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Strollerderby
Are Swings Too Dangerous?
What’s next, canceling recess?
A school district in West Virginia is taking out all the swing sets on school playgrounds. Administrators ordered all swings removed from Cabell County elementary schools after being forced into a $20,000 lawsuit settlement — the district’s second swing-injury related suit in a year. (The other suit is still in litigation.)
Schools Safety Manager Tim Stewart told the New York Times that one lawsuit involved a child who broke his arm after jumping out of the swing like Superman.
The decision to remove swings is one motivated purely by liability. Changing national safety standards have made it difficult for the schools to defend themselves against lawsuits. Cabell County’s schools use mulch under their swing sets but newer standards require a rubber-based padding. The cost of the padding, the school leaders say, costs around $7,500 per swing set — too much to bring into compliance all at once.
Fear of lawsuits has pushed more than this one district into removing swings and other beloved playground equipment. Parks departments are also making those calls.
The schools in West Virginia will keep (for now!) the monkey bars, since the schools can meet the safety requirements (and presumably defend itself in the event a bone is broken after some child decides to swing from the bars like Tarzan).
Of course not all lawsuits can be summarized in one line (Superman style? Calculated risk!) and, perhaps, the swing set area was negligently maintained. Perhaps parents had complained for years and years. Who knows. But what’s sad, especially in an era where kids need more play and physical activity, not fewer options, is that making changes wasn’t a possibility.
Of course this feels ripe for comment from Lenore Skenazy, founder of Free Range Kids and mom made notorious for sending her 9-year-old out on his own in the big bad wilds of the New York subway system. More recently, Skenazy encouraged parents to take their kids to the park and leave them there.
Only if the park is fully padded and there’s zero-risk of injury, Lenore!
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10 Comments
[...] a day if they choose. Many of them just don’t. Maybe they are worried about being sued over swingset injuries, but I doubt it. I think for many, they just don’t want to deal with the hassle of going [...]
Recess, Kids and Better School Grades | Strollerderby commented on Sep 02 10 at 1:31 pmgoddess commented on Sep 01 10 at 3:00 pmGeez- get out the bubble-wrap and pad the classoroms. What’s next straitjackets?
Samantha commented on Sep 01 10 at 3:08 pmThey’ve already cancelled recess in a couple places here in Rhode Island.
LooLoo'sMommy commented on Sep 01 10 at 3:26 pmHow could a parent sue over that! I would be to embarrassed of my child’s lack of common sense.
Manjari commented on Sep 01 10 at 4:54 pmThis is sad. There won’t be any fun left for kids to have at all. Kids have fallen down stairs, so I guess stairs should be illegal. Oh, and my daughter scraped her knee on the sidewalk, so I want all sidewalks made out of rubber!
michelle commented on Sep 01 10 at 6:03 pmYes, we wouldn’t want any kids in WV, one of the most obese states in the nation, to ever burn a calorie, ever!
mbaker commented on Sep 01 10 at 7:02 pmWhen I was a kid a friend of my sister’s was at our house and jumped out of the swing on our swing set. He broke a bone. Instead of suing us, the parents paid for the bone to be set and disciplined their son for doing something so unsafe and reckless. What about expecting personal responsibility from kids? I already expect it from my 3 year old to the level at which he’s capable of it and it baffles me when other parents don’t do the same thing.
Samuel commented on Sep 02 10 at 11:47 amThis is retarded, we should just ban stairs, desks, cars etc etc because they all have a chance of hurting children. This is what happens when overzealous, overprotective parents get involved and start screaming, “OMG YOU HURT MY KID EVEN THOUGH IT WAS AN ACCIDENT BUT I NEED A SCAPEGOAT ANYWAY TO BLAME HURP DURP”.
Noobalot commented on Sep 02 10 at 6:56 pmIt’s far worst in the school area i live in… They have rules and stuff and they don’t like people breaking rules and stuff.
Clay Boggess commented on Sep 16 10 at 7:50 amPerhaps every parent should sign a waiver stating that if their child jumps off a moving swing that the school district is not liable. Of course this would also require constant adult supervision and probably a permanent video camera on the premises that could provide the necessary evidence if needed. All kidding aside, bring on tort reform!
Clay Boggess
http://www.BigEventFundraising.com
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