Hound dog
Nana's are Beautiful
Not long ago I read an article about how playgrounds have become to safe and boring for our children. Developers and cities are so afraid of lawsuits that most playground equipment is so toned down, padded, low slung ect plus all the mulch, sand padding beneath it that they're realized that children are beginning to lack in some fundamental problem solving skills that playgrounds used to help them learn.
At the time I agreed. But then it made me think of other things we now do in the name of "safety". Bike helmets, knee / elbow pads, padded bikes, new versions of car seats every year, drop sides on cribs banned (removing an infant from one that doesn't when you're short is a hazard by the way)..........on and on.
I'm not saying being safe is bad per say. But in my opinion we've crossed the line from being "safe" to attempting to wrap our kids in bubbles so no harm ever comes to them.
Probably most of us parents grew up without ever wearing a bike helmet or knee / elbow pads. I know I was thrown off my bike many a time (my own fault) with goose eggs, scraped knees and elbows. Yes I know the principal is to prevent head injuries. But banging your head, knees, and elbows were generally enough to prevent you from repeating whatever stupid stunt it was that caused you to wreck or be thrown off the bike in the first place. If not, well then there is not much protection against lack of sense. In my entire life I've seen 1 child have an actual head injury from a bike, a nephew doing something stupid because he thought the helmet would prevent him from being hurt. And in my opinion if we're going to go this far how about finding a way to ban the things from being ridden out in front of cars or in traffic? Because I don't know about others but I've nearly killed I dunno how many kids who swear, helmet or not, they can outrun my car.
Cribs? Oh, please. In all my days I've never heard of a child being harmed by the drop side. If it happened it was rare, and most likely the parents faulty assembly. Nichole had a crib that was recalled. Granted, when you assembled it the way the instructions told you to, the side didn't work properly. But the instructions didn't make sense and Nichole was used to putting together the old drop side cribs and had tossed the instructions aside and put it together herself. It worked the way it was supposed to. When she re-sold it she made certain to show the new owner how to put it up right. And like I said before, for anyone 5' tall and under and non drop side crib is a hazard. I had a hellova time getting Connor out of his crib until he learned to pull up on the side. Stupid. You don't ban all drop side cribs. You re-call and fix the ones that don't work properly.
Carseats. Now I'm anal about carseats for toddlers and infants, and I was from way before it ever became a law. I'm just as anal about seat belts in older children and adults. But this constantly changing the standard and requiring parents to constantly buy new (if they want to meet safety standards) and changing the age / weight limit......has now gone to the extreme. Yes carseats save lives. But they'll never be good enough to insure that your child will not be injured in some way nor will it save every life. In some areas they want to push it so that children under 5' are required to sit in a carseat. Um folks.....I'm under 5'. Seriously? The child is nearly grown at that point, more than apt size for the seat belts to work properly. My children were out of carseats and into seat belts by age 4, with a special attachment to the shoulder belt to keep it safe and off their necks positioned to where it goes.
And I've seen where evidently drawstrings have been banned? Huh? wth? What next shoe strings? Cuz you know kids trip over those all the time.
Accidents happen. Kids get hurt. It's awful. It's tragic when injury results in death. But most of these safety things are not out there just to keep a child safe but to prevent lawsuits in our now lawsuit happy country. Actually that is the main reason you now see all this stuff. And some of these "safety" things are not any safer than doing without. Helmets often hinder vision because parents have no clue how to size them. Carseats are only safe if you install them correctly and make sure the belts are fastened and adjusted correctly. Can't tell you how many infants we had rushed to the ER due to circulation being cut off due to too tight straps, or infants thrown out of the seat or shaken around due to the straps being too loose. I want to see what they come up with for the baby who flings themselves over the crib rail to escape, like Travis, Alex, and Aubrey. Will they next have a roof? geez
I dunno. Maybe it's because I watched generations manage to grow up just fine without all this stuff. My kids only used the car seats. Most playgrounds were not yet so safe as to be basically boring. (I'll never forget how grown up I felt finding the courage to climb the 12 ft ladder to a playground slide and actually slide down lol )
But I keep thinking kids are missing some valuable natural consequences with parents and society trying to wrap them in bubble wrap. There is safe, and there is over protecting. in my opinion we've long since crossed the line over into over protection.
