My Confession, as an Aunt on the Playground

According to ASTM 1487 & the CPSC we have two age groups, 2-5 & 5-12, for playground equipment (and now a new standard for 6-23mo).  In short, the standards are based on anthropometric data (comparative sizes/measurements of children at age 2, 5 &12), empirical data of types of injuries on playgrounds and the developmentally appropriateness of the types of equipment.

For example, the CPSC says that horizontal ladders should not be used for 2 and 3 year olds; At age 4 children start to develop the physical ability to use upper body equipment such as horizontal overhead ladders, overhead rings & track rides (CPSC 5.2.4). I get it.  And as an onlooker I see parents put their children on equipment which is not developmentally appropriate  for them and I think “hey, they aren’t ready for that!” and the problem is that the children may think that they can use that same equipment when their parent isn’t there to help them.

But when I’m at the playground with my little nephews and nieces I put aside such guidelines and I encourage them to play on the equipment they feel most comfortable on. I know them and I know that they want to challenge themselves but that they also know their own limitations.  So when my 3-year-old nephew, Oliver, wants to go on the overhead bars I help him.  Yes, I said it, I help him.  Let me make this point though: As he started to climb the step ladder to get to the overhead ladder he told me he couldn’t do it and asked for help.  *The reason he couldn’t climb the step ladder is because the spacing of the bars is meant for the reach of a 5-12 year old. I felt comfortable helping him because he communicated to me that he couldn’t and wouldn’t do it without me.

Another day when I had my 6-year-old nephew, Benjamin and his 3-year-old sister, Claire at a playground with a cable net structure (appropriate for ages 5-12), I let them both climb.  Benjamin took off right away and figured out how to navigate the climbing and the spaces where he could comfortably reach.  I climbed right behind Claire and she wanted me there just as much as I wanted to be there.  She wasn’t interested in getting to the top like Benjamin; She was happy to climb up a few feet and then bounce on the slightly flexible cable.  I like the interactive approach to play.  Notice I didn’t say the hovering approach.

I recently had a call from a concerned parent who was at one of our playgrounds.  She asked me “what was the probability that her 5-year-old child would fall?”.  How does one answer that question?  The fact is that the piece of equipment that she was on, a cable net structure, according to standards, is appropriate for 5-12 year olds.  As with anything, a parent still has to use their judgment and knowledge of their children at the playground.  If you know that your child is the type to go beyond their limits and then freeze, you may want to climb with them and teach them how to navigate and determine their limits.  Sometimes we forget that children have been challenging and pushing all on their own since they were born, eager to communicate, to crawl and to walk (among many other things!).  Yes, they fall, they get bruises and scratches but they get back up again because they want to walk and be like those around them.

The standards for public playground were developed with the purpose to reduce life-threatening and debilitating injuries (ASTM 1487-07 Scope).  Of course that is of utmost importance to us as playground manufacturers, sales consultants and parents!  But it is equally important that children still have the chance for challenge and risk; they learn their abilities by trial and only when they continue to test and push themselves will they improve their strength, agility and an understanding for calculated risks.

So this is my confession as an aunt on the playground.  I am that person whom I used to tisk tisk for helping the child use equipment which they are, “technically speaking”, not ready for.

Pushing the Envelope of Playground Design with Risk & Challenge by JC Boushh

In today’s age of tech savvy children playground designers are constantly designing new and innovative play components to attract today’s wired-child to the playground. This approach to new and innovative designs many times comes into conflict with society’s preoccupation with over protecting children from life’s bumps and bruises. As children continuously seek new ways to challenge themselves beyond the virtual world of video games they need the elements of developmentally appropriate challenges and calculated risks in order to allow them the opportunity to test their limits, be creative and imaginative in order to solve problems, and provide them with opportunities for learning and correcting mistakes.

A research report issued by the Health and Safety Executive and Play England is beginning to address the issue of too-safe playgrounds and the developmental benefits associated with risk and challenge within the playground environment. The report entitled Managing Risk in Play Provision indicates that it is perfectly normal and developmentally appropriate for children to get slight injuries while playing on playgrounds and that part of play is grazed and skinned knees. Adults want playgrounds to be safe, but there has to be an element of risk and challenge associated with it otherwise the playground is boring and uncreative.

Many parents today are over-anxious about their child becoming injured during play, and in response many public facilities have dummied down their playgrounds in response. The effect is that children have no interest in playing on many of today’s playgrounds or those that have played on them once have never returned.

“Research from our Playday campaign shows that nearly half (47%) of adults think it is unsafe for children to play outside without an adult, 49% of parents do not let their children play outside without an adult,  and over a third (37%) worry that their neighbors will judge them if they let their children play outside unsupervised.” (Play England)

Parents and caregivers perception of free-play and minor injuries associated with play are key to changing the trend of dummied-downed playgrounds. When we become overly concerned with eliminating every potential bump or bruise on the playground, we also eliminate the potential for healthy lifelong developmental skills. Our ability to survive and thrive is based on our ability to overcome risk, adapt to problems, and conquer challenges. Ultimately, life is a risky business.Mike Conway of Play England states;

“(the) play area is as safe as reasonably possible and protects against major injuries, but if children can benefit from challenges like climbing, running or trying new skills that it allows for minor injuries”.  (Telegraph)

The current trend that has emerged with standard playground design is that playgrounds have become dull and boring with no opportunities for risk-taking and challenge. In response to this, current approaches to playground equipment design and safety stem from the view that play equipment should be as safe as necessary not as safe as possible to allow children to engage in experiences that offer challenge and excitement.Challenging playground equipment that provides for safe risk-taking helps build resilience, persistence, and problem solving skills that enable children to become confident, creative, and independent thinkers who are capable of making appropriate decisions and take responsibility for their own actions. To achieve this, children need to engage in risk-taking in a safe environment where risks are suitably managed. Sir Digby Jones, HTI President remarks;

