New safety laws for kid stuff

[Cicero]

Cars are dangerous. We ride in those all the time.

[Sundae]

I was talking to Mum today about witches' hats. A really exciting playground staple until they were banned for being dangerous. She had no idea what I meant until I described it verbally and sketched it out in the air with my hands. Then she remembered them, but only from her own childhood, not that they were banned during mine.

Here is one in a foreign place.
My apologies, you can't embed - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=F9_lZbjTsIM
Here is another from the fifties, the standard UK hat is in the background from 0.05


It's a conical device balacing on a central pole with a plank seat surround. Looks great. Looks harmless and safe with an ickle babba on it. Rises and dips slowly and serenely.

Now, imagine it is not quite so well balanced. Imagine you are a skinny child, standing on the seat (you were actually supposed to sit on the ones I grew up with, the seats were low) and there are other heavier, more boisterous children spinning the ride, and weighting it down in peculiar ways, so that you are plunged down one second and then lifted wide-eyed into what feels like the sky the next.

Yes, I loved it. I sincerely mourn its passing.

But I do appreciate that some children were probably hurt on it/ by it. My tough old parents, born during the war/ the war's aftermath would have accepted a playground injury. But the world moves on from that. Although perhaps not for foreigners

[glatt]

I haven't seen a playground merry-go-round since I was a kid. Even full sized swings are very hard to find. I know of only 2 full sized swing sets in my county, and they are old.

[DanaC]

I used to love the Witch's Hat! But...they were probably the exception to prove the rule on unnecessary caution.

And I am sure they lifted that roundabout from Queen's Park in Bolton! It's frakking identical.

[Aliantha]

Nothing with lead based dye or paint is acceptable for sale here.

We still have plenty of thrift shops.

[glatt]

Oh sure, we outlawed lead based dye and paint too, but China still sent it to us. So now you have to get an independent approved lab to verify there is no lead in your products. That is what is effectively stopping the sale of anything but products made by large manufacturers with deep pockets.

[Aliantha]

We have that issue here, but there's a consumer watchdog set up to catch the people who import these types of things before or very shortly after they hit the shops.

I'm sure there's plenty that still get through, but they're mostly sold at what you might call flea markets etc where there's less likelihood the government will find out where their product comes from.

Fortunately these are the places that are patrolled the most. Some of these products are incredibly dangerous, especially for children. Take the case of bindi beads as an example.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by glatt

I haven't seen a playground merry-go-round since I was a kid. Even full sized swings are very hard to find. I know of only 2 full sized swing sets in my county, and they are old.

Our neighborhood was built about ten years ago, and the local playground has a merry-go-round. Mr. Clod actually injured himself with it (he tripped while running alongside it.) I don't know what you mean by a full-size swing set, but in this same park the pole that the swings hang from is at least ten feet off the ground. But the ground is covered with that sissy mulch...

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I don't know what you mean by a full-size swing set, but in this same park the pole that the swings hang from is at least ten feet off the ground.

This is what I consider to be full sized. Most of the swings around here are for toddlers and have chains that are maybe 3 feet long.

[glatt]

typical swing set around here:

[Aliantha]

We have those merry go round type swings here. My boys love them...and the younger kids usually think it's great when Aden and Mav make them go faster and faster.

[Clodfobble]

Yeah, you just live in pansy-ville. We've got lots of dangerous stuff still available. A plastic rock-climbing wall that goes straight up, slides from about ten feet up, a huge rolling log that you are supposed to climb up and run on like the outside of a hamster wheel...

[warch]

Play pumps! One great idea and worth the risk!
Kid power turns the wheel, fresh water for all.

http://www.playpumps.org/site/c.hqLN...ewsletter2.asp

[SteveDallas]

Our local park had a metal carousel thingy, say ten years ago. About 7 or 8 it was taken out and replaced with something newer and more safety conscious. (To be fair, the old one was old and due for replacement.)

There were also some bouncy riding animal on heavy springs sticking out of the ground that disappeared about the same time. The swings, however, are still there.

[HungLikeJesus]

My school had one of those spinning things when I was a kid. Rattle snakes lived under it, and the hand bars were wrapped in razor wire. There was a 10 foot deep circular pit around the perimeter with rusted iron spikes and eight inches of human excrement in the bottom.

Because of the rattle snakes, they powered it with a giant electric motor that would sometimes run out of control and spin it at a high rate of speed, flinging fingerless kids into the cinderblock wall until it looked like a Jackson Pollock painting.

Nobody ever complained.