They took away the swings and put down mulch. I think that growing up less sheltered than I was would have been beneficial for when the time comes for me to face the real world. Playgrounds should be less regulated, but not in the way Britain, Australia, Sweden, and other countries are making them. I wouldn't be having toddlers play with sharp objects. The change should start with the parents. The parents that think their children are dying when they even sniffle. Teaching children to take more risks is important. Risk staking is a skill that is useful socially and in school. Everything comes with a list, its important to know that. If you are familiar to taking risks, you are less likely to take risks. These risks are budget friendly! So why not take them?

I believe that there is a balance, between both risk and being safe. In some ways, a risk is what helps us to identify certain things as safe vs something dangerous. I do believe that there are points where parents have shielded their kids to the extent that it doing more harm than good. You can't keep your child in a bubble forever. How can they learn how to take risks and have the consequences that come with them, they will never learn how to handle it. If they are exposed to these things earlier on than they will be able to teach themselves how to keep themselves safe vs their parent constantly looking over them.

Risk is necessary in life because it teaches you what you should not do. More importantly though, it teaches you what you can. Children are very impressionable, if they are taught one thing they will know one thing, the plastic playgrounds with rubber mats and such mentioned in the article are exactly that, they have one purpose, it tells you falling is bad. The riskier playgrounds offer more, they tell you falling is bad, it hurts, now that you know that you can learn how to not get hurt. It's the tactile feedback that instills progress, learn from the pain, if at first you don't succeed try, try again. The human body is a sturdy creation, we haven't survived this long by being sheltered and protected.

Most success stories start out with a person taking a serious risk. The great benefit of having risk in your life is that a lot of the time it works out in our favor. But for that to happen we must have the opportunity to take them. That is why I find Britain's concept very appreciative. Their installation of risk-enhanced playgrounds came with a risk of injury, an installation unlikely to happen in the United States where such installation is prevented by legislative restrictions. So, basically when I thought of this I realized that they took a risk to give children the privilege of more risks. That is how frequently present risk is. The reality is that no matter how much effort gets enforced to keep danger away from us, we will still manage to encounter it several times in our lives. It is important to maintain environments where risks can be practiced by future risk takers. The playground shouldn't be a daredevil facility, but it could be a place where kids can become familiar with risks and aware of danger.

I believe that children should be exposed to dangers, small ones at least. If a kid is overly protected all of their life and never do anything with risk they will always be afraid. You should be able to learn what's safe and what's harmful on your own. If you are sheltered your entire life what can you learn? When the kids in England go to this “dangerous park” they learn a lot. If they fall they learn to be more less careless. This related to the world we have to put our future kids and what we have to go into. If we don’t know what could happen in the future and aren’t prepared for getting hurt we will not do well. If you can’t handle fixing your own mistakes who will fix them for you? No one will. You have to be able to teach yourself and learn on your own. Kids need more exposure to the worst and need to depend on others less for decisions and need to be held back less.

In today's society, children seem to be sheltered in many more ways then not. For example, even playground cushioning has changed over the years from rocks, to wood chips down, and then crushed rubber tires. These changes were made because builders of these structures were afraid that they would get sued if a child got hurt on something that they built; although it was meant to be safe and fun for children. It is a sad reality that we live in, where people are suing each other any chance they get. This is a significant reason to why playground builders changed the flooring and structures to alternatives that are almost too safe; so in the off-chance that the kids are injured by the structures or flooring there could be no argument as to the builder's intent on keeping the kids as safe as possible.