“If we never took a risk our children would not learn to walk, climb stairs, ride a bicycle or swim; businesses would not develop innovative new products, move into new markets and create wealth for all: scientists would not experiment and discover; we would not have great art, literature, music and architecture”.(Jones)

Risk during free-play is a part of child development and affords children the opportunity to challenge their individual limits in an environment that factors in their developmental growth and age. As England moves closer to many other European perceptions of providing challenge and safe risk within children’s play environments perhaps it is time for the United States to become more tolerant to developmentally appropriate challenges and calculated risks that have the potential for slight injuries. Our current guidelines focus so much on eliminating every possibility of injuries on the playground that it has forced many manufactures to consider litigation potential before they consider developmentally appropriate design. This thinking and fear of even the slightest injury has far-reaching consequences for today’s children and future adults in that it deprives them of the ability to be creative, innovative, problem-solvers, risk-takers, and independent healthy adults.

Play is risky, but if it wasn’t filled with some element of risk and challenge it would be boring and unattractive to children and the consequences are hyper-protected and sedentary children and that ultimately cheats them of valuable childhood experiences.

References:

Jones, Sir Digby (2007) Releasing the Potential for Children to take Risks and Innovate.Cotton Wool Kids Issues Paper 7

Play England. “Grazed knees beat cotton wool culture.” 10 October 2010. Web.5 December 2010.

Telegragh, The. “Children ‘learn from cut knees’.” 8 October 2010. Web.  5 December 2010

JC Boushh is a recognized expert in the field of playground safety, play environment design, and child development. He has lectured worldwide as well as authored numerous articles on playground safety, developmental benefits of play, and has a deep commitment to preserving all children’s right to play. He is the head designer for Design for Play, and serves as an outdoor environment project manager, play consultant specializing in designing for children’s developmental needs through play, and a third-party playground inspector. He can be reached at www.jcboushhconsulting.com

Once Burned, Twice Shy: New York’s Union Square Playground in Defense of Children’s Development

Do you remember the first time you climbed a hill and felt like a king or queen ruling the world? How great did it feel to stand on top of that pile of wood, earth or other material, looking at the small world below you?

When I think back of my childhood, I remember it all: the feeling of invincibility, the need to “protect” the little hill in my parents’ backyard from the “big” people with my two best friends. Today, I don’t remember how many times I actually came home with a bruised arm or a scratched knee. But I do remember how I learned that fire is hot, knives are sharp, and hitting your chin on a dresser hurt badly.

Over the past years, the understanding of “play value” has many different views. An expert on child development and play equipment safety, Prof. Joe Frost from the
University of Texas at Austin says, “In an ideal play setting, children are in movement and can take an active role in building their own environment, learn to take risks, develop aesthetic appreciation, practice new skills and make mistakes.” So what do we mean when we talk about the value of play today?

Play is experimental, challenging, and sometimes risky, as the Healthy Parks & Playground Task Force Report of the City of Cambridge states. Children learn by taking risks. By providing controlled settings such as playgrounds, we however already limit our children to experience certain adventures involving risk.

Looking at New York City’s new Union Square playground, it excites me to see landscape architects like Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates who offer to design playground environments that challenge children in a time where safety standards and regulations are leaving very little room for risk and challenge. Mommypoppins writes after having visited the playground, “…after you get over just how cool everything looks, the next thing you will think will probably be, “how are you supposed to use this stuff?” And that’s what’s so different about this new playground.”

Union Square’s The Mountain has great aesthetic value and at the same time offers lots of challenges. It’s so fun to watch the children (and adults!) to try and
try to climb the Mountain; finally, and sometimes with help from their peers, climbing to the top and feeling such accomplishment and price. It is, however,
a play scape that is seasonal. And seasonal play scapes enrich children’s learning capabilities exactly because of their limitations. While it is reasonable to install steel equipment in shaded areas, most of New York City’s playgrounds are situated in not-shaded areas as a result of the urban settings.

Safety is a word perceived in many different ways by different people. According to ASTM, risks must be anticipated in order for playground equipment to be considered safe. But ASTM standards classify safety only in terms of serious head and neck injuries, acknowledging that bruises and scrapes can happen. And this gets me back to the perception of play value today. And the goals of healthy playgrounds for children: to balance the need for reasonable level of safety with the need for challenge, adventure, and risk-taking.


The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation states its mission to provide play spaces that, “match the developmental needs and diversional
demands of New York’s tiniest residents and visitors.” And at the same time ensuring that the safety standards are being considered and adhered to.

So when you think back of that time when you were the king or queen of the world, did you think about the limitations of playing? Did your parent tell
you to not go play because you might get hurt? Or did they tell you to go out play and be careful?

Designing a playground involves great teamwork between child development & child safety experts, landscape architects, city councils and play equipment designers and manufacturers who care about play value and children’s development.

Feel free to google, “A day in the sun can take its toll.” You might be surprised what site comes up. No hinting attached, but my bet is on The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, talking about risks involved in spending time with your child in the city’s playgrounds. And that tells me they truly understand what play is all about.

Find more on New York City’s Union Square playground and other playgrounds here:

Union Square Wonderland by Sarah Bernard

Union Square Playground Gets Thumbs Up by Meredith Traina

The War on Children’s Playgrounds by Lenore Skenazy