Posted on 07/20/2011 9:17:32 AM PDT by Kaslin
Eliminating towering monkey bars, tall slides may be safer, but it can keep kids from conquering fears
When seesaws and tall slides and other perils were disappearing from New Yorks playgrounds, Henry Stern drew a line in the sandbox. As the citys parks commissioner in the 1990s, he issued an edict concerning the 10-foot-high jungle gym near his childhood home in northern Manhattan.
I grew up on the monkey bars in Fort Tryon Park, and I never forgot how good it felt to get to the top of them, Mr. Stern said. I didnt want to see that playground bowdlerized. I said that as long as I was parks commissioner, those monkey bars were going to stay.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.msnbc.msn.com ...
Same thing happened to my brother back in 1959, broke both arms after jumping out of the swing set backwards. Never occured to my parents to sue the school.
Fort Tryon Park was one of my hangouts.
We forgot to close the schoolbus door, and inadvertently imprisoned hundreds in traffic. We closed the door and all other drivers were free at last.
You sure zoomed me with that one. In defense, the last time I was in a school bus, they didn't have stop signs interlocked to the door opener.
You nailed it with that comment. Totally tagable....
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