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New Zealand school tossed its playground rules

news.nationalpost.com

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Re: New Zealand school tossed its playground rules

#71

Post by Theodores »

ronnier wrote: post #37

This reminds me of something related. I don't force my children to wear helmets when they ride their bikes. When we are out, people yell at me "Where's their helmet dad?". These are the same type of people who force the removal of swing sets at the parks in my area.

Helmets are a bit like bullet proof vests. If I was to be sent to some unknown part of Afghanistan and I had the option of placing a bullet proof vest in my luggage I would probably take it, just in case I needed it when I got to wherever it is in Afghanistan. However, for a gentle stroll to the shops or a trip to the back garden I probably wouldn't think to wear a bullet proof vest. Yet, actually, only last week some girl got hit in London by a stray bullet and, with her life being a mess right now, I had really better go for the bullet proof vest. Had she been wearing one then she might have avoided that neck injury.

Personally I do not wear a bike helmet, however, if some of my former mountain bike friends called up and took me out riding all day on trails I did not know then I would find a helmet and make sure it was properly fitted to my head. So I am not absolutist when it comes to helmets.

As it happens I have sold thousands of helmets and fitted a few hundred for people. Along the way I read the instructions and you do need helmets to fit properly, i.e. with the straps tight. I have also noticed that most cyclists including those in the peleton ride along with the straps somewhat less tight than they should be. Hence I suggest that rather than have helmet debates with people you helpfully point out to them that (if they are wearing a helmet) that the straps are dangerously done up. Point out to them that they could get strangled by their helmet in an accident if, due to the straps not being very tight, the helmet slips back. Assist them in getting their helmet setup properly, by which time they should not be able to move their jaw and give you any more lip :-)

Re: New Zealand school tossed its playground rules

#72

Post by aunty_helen »

patrickdavey wrote: post #70
mattchamb wrote: post #15

Before people say that this school will get sued, it is useful to know that this school is in New Zealand. Because of the way our healthcare system works, we cannot sue for personal injury here [1]. >Because of the wide range of help available from ACC after an injury, you can’t sue for personal injury in New Zealand, except for exemplary damages. This applies to overseas tourists too. [1] http://www.acc.co.nz/about-…

ACC is possibly the best thing about NZ, and most surprising. For example, you can go hiking (tramping as they call it here), fall down, break a leg... and ACC will fly out a helicopter to get you, bring you to the hospital, patch you up and send you on your way. All at no cost to you. As OP said, this counts for anyone on NZ soil, regardless of nationality. Keeps lawyers at bay. It's great. I know of friends in the…

'All at no cost to you.' Really? the 400$ a year I pay for my motorbike rego that goes straight to ACC is no cost to me?

(I do think it's a pretty good system however)

Re: New Zealand school tossed its playground rules

#73

Post by zhte415 »

mathattack wrote: post #63
forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #19

Am I the only one that looking at what the kids are doing in the pictures consider it totally normal? In Spain we used to do way more dangerous things than those. And it was risky, one of our friends died in the river jumping over a slippery stone and hitting his neck with a stone while falling backwards. I have to say he was pretty nuts and was in constant danger everywhere. Another friend is in wheelchair after jum…

I recall climbing up our 2 story middle school's roof to look for tennis balls that we accidentally hit up there. I can't imagine that happening today. Same with climbing up our house's drain pipe to let ourselves in the 2nd floor window. And the list keeps growing.

I love the memory of 'recalling' balls. Mainly footballs. Terraced by terraced houses, it was not unusual to scale a 10 foot brick wall (leg-up from friends) - getting back was the hard part.

Exiting the school gates to walk up the road (because the particular wall was unscalable, or there were dogs) was uncomfortable: "Ding-dong [at the front door of the neighbouring house]. Please Sir, may we have our ball back?" where a usually polite person would visit their back garden to return a football'.

And climbing on the roof of a Victorian structure where sand-brick was weathered sufficiently over a century of school children climbing up it to provide nice pockets and footholds.

Is this seriously not the case today? I'm only in my 30s...

Re: New Zealand school tossed its playground rules

#74

Post by madaxe_again »

forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #19

Am I the only one that looking at what the kids are doing in the pictures consider it totally normal? In Spain we used to do way more dangerous things than those. And it was risky, one of our friends died in the river jumping over a slippery stone and hitting his neck with a stone while falling backwards. I have to say he was pretty nuts and was in constant danger everywhere. Another friend is in wheelchair after jum…

Yeah, times have changed.

I went to school in the UK, Germany, Hong Kong, Chicago - mostly boarding school in the UK.

When I was a kid (5-13), our principal form of entertainment was "go outside, do whatever". This usually entailed building fortresses out of junk, which usually involved deep excavations, traps that could actually kill (sash weights suspended in a tree, with tripwires, anyone?), and construction high up fir trees with "found" supplies. We used to go boating (on this neat lake full of totally lethal floating islands of rotted vegetation), unattended, and nobody thought anything of us taking a pile of unexploded mortars from the school fireworks show and sticking them in a bonfire. 7 year olds. Smart enough to know to run like hell and lie behind a dip in the land.

People got hurt all the time, with everything from broken bones to cuts and grazes to the occasional airgun pellet in an unfortunate place. The school matron was a very busy woman.

Once a year, the school had an organised "paddock war", in which everyone would arm themselves with whatever they could lay their hands on (cricket bats, improvised clubs, slingshots, etc.), and go beat each other senseless. Not sure this is quite the same picture, but it was a very effective way to get the pent-up aggression of 250 7-13 year old boys out in a single sitting, and not something that would happen today.