Although morbid at bits, I do believe that exposing children is a good idea. When I think back to my childhood, some of the happiest times were when I had no adult supervision or was doing something "risky". Those were also the moments I learned the most. Watching my younger brothers grow up, I feel as those most things were handed to them and they were sheltered under the umbrella that is my mother's rules, expectations and standards--all very large. It hurts seeing them not knowing how to do simple every day things but it also hurts to know that I may be the same way for I'm sure my brothers also believe that they are competent. Although I do not believe the playgrounds the article is centered around are a permanent solution to bringing up children to be strong, individual leaders, I feel as though it is a good start and will leave a lasting impact on their lives for the better

There is a big difference between allowing children to engage their imagination and putting them in harms way. A swing set, basketball court, a monkey bar set and soccer field, were all my childhood playgrounds consisted of. I agree with the articles main belief that kids today are very sheltered and they should be given some tough love here and there, but what this article describes is way more than just tough love. Giving elementary school kids access to fire, knives, saws and other objects that could cause anyone physical harm is a terrible idea. I understand that they are trying to toughen kids up but there are so many other ways to do this. When I was in elementary school, there were some kids that could not even be trusted with rulers because they would kit the other kids with them, now imagine that same child given access to bricks or knives. For the kids who are mature enough to handle these tools I'm sure it is fun for them, but for the kids who do not have that maturity all I can see is danger. I'm not worried about kids hurting themselves, I'm more concerned with them hurting each other.

As a kid growing up the playgrounds consisted mostly of plastic slides, structures, and walls. Anything the teachers could do to make it more safe, they did it. I hated seeing kids being coddled when they fell off and got hurt. I was always taught to get up and "rub some dirt on it." Kids these days are growing up feeling entitled to feeling safe all the time. There are some times in life when you just need to suck it up. Kids growing up today will never understand that. I think people need to look past the mud pits and saws and look at the real meaning and lesson behind it. If a kid happens to get their hand too close to the saw blade and cut it, they'll only make that mistake once. They'll learn to adjust and adapt. If more kids can grow up learning to suck it up the overall toughness of these kids will greatly increase and that's what we need in society right now.

I think that the idea of bringing kids into an environment where they learn how to take risks is an excellent idea. I think that in today's generation kids are almost brainwashed. Parents will shelter children so much that they do no think there is any challenge in the world. It isn't good for parent to keep their kids in such sheltered environments that the children come to think that there is nothing dangerous and scary in the world. I think that from a young age, children need to be taught about the world, whether that be good or bad. For example, take someone who has been so sheltered from weapons. A pattern that I have personally seen is that those particular children seem to rebel when they get ahold of weapons. Instead, why don't we teach children at a young age how to use these weapons safely and when the appropriate time is to use them? I wish that I had playgrounds like these when growing up, I feel that there is more to do rather than a typical like and a swing. With supervision these playgrounds are a great idea, they can teach children the correct way to deal with the world and give more diversity to the playground.

I’m sick of kids being coddled and having everything sugar coated for them. When I was younger and we had money problems or family issues, I knew and was appreciative of the fact that my parents told me things straight and raw. I learned to keep myself busy with what we had. Now do I like video games and all that new, safe, indoors stuff? Of course I do. That doesn’t mean that play grounds, sand boxes, mud pies, and wood carving weren’t what made me a early 2000s child, what made me who I am today. I didn’t get my first phone till I was 13 while I now see 6 year-olds with Iphones and tablets in their hands. You’re asking me if I think today’s children live a life too posh? Too risk free? Of course I do! They have everything bad in the world hid from them, they stay inside, they watch TV instead of going out with friends! Nothing is appreciated about the outdoors by the millennials of today, they’re too worried about their make-up, when the next IPhone is gonna come out, or how pretty they look in the mornings. I’m not at all suggesting children shouldn’t have any access to electronics or a somewhat safer environment, or that you should be telling them you’re gonna end up living in a car at the end of the month, but tell them when you don’t have enough money to buy them something, make sure they know how they look matters doesn’t matter and that they’ll always be gorgeous no matter what anyone else says.

