Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

meghanboilard.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 100 posts

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#31

Post by xattt »

seabea wrote: post #22
noasaservice wrote: post #4

Quoted post unavailable.

Yeah, as a parent of a young child, all those things are still extremely common (at least at all the playgrounds I've see constructed in the past 5 years). Many even have 10ft+ rope structures and 15ft tall slides. Sure there are more "thought games" and the merry-go-rounds won't pin and drag a child across the ground. I mostly take my child to metroparks in my area. I wouldn't be surprised if school playgrounds have…

I’ve gone to a recently constructed playground with my child over the last few years, and I was able to observe the risk assessment strategies they took as they developed.

The playground in question has a truss ladder leading up to a playground platform that’s about two storeys off the ground. Dangerous stuff for a toddler just getting the hang of the playground, and they would self-select themselves out of it. However, as they grew, so did their abilities and they climbed higher and higher.

Yes, overly risk-managed playgrounds were a thing late 90s and 2000s, but risky play structures are making a comeback.

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#32

Post by mc32 »

collegeburner wrote: post #29
chrisco255 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're still common in Chick-Fil-A, and they complement the playgrounds with family night activities for kids on certain days of the week. Chick-fil-A prob doing better than ever too.

Tbh Chick-Fil-A is the only fast food restaurant where im like "damn this slaps" not "meh its food ig". Food i actually like eating at fast food prices.

Chicken Fillet is good; but I’d hardly describe it as “fast-food prices.” Although it is fast food. It’s more like a chain restaurant prices (think Olive Garden and such).

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#33

Post by InefficientRed »

noasaservice wrote: post #4

Quoted post unavailable.

I just enumerated the playgrounds our exurb and ALL except 1 have at least one of the things you mentioned. Most have both monkey bars and swings.

The exception is a splash pad playground, so not really indicative of any sort of trend (except perhaps that our summers got a lot hotter over the last 20 years).

There are parks that do not have any playground, but those are mostly either dedicated sports fields, "adult-oriented parks" (eg the city commons), or nature-oriented parks (with trails, trees, and water). So not the sort of parks that ever had playgrounds in the first place.

Additionally, we now have some parks with natural climbing walls that you need to bring ropes to use, which is quite a bit less safe than marry-go-rounds and what-not. (I've never seen them used without adult involvement, but TBF a fall from the top would probably actually kill/seriously harm a kid).

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#34

Post by micromacrofoot »

namdnay wrote: post #2

I guess this is limited to the US? Ball pits are going strong here in Europe, they're a staple of every indoor playpark. There's a special machine for cleaning them, it looks a bit like the robot from teletubbies

I'm glad you have a machine for cleaning them. One thing I noticed in the US, even as a child, was that ball pits were filthy and musty. I don't think they were ever cleaned.

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#36

Post by Cockbrand »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #16
Cockbrand wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But… the children! Won't somebody think of the children! Oh, they did, you say? I see :)

To be honest, that thing is scary even for me as fit adult male. One little mistake and I could seriously hurt myself. Same for the children. I would be very uncomfortable letting my own child climb around on this to be honest. I would probably let it, but feel bad the whole time.

I used to play on that kind of thing in my childhood. A child can (and probably at some point will) fall down, but usually not from the highest point, but rather while climbing. Also, there's sand underneath, so the landing is somewhat softened. That said, it's still easy to seriously hurt oneself on that, but I was aware of that as a child and acted accordingly.

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#37

Post by micromacrofoot »

noasaservice wrote: post #4

Quoted post unavailable.

This is anecdotal "in my day" knee-jerk stuff... I've seen new playgrounds go up in my city and they've got monkey bars, swings, and merry-go-rounds with nets that kids can climb on.

AFAIK Kompan is the most popular playground equipment company around, and you can see all sorts of the stuff you list in their catalog: https://www.kompan.us

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#38

Post by richiebful1 »

chomp wrote: post #5
namdnay wrote: post #2

I guess this is limited to the US? Ball pits are going strong here in Europe, they're a staple of every indoor playpark. There's a special machine for cleaning them, it looks a bit like the robot from teletubbies

No, ball pits are ubiquitous at most indoor play parks here too, the author is extrapolating their disappearance from fast food restaurants, and correlating it to the 90s rumor mill. These rumors were definitely a thing, but more than just ball pits have been removed; most McDonald’s locations have had their entire PlayPlaces removed, due to the fact that people don’t sit down in fast food restaurants anymore, and al…

They've almost entirely eliminated fast food play areas in the Northeast, but I was surprised to see them everywhere in Lexington KY. I wonder why.

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#39

Post by [deleted] »

mc32 wrote: post #32
collegeburner wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tbh Chick-Fil-A is the only fast food restaurant where im like "damn this slaps" not "meh its food ig". Food i actually like eating at fast food prices.

Chicken Fillet is good; but I’d hardly describe it as “fast-food prices.” Although it is fast food. It’s more like a chain restaurant prices (think Olive Garden and such).

[deleted]

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#40

Post by Pxtl »

noasaservice wrote: post #4

Quoted post unavailable.

The playground nearest my home is brand new and has a merry go round, swings, and metal monkey bars.

And I live in Canada, which modern political discourse has decried as a communist dictatorship.

If anything, there has been a shift away from the overly-kiddy playgrounds of the late '90s/early-'00s into playgrounds that allow kids to embrace their desire for mayhem. Heights may still be disappointingly low, but otherwise there's plenty of tools for kids to spin themselves sick. One of the larger playgrounds in my city has a gigantic teeter totter that support a dozen kids crammed onto the platforms on each side, which is AFAIK a new invention. It also sports a pump track for adventurous kids on bikes.

Post reply on HN