The headmaster, an old submarine captain, used to take a group of the older (10+) boys out on a ramble into the woods, always to a new spot, and would then just either leave us there, with our task being to get all of us back unscathed, or play hunter-killer games. Retrospectively I have a feeling he was actually sneaking off to have a drink in the woods, but it was a great experience.

Every single person with whom I played at that school is an entrepreneur. Every single one takes risks, wins, loses, and while their weltanschauungs vary hugely, from liberal to authoritarian to conservative to socialist, there's a common thread of willingness to try anything - that anything can be done - so long as one is willing to attempt it.

The same school is now co-ed (no bad thing, but has been used as the "reason" for change) and has done away with the outdoor play, having replaced it with a sterile, monitored, playground.

And we wonder why people are increasingly sheltered and closeted, with increasingly small worlds, with increasingly small sets of symbols with which to associate, and increasingly small ranges of thought.

We took away childhood and replaced it with a life of infantilism.

Re: New Zealand school tossed its playground rules

#76

Post by ars »

forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #19

Am I the only one that looking at what the kids are doing in the pictures consider it totally normal? In Spain we used to do way more dangerous things than those. And it was risky, one of our friends died in the river jumping over a slippery stone and hitting his neck with a stone while falling backwards. I have to say he was pretty nuts and was in constant danger everywhere. Another friend is in wheelchair after jum…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/K_selection_theory

Humans are moving even stronger toward the K. People used to have many more children than they do now, and infant mortality was worse.

On top of that (for the child) taking a risk was worth it - if you didn't do really well, you did really badly.

These days things are more "even", a basic level of survival can be had easily, there is no reason to take big risks. The rewards for risk taking are more in terms of luxury than basic life.

Re: New Zealand school tossed its playground rules

#77

Post by watwut »

madaxe_again wrote: post #74
forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #19

Am I the only one that looking at what the kids are doing in the pictures consider it totally normal? In Spain we used to do way more dangerous things than those. And it was risky, one of our friends died in the river jumping over a slippery stone and hitting his neck with a stone while falling backwards. I have to say he was pretty nuts and was in constant danger everywhere. Another friend is in wheelchair after jum…

Yeah, times have changed. I went to school in the UK, Germany, Hong Kong, Chicago - mostly boarding school in the UK. When I was a kid (5-13), our principal form of entertainment was "go outside, do whatever". This usually entailed building fortresses out of junk, which usually involved deep excavations, traps that could actually kill (sash weights suspended in a tree, with tripwires, anyone?), and construction high…

"Every single person with whom I played at that school is an entrepreneur. "

That one is more about you and your selection of friends. Your whole generation is not composed of entrepreneurs although they all played freely.

Re: New Zealand school tossed its playground rules

#78

Post by collyw »

NamTaf wrote: post #47
_hnwo wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would, because I've seen what happens when kids fall off their bikes and hit their heads on the pavement. :(

Agreed. IMO helmets are one of those treatments against a low-likelihood, high-consequence risk. The treatment also comes at very little inconvenience, so it's a no-brianer (pun not intended) to choose to do so. Banning kids from riding bikes around cars? I can understand why that's considered a bit too overprotective, but helmets to me seem like a common-sense method of resolving a significant risk with insignifican…

You can learn to fall / jump off a bike properly as well. Watch some videos of dirt jumpers, despite doing backflips, a lot of them go without helmets.

Re: New Zealand school tossed its playground rules

#79

Post by madaxe_again »

watwut wrote: post #77
madaxe_again wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, times have changed. I went to school in the UK, Germany, Hong Kong, Chicago - mostly boarding school in the UK. When I was a kid (5-13), our principal form of entertainment was "go outside, do whatever". This usually entailed building fortresses out of junk, which usually involved deep excavations, traps that could actually kill (sash weights suspended in a tree, with tripwires, anyone?), and construction high…

"Every single person with whom I played at that school is an entrepreneur. " That one is more about you and your selection of friends. Your whole generation is not composed of entrepreneurs although they all played freely.

To a degree, true, although what wasn't clear from the above, admittedly, was that I'm a child of the 80's. I was fortunate to go to a school during those precious formative years in the late 80's/early 90's which refused to comply with the growing culture of pandering to parents' irrational media-driven fears. I didn't select my classmates!

Most of my generation did not play freely. I would go home from school holidays and attempt to muster neighbours/random local kids/friends into going for an explore/insane expedition into the local wasteland/abandoned buildings/woods/caves/whatever. Very few takers, and my mother got no end of "your child is a ne'er-do-well trying to lead my Johnny astray".

Re: New Zealand school tossed its playground rules

#80

Post by seestheday »

mrottenkolber wrote: post #10
sigzero wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had boxing matches in High School.

Any permanent injuries? This stuff is quite dangerous unless performed with disciplined caution. I would not want to observe kids boxing (ouside a boxing sports club). Hit the throat. Bad day.

Got anything to back up your statement?

Everything fight I've seen between two willing participants (not bullying) is that it isn't really very dangerous. I'm 36 and I still love to spar. I do it with boxing headgear, a mouthpiece and gloves now, but when I was young my friends and I always used to fight for fun with no gear. Sometimes it was fists only. Sometimes grappling, kicks, punches. Sometimes it was with hockey sticks. The worst that ever happened was a few bloody knuckles, busted lips or black eyes. When friends or brothers are fighting you know that you should stop if you punch someone in the throat or drop them in any other manner.

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