Maybe I'm just showing my age.
At the time I agreed. But then it made me think of other things we now do in the name of "safety". Bike helmets, knee / elbow pads, padded bikes, new versions of car seats every year, drop sides on cribs banned (removing an infant from one that doesn't when you're short is a hazard by the way)..........on and on.
I'm not saying being safe is bad per say. But in my opinion we've crossed the line from being "safe" to attempting to wrap our kids in bubbles so no harm ever comes to them.
Probably most of us parents grew up without ever wearing a bike helmet or knee / elbow pads. I know I was thrown off my bike many a time (my own fault) with goose eggs, scraped knees and elbows. Yes I know the principal is to prevent head injuries. But banging your head, knees, and elbows were generally enough to prevent you from repeating whatever stupid stunt it was that caused you to wreck or be thrown off the bike in the first place. If not, well then there is not much protection against lack of sense. In my entire life I've seen 1 child have an actual head injury from a bike, a nephew doing something stupid because he thought the helmet would prevent him from being hurt. And in my opinion if we're going to go this far how about finding a way to ban the things from being ridden out in front of cars or in traffic? Because I don't know about others but I've nearly killed I dunno how many kids who swear, helmet or not, they can outrun my car.
Cribs? Oh, please. In all my days I've never heard of a child being harmed by the drop side. If it happened it was rare, and most likely the parents faulty assembly. Nichole had a crib that was recalled. Granted, when you assembled it the way the instructions told you to, the side didn't work properly. But the instructions didn't make sense and Nichole was used to putting together the old drop side cribs and had tossed the instructions aside and put it together herself. It worked the way it was supposed to. When she re-sold it she made certain to show the new owner how to put it up right. And like I said before, for anyone 5' tall and under and non drop side crib is a hazard. I had a hellova time getting Connor out of his crib until he learned to pull up on the side. Stupid. You don't ban all drop side cribs. You re-call and fix the ones that don't work properly.
Carseats. Now I'm anal about carseats for toddlers and infants, and I was from way before it ever became a law. I'm just as anal about seat belts in older children and adults. But this constantly changing the standard and requiring parents to constantly buy new (if they want to meet safety standards) and changing the age / weight limit......has now gone to the extreme. Yes carseats save lives. But they'll never be good enough to insure that your child will not be injured in some way nor will it save every life. In some areas they want to push it so that children under 5' are required to sit in a carseat. Um folks.....I'm under 5'. Seriously? The child is nearly grown at that point, more than apt size for the seat belts to work properly. My children were out of carseats and into seat belts by age 4, with a special attachment to the shoulder belt to keep it safe and off their necks positioned to where it goes.
And I've seen where evidently drawstrings have been banned? Huh? wth? What next shoe strings? Cuz you know kids trip over those all the time.
Accidents happen. Kids get hurt. It's awful. It's tragic when injury results in death. But most of these safety things are not out there just to keep a child safe but to prevent lawsuits in our now lawsuit happy country. Actually that is the main reason you now see all this stuff. And some of these "safety" things are not any safer than doing without. Helmets often hinder vision because parents have no clue how to size them. Carseats are only safe if you install them correctly and make sure the belts are fastened and adjusted correctly. Can't tell you how many infants we had rushed to the ER due to circulation being cut off due to too tight straps, or infants thrown out of the seat or shaken around due to the straps being too loose. I want to see what they come up with for the baby who flings themselves over the crib rail to escape, like Travis, Alex, and Aubrey. Will they next have a roof? geez
I dunno. Maybe it's because I watched generations manage to grow up just fine without all this stuff. My kids only used the car seats. Most playgrounds were not yet so safe as to be basically boring. (I'll never forget how grown up I felt finding the courage to climb the 12 ft ladder to a playground slide and actually slide down lol )
But I keep thinking kids are missing some valuable natural consequences with parents and society trying to wrap them in bubble wrap. There is safe, and there is over protecting. in my opinion we've long since crossed the line over into over protection.
Maybe I'm just showing my age.
