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Is Litigation Taking the 'Play' out of Kids' Playgrounds? Susan Harding
KATU 2 - Portland, OR, May 8, 2006 In a piece for KATU 2 News in Portland, OR, reporter Susan Harding relates that