Saturday, July 23, 2011

Can a Playground Be Too Safe?

I have always been fascinated with psychological studies, particularity ones, such as this article, that at first glance do not seem obvious. This article, written by John Tierney, is suggesting that safer playgrounds may not be good for a childs' mental development. As many public parks are trying to make playgrounds safer, by reducing the height of the slides or removing money-bars, researchers are finding that children need risks such as these to be well mentally developed. “Children need to encounter risks and overcome fears on the playground,” said Ellen Sandseter, a professor of psychology at Queen Maud University in Norway. Some researchers believe that if children are not exposed to risks or challenges they are more likely to develop anxiety problems later in life; which many parents find less-desirable than a couple extra scratches or bruises.

I agree with this article. I think people, especially at a young-age when we are still not fully developed, need to learn when to take risks and when to play at safe. Having an ultra-safe playground does not allow for both of these things to be learned. At the end of the day we cant move forward in life if we never take risks.








http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/science/19tierney.html?ref=science
Posted by Eric at 4:30 PM

4 comments:

Imani said...

I agree that playgrounds are becoming a little too safe. Playgrounds are where children need to learn their fears and take risks on their own. The playground should be fun and a learning experience as well. Removing most of the equipment and jungle-gym won't let children explore and differ from what they like and what they don't.

July 23, 2011 at 8:20 PM
Lexy said...

I really enjoyed this article because not only was it about something interesting and relatable, it was also written in a way that messed around with my indecisiveness. At one point it seemed that my mind was changed after the end of every paragraph. Tierney would phrase something to make me believe a certain way, and then follow that up with something else that made me question why I had thought that in the first place. On top of that, he mixed in mentions to scientific studies that actually caused me to stop reading and think for a bit. Examples include, "a child who’s hurt in a fall before the age of 9 is less likely as a teenager to have a fear of heights," and, "the risk of some injuries, like long fractures of the arm, actually increased after the introduction of softer surfaces on playgrounds."

July 23, 2011 at 8:49 PM
Michelleyy said...

I agree with the statement "“Children need to encounter risks and overcome fears on the playground,” by Ellen Sandseter. Trying to make playgrounds safe isnt letting children develop and they arent enjoying all thats in a playground. I believe by making the playground safer will make children be scared of alot of things in life and not taking risks. besides every child will fall,get scartches, all those crazy things that can happen when not even playing in a playground but in their own backyard and they will learn from those experiences.

July 24, 2011 at 9:10 AM
Andrew said...

An interesting story. Then again, playgrounds are only a recent invention and I'm pretty sure that there have been many brave people throughout history who have had to make do without slides and monkey bars.

July 24, 2011 at 7:48 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Blog Archive