So the other day we talked about step one: destroy any meaningful definition of Truth.
Step 2: under the pretense of the collective good, create a generation (its been two generations going on three now, actually) of stunted children who have never been allowed to learn how to take risks or do things without supervision. The result: stunted little narcissistic adults who expect to be mollycoddled and protected, first by mom and dad and then by the state; and who consider the very notion of "taking risks" or showing individual initiative as something akin to a moral evil.
Case in point, this excellent article that shows how we've destroyed children by not actually allowing them to even play by themselves.
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Neerup Egg + Rattray's Accountant's Mix
I just got my masters in landscape architecture, with a special interest in playgrounds and playscapes. I had my certification as a playground safety inspector (it lapsed a few months ago; I couldn't afford the fee to take the test again), and I worked for the #1 custom-design, community-built playground company in the US for a year. Balancing safety & independence is a big big issue. The company (which builds from scratch) has had to adjust their designs over the years, decreasing complexity to increase visibility and accessibility. Alternatives like the ones mentioned in the article are filtering in, but there's a lot of parental education that needs to happen to support them.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine; there's a whole culture of paranoia to overcome. Thank you for the insider perspective.
ReplyDeleteWe did a refurbish on an 20+ year old playground in Merrimack NH, not far from where I grew up. The newer playgrounds the company does are great, but the older ones have a lot more depth (literally) and complexity. I was working on ladders, and it took me an hour to determine that there were 3 in the structure. The next day I found a 4th. Very very cool, but creates concern because parents often can't see their kids, and the "secret" spots become hangouts for teenagers smoking, drinking, etc, which creates a bad image. Its much like when I was building houses; everyone building them how much McMansions sucked, and we all (foundation guys, framers, roofers, finish carpenters, electricians, plumbers, sheetrockers) hated them, but ultimately you build what the client wants.
ReplyDeleteHeh. Found a short documentary of the rebuild. Points out that accessibility is a big design factor now too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQenKf-4Ow8