I feel that childhood today is too risk-free. The playgrounds that i grew up on were, what i would say, were the standard one; it had the slide, monkey bars, and these little spinny disk things comparable to merry-go-rounds. This playground didn’t compare at all to the “risk-enhanced’ ones. Some of the benefits that these risk-enhanced playgrounds have over traditional ones is that kids will be able to test their limits, how else will they know when to stop? These kids could be building a thin beam to walk across and fall out and hurt themselves. Yes, they did hurt themself, but they learned that it did, and, hopefully at least, won’t do it again. And honestly, you can hurt yourself on any playground, risky or not. If children didn’t learn to take risks then they’ll try it in a more serious environment that could result with them getting hurt even more than the initial experience would have been, or a lot of trouble. In the article, Ms.Morris said “they normally only cut themselves once,” which is a sign of these kids learning about what not to do. Of course, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. These playground are, of course, more dangerous for these kids. I feel that with proper supervision, these playgrounds will be like every other one, but with more things for kids to try and learn, which i wish i had growing up.

Personally, i think the idea of bringing in risk to build resilience within the youth is a bright idea, providing intentional risks in a controlled environment as it said in the article could strengthen the newer generation as they are experiencing these risks at a younger age From what i remember, my elementary school playground was on grass and sand, with swing sets and monkey bars, there were rules we had to follow in order to avoid risks of injuries. Compared to british playgrounds, such as tumbling bay park with its unstable bridges and 20 foot climbing towers, the experience of an american playground will surely be different as it considered safer with different rules and regulations. After all Britain's parks are supervised by adults at all times, just less cautious with the risks included in play. Today, most parents would not allow their child to play on planks of wood with bricks on the edge or in high grasses where vision is impaired, i know my mom wouldn’t, she worries of these risks while my dad is all for it. Introducing risks at a young age will benefit a person in the long run, being exposed to a new and risky environment could spark adventure and minimize fear, most importantly the fact that people learn from past mistakes in order to avoid future accidents. Right now, society is overprotective of the youth, more than they should be when it comes to recreation, i believe it would make the upcoming generations weaker and less self reliant.

Personally I grew up sheltered and away from what many call "the real world." That doesn't mean, however, that I was and am completely ignorant of what goes on outside my suburban neighborhood. Both my parents grew up in lower class families, and had to work hard to make it to where they are now. Thus I have always been taught the importance of never spending money I don't have, and not taking anything for granted. My mother, who was born in Rome, has always told me about how well off we are here, sheltered from things like crime, drugs, and poverty, which were things she witnessed on a daily basis. My father too, grew up poor, living in trailers in North Carolina, and whose parents were financially irresponsible. He thus stresses financial responsibility to me very frequently, as well as the value of a good work ethic. I personally don't like to take risks, especially with money, and thus end up being very conservative. When I was little and my friends did anything risky that could cause physical injury or other trouble, I tended to back off and not participate, in the spirit of self-preservation.

I believe this is a great idea compared to "safe" playgrounds. kids not only need to learn from their mistakes and adapt, but it's in human history that we only learn from mistakes we make, not by being babied our whole life. I not only think that today's generation as it easy because as kids most of us live safe and don't know what to do if they were faced with a problem when they are adults. When I was a child we didn't worry about getting hurt, because getting hurt was a sign that what we were doing needed to be refined, like jumping from heights with the wrong form, or playing on sharp rocks and such. Today's children are too sheltered and wont know how to handle things in the future. This is a double edged sword however, seeing as anyone has the power to sue and some kids just don't learn from their mistakes. Someone can hit their head falling, and do it again, and then end up with brain damage, and then follows a lawsuit because the playground is supposed to mend mistakes, not encourage them. I personally am glad I had parents who instilled self sufficiency at a young age, as they would make me cook sometimes or do adult things so I would know what to do in college or beyond. My Grandpa taught me of his ways as a medic in Vietnam and my grandma taught me all of her cooking and upholstery skills. My mother and father taught me how to take care of myself and exposed me to risk on purpose to help me better myself on what to do in those situations.

I really think the school in Brittian is doing a great thing. when i was younger i hated that our school wouldnt let us play rough.we had to play touch football never tackle until someone got pushed over and then they took it away all together. a similar thing happened with kickball for me to a kid got hut in the face and they said no more kickball and it made me feel like the school was being to protective. kids need to be able to make there own mistakes and get hurt so they can learn to be tougher and not to make the same mistakes twice. in my opinion the easiest way to learn is through analyzing your mistakes and how to avoid them next time,i think having playgrounds be more dangerous would increase this type of thinking.

