Thank you to our friend Lenore Skenazy of Free Range Kids for bringing our attention to the above article in the La Times which addresses the hysteria (fuelled by the fear of liability and vexatious litigation) surrounding safety in public playgrounds.
To quote Lenore “How have we evolved to a society that sees splinters, blood and lawsuits every where we turn? Especially in light of my hero Phillip Howard’s contention that (according to the LA Times piece) there is no data showing an increase in playground injuries or lawsuits!
We are drunk on safety and hallucinating pink liability issues. (Elephants are too big to safely be hallucinated anymore.) Time to sober up and let kids have fun. — L.
Picture from the highly recommended Rants from Mommyland