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I am frankly appalled how some people in this thread appear so nonchalant about willing to accept the deaths of children in the name of letting a majority of ki

by ausbah 7y ago

I am frankly appalled how some people in this thread appear so nonchalant about willing to accept the deaths of children in the name of letting a majority of kids "have the right kind of fun".

leetrout 7y ago
I don’t get that vibe. I’m not sure of your age or if you’re a parent but there’s some recent writing in “Coddling of the American Mind” where they speak about making the road for the child instead of the child for the road and how that’s influenced adolescents today and their lack of maturity in college and beyond. It’s terrifying to think about something happening to my daughter but I know if I don’t give her the opportunity to learn about responsibility and safety on her own I’m not doing my job as a father. Having a playground or similar option (hiking trails, rustic camping, etc) to explore this is a plus and IMO part of what we need in society and less safetyism.
- djsumdog 7y ago
  That's exactly the book I thought of when I saw this article. I think he mentions this type of playground in the book.
iMerNibor 7y ago
That's how life works though. You can never eliminate all the risks. So much is just out of your control, accidents happen - be it for kids or adults. People are obviously not advocating for creating deadly play spaces for the future generation, but we did manage so far with the decent enough security standards. Kids hurting themselves is normal, thats just part of learning their limits. I dont know how many times I fucked up and caused myself (non-critical) damage - did I do the same stupid mistake twice? nope. I could've died or seriously hurt myself a lot of times would I have just been unlucky, but I wasn't - cause there was a very slim chance anything bad could have even happened. Climbing trees? never slipped or jumped off a height that wasnt harmless. Cycling around? Never fell bad enough to do more than scrape my skin. And so many more instances of things going bad, but working out fine
Zanni 7y ago
Are you similarly appalled at the number of people willing to accept the deaths of children, adults, even entire families in automobile accidents every year in the name of letting a majority have access to personal transportation? In both cases, there's a tradeoff to make. We want playgrounds/cars to be as safe as possible while still providing the benefits we take advantage of them for. We could slash automobile deaths by 99% by limiting the top speed to 5 mph, but how useful would that be? Tradeoffs have to be negotiated by society. Accusing some of being "willing to accept the deaths of children" in that context is an abusive argument.
int_19h 7y ago
When you were a kid, did you grow up with a "safe" playground, or not? I would imagine that people who grew up with the kinds of playgrounds described in the article are much less likely to be appalled about this notion.

by ausbah 7y ago

I am frankly appalled how some people in this thread appear so nonchalant about willing to accept the deaths of children in the name of letting a majority of kids "have the right kind of fun".

leetrout 7y ago

I don’t get that vibe. I’m not sure of your age or if you’re a parent but there’s some recent writing in “Coddling of the American Mind” where they speak about making the road for the child instead of the child for the road and how that’s influenced adolescents today and their lack of maturity in college and beyond. It’s terrifying to think about something happening to my daughter but I know if I don’t give her the opportunity to learn about responsibility and safety on her own I’m not doing my job as a father. Having a playground or similar option (hiking trails, rustic camping, etc) to explore this is a plus and IMO part of what we need in society and less safetyism.

djsumdog 7y ago
That's exactly the book I thought of when I saw this article. I think he mentions this type of playground in the book.

iMerNibor 7y ago

That's how life works though. You can never eliminate all the risks. So much is just out of your control, accidents happen - be it for kids or adults. People are obviously not advocating for creating deadly play spaces for the future generation, but we did manage so far with the decent enough security standards. Kids hurting themselves is normal, thats just part of learning their limits. I dont know how many times I fucked up and caused myself (non-critical) damage - did I do the same stupid mistake twice? nope. I could've died or seriously hurt myself a lot of times would I have just been unlucky, but I wasn't - cause there was a very slim chance anything bad could have even happened. Climbing trees? never slipped or jumped off a height that wasnt harmless. Cycling around? Never fell bad enough to do more than scrape my skin. And so many more instances of things going bad, but working out fine

Zanni 7y ago

Are you similarly appalled at the number of people willing to accept the deaths of children, adults, even entire families in automobile accidents every year in the name of letting a majority have access to personal transportation? In both cases, there's a tradeoff to make. We want playgrounds/cars to be as safe as possible while still providing the benefits we take advantage of them for. We could slash automobile deaths by 99% by limiting the top speed to 5 mph, but how useful would that be? Tradeoffs have to be negotiated by society. Accusing some of being "willing to accept the deaths of children" in that context is an abusive argument.

int_19h 7y ago

When you were a kid, did you grow up with a "safe" playground, or not? I would imagine that people who grew up with the kinds of playgrounds described in the article are much less likely to be appalled about this notion.