Children should be allowed to play in risky environments. I personally wouldn't have a 3 yr old on the steep rocks, but I would allow a 6+ yr old. I have three younger sisters,10,3,and 9 months. I have always been the designated babysitter. Letting them play outside in the woods, not including the 9 month, it is entertaining and very beneficial as kids want to learn for themselves. The question many parents get from kids is why. They ask why over and over again because their brains don't automatically learn just by hearing it. For example Sky asked me why she couldn't jump on the ottoman, I told her she could slip and fall, she didn't listen as those words didn't mean anything at that time. I hear a thump on the floor and knew exactly what she did. The next time she asked me why and I said the word slip, she IMMEDIATELY recited slip ow no no no. She understood. This is why I believe children should have some risk in their life, because in the long run it makes them safer.

Today's youth are sheltered from anything their parents and society deem unfit for kids, and to be frank, it's making the generation soft. Born in 2001, I might've been among the first to experience a screened childhood. I often compare my experiences as a kid, which mainly involved following a strict set of rules designed for my safety, to the experiences of my parents as children. What they talk about is freedom; riding their bikes all over town, experiencing new sights and lessons, all without supervision. They were able to take their own risks, and learn from them accordingly. However, it's no longer like that. Our kids have no risks to take due to the ultra-protective norm of parenting in today's society. What I remember of the playgrounds I used to enjoy is mainly rubber and safe structures for play-never anything to fun or exciting. This is much different from the Tumbling Bay park, which is all about "exploring controlled risk". There kids are able to make decisions that have consequences-ones that help a child learn how the world works. I feel that this is significant to early learning. A good argument the article brings up is that of the danger associated with these parks. "As a society, it's difficult to say, 'We need to accept a one in 60 million chance of death,", to quote David Yearly. This is very true, but what today's parents need to recognize is that the slight danger of risks at a childhood are a price to pay for a better educated adulthood.

I’m pretty sure I shuddered while viewing the images of these British playgrounds. Recess is a time to let out all your energy in a colorful wonderland. The playgrounds these kids are exposed to look like prisons or some sort of war camp. These are children we are talking about! Their mind isn’t fully capable of understanding the risks put in front of them and actually learning from them. We develop that skill over time. Even today, I still make the same mistakes and get hurt each time. The article reported that a placard for Princess Diana Playground purposely provides risks “‘so that your child can develop an appreciation of risk in a controlled play environment rather than taking similar risks in an uncontrolled and unregulated wider world’”. No matter how much adult supervision there is, they can’t keep an eye on every child. Children get hurt on a regular playground so getting hurt on the British playgrounds will be a severely worse case. Nothing will stop kids from doing crazy things. They don’t know what to expect if they jump off a wooden crate or run their finger along the “sharp-edged tape dispenser”, and making that an option for them at this age can be fatal. Each day these children are exposed to danger that could possibly end their life and they can’t learn from that if they’re dead.

I think that using a playground to bring more risk into a child’s life is a really interesting concept. There are three nearby parks in my neighborhood, all of which have playgrounds. I also used to have a swingset in my backyard when I was much younger. However, all of these playgrounds that have experienced have all been pretty similar, just your average playground. I think that the risk enhanced playgrounds that are described in the article are a really good idea. I think they’re a new and innovative way to help include risk in a child’s life starting at a young age. I think that playgrounds can be really exciting and are therefore really appealing in the eyes of a young child so it’s definitely something that kids will be interested in. I also think that as long these risky playgrounds are safe for the children playing on them then it’s a great idea. Introducing risk at such a young age will help these kids develop the risk-taking quality, which can be a really good thing because it helps to teach kids that sometimes they need to take chances even if it can be a little scary.

