[quote=“astrothug”]
I’m not going to stop my kids from exploring their potential; some kids are risk takers some kids are not, I’m for sure not going to be the parent who sends his kids ice skating with a pillow tied to their ass just to soften the blow to their bum…[/quote]
So no seatbelt or bike helmet for your kid?
My kids sometimes ride with no helmets when we go to my parents’ place.
when the kids are in my care yes, but their not infront of my eyes all the time, so all I can do is to remind them, its still up to them… to wear a seatbelt or a helmet, do you wear a helmet when your on your bike all the time?
take down all the playgrounds!! don’t replace them them then just watch how many kids get hurt playing in areas they should not be at!!!
That’s an excellent point. Lifeguards aren’t there for the 99.9% of time that no one drowns or gets hurt, but for that 0.1% chance that someone’s life is actually in danger.
Same thing for this equipment. I’m sure no one argues against that most days, at most schools, most years–nothing happens. However, the equipment is being retired for the one time that a child does get really hurt.
Why would your kids need helmets or seatbelts? 99.99% of the time, they won’t crash, and neither will you. Why need helmets or seatbelts?
In the car with no seatbelt? No need for them?
The problem is that some kinds of playground equipment has killed, and maybe it will never happen in Rupert. Just like you can go your whole life without a seatbelt and not die.
But you know, on average, it’s safer to get rid of the kinds of equipment that is more likely to kill.
I’m not talking about broken arms, I’m talking about the hanging hazards.
How about child-proofing your house? Why bother? Most likely your kid will never poke metal bits into electric sockets. I’d say 99% of kids never do. So why bother?
lets take down all the trees near parks as well, and fences they can hurt kids too.
as an adult that was a kid once i know there are dangers out there and i found most of them, and i have the scars and healed broken bones to prove it. most times that i got hurt was bike riding, roller skating,running, tree and fence climbing should we ban all those things too?
my son cracked his tail bone on lax keen equipment, got a major head wound from the monkey bars at roosevelt, and rolled his ankle at the skate park no law suits from me.
Get rid of all the seatbelts and childseats and just watch how many kids get hurt in other ways!
…they’re going to have spinal injuries from dangerous slides, heck–they might even die. But that’s all part of growing up.
Certainly not likely, but possible. Astro, when you come in with your little daughter to the pool, there’s often less than 20 people in the pool. The liklihood of one of the guards missing you or anyone else doing something dangerous is ziltch. The chance of your daughter drowning while we’re watching that number–zero. Take us away from that situation, it’s still not very likely she’ll get hurt–but the second she starts drowning with your back to her, she’s screwed.
In a car, or on a bike, or on some monkey bars–it’s not the vast majority of safe use that dictates what sort of safety measures should be taken–but the one time in your life you do go head first over the handlebars, or into another car, or lose your grip on the bars.
Big Thumb, seatbelts are not just about personal safety. You can kill every other person in the car if you aren’t wearing a seatbelt. But that’s okay–because you might die anyways wearing one.
Also, I’m not talking about bumps and bruises and broken arms. I’m talking about the hanging hazards – kids have died on those kinds of equipment. It may never happen in Rupert. That’s good. But what kind of risk are you willing to accept?
Like if you knew 1 out of every 10,000 kids that used a particularly dangerous type of playground equipment would be killed by hanging, would that be an acceptable risk?
It’s very much like wearing your seatbelt or car seat for your kids. You’re reducing the risk of death.
There’s a poster at the health unit that says that 85% of biking head injuries can be prevented by wearing a bicycle helmet. Is that worth wearing a helmet for that 85%? 15% will still be injured, even with the helmet, so why bother? Or just hope that you don’t have an accident at all?
The hanging hazard presented by some of the older equipment is real. It is rare, but it exists.
… The swings are coming back people…
They are just undergoing a little “touch up”.
Ah man, don’t ruin a good flame war with your facts!
What about monkey bars though, hey, can we start a war over monkey bars???
Well, it’s certain types of monkey bars that are the hanging hazard – usually if the bars aren’t spaced far enough apart. Here’s irony: they are especially dangerous for kids wearing bike helmets.
Hmm you would think that the larger the gap between bars the more exercise the kids would get, stretching, reaching, etc… We need a government study on the monky bar gap…
Believe me, there are already studies on monkey bar gap – google it! By UL and other organizations like that, for insurance companies.
Oh sure thanks, some civil servant now has nothing to do for the next few months thanks to you and your google its… I hope you’re happy when the entire governmental structure collapses due to the lack of need for more studies… 
We can always have a study of studies. A meta-study. But you can probably google those too.
I once sat on an official committee on committees for a university.
sounds like a plan have your asssitant call my assistant to schedule the preliminary planning conference to develope the protocals for the study of studies… Man I think I hear Monty Python playing in the background…
