Its very important to have your health, and be safe in life, otherwise theres really not that much to look forward to. But sometimes I wonder if its gone too far.
When I was a kid there was a huge jungle gym in my school. It seemed huge at the time, at least 3x the height of an adult, but its gone now. It came complete with firemans pole about half a metre out from the main structure, which I could never quite bring myself to slide down. It wasn’t the sliding down part that scared me, it was the necessity of jumping from the platform out to the pole. I never quite had enough confidence for that leap across.
Anyway the awesome jungle gym is gone – even the huge obstacle course that ringed the school field has been demolished. Out of health and safety concerns. And what do they put in its place? Brightly coloured plastic creations, low to the ground, harmless and safe.
Nobody wants their kids to get hurt, the schools, councils and families don’t, I get it. But personally, I think its part of being a kid to get hurt. You fall down, you get up again, you continue, you’ve learnt something. Why are they trying to make life so tame?
I think its sad that they’re trying to sterilize kids, protect them from every little possible thing that could go wrong, wrap them up in cotton wool, so to speak. How is a kid supposed to learn anything when all the potentially bad choices are taken away from them? No wonder kids get bored. Theres nothing outdoors to challenge, excite and stimulate them. No wonder they turn to computer games.
No comments:
Post a Comment