Ever since I was about six, I recall the times from when in primary school, I used to swing from the monkey bars, and climb down ropes and ladders, and run up metal slides in the hot summer. I usually always went home from the park or playground with scrapes, showing the day's adventures upon my skin like a canvas. Though, I was never really bothered by any of this - as, even if I had gone home a little battered, I still had the day's fun to make up for it. However - despite all of this, my parents kept me away from real hazards and risks. They wanted me to be safe (but also have a fun childhood as well, of course). With the introduction of these new playgrounds and such in Europe, I'm torn. I believe that they should NOT implement things that make it unsafe for children to play - as, it could introduce them into taking more risks/doing unsafe things for fun in the future. But, a little adventure is also needed in life. Of course, not if it ultimately leads to bad results, however. Introducing these riskier pieces of equipment and such opens a door to new dangers, and frankly, I don't think they should be available to children of such young age; at least, not without parental supervision.

As a young child, I played in traditional, safe playground. The description of the "risk-enhanced" playgrounds is very different from that of the playgrounds that I grew up playing in. I enjoyed the "structured" playgrounds that I was used to as a child but I do not see a fault in the "risk-enhance" types. The Idea of being allowed to take risks as a child is very interesting to me because I grew up in a very strict household. I feel like, though my parents wanted to help shape me into a structure person, they failed at allowing me to engage with the world. I am now 16 years old and I am still terrified of taking simple risks. I am extremely afraid of talking to people, walking in the streets and many more things. I think that this behavior is largely due to the way that I was raised. For this reason, allowing children to live a moderate risk life is not a bad idea and it allows them to engage with their world in an open way which better prepares them for their future.

The idea of allowing children to experience a moderate level of risk in their life is quite astonishing. This is a very different lifestyle than I am used to, growing up in a strict household. One thing that I do think is benefiting from this lifestyle it the experience that it gives people. It is a way to engage and connect with the world. This is something that I lack. I am now 16 and very afraid of the world that I live in and I believe that this is largely do to the fact that I was raized in a strict household. Though I had many positive experiences from living in a strict environment, I feel that this environment is also the cause of my lack of desire to take risks in my life.

When you do not allow children to learn the stupid things they should not do, you teach them to be dependent on a make-believe world. I once went to playground after it rained. I knew the monkey bars were slippery. I climbed anyway. I fell to the next lower level and hit those parts that really hurt. But I learned not to climb things that were slippery when wet. We also road bikes without a helmet, carried pocket knives, climbed 80 foot trees, knew to come in when it rained or got dark, and most importantly learned to listen to adults when said something was a danger. Today kids learn to remain babies.

I believe that children must be exposed to risk, but not too much. Children should be allowed to explore as they please, only if an adult is present. Risk should be given to children in controlled environments, that way they can still stay safe. Taking risks is important for all ages, but there is a point where it goes too far.

When I was a child, I always looked forward to going outside to play with my friends on the playground. My favorite part was being able to swing like an animal across the monkey bars and see how far I could go in 30 seconds. Today, looking at this article, I find playgrounds in Europe are changing what we used to know as playgrounds into ones that have high risk factors. This is scary for younger children, who need security in their early years. Introducing risk factors not only shows them that it is okay to wander onto these dangerous sites, but also that it is encouraged. Children are at the stage where their minds are constantly changing and they hold on to information they receive. I believe that they should not be exposed to this environment at a young age because it teaches them that they should take high risks. In some situations, this is beneficial because they learn to take chances and not be afraid to try new things, but it also could be very dangerous for these little humans, who have not been in this world for very long. We take the time to show younger kids innocent videos and television, so why would we expose them to an environment that is not safe?

I think suburban areas are too sterilized. City kids still have opportunity for risk in their built environment and rural kids still have the unprotected woods for risky play. When I was in school, all the playground equipment was installed on asphalt--no rubber mats or mulch. Kids would jump off from the swings at the height of the swing or the merry-go-round at its fastest and land on pavement. There were occasional skinned knees, but no serious injuries. The bolder and more athletic would go on to more daring feats and everyone else learned their limits. The drawback of returning some risk is litigation. I grew up in the 70's and I think I had the right amount of risk and freedom. It allowed me to separate from the adults in my life. Without risk during the young years, it seems that teens have been infantilized and are reluctant to try more adult activities (i.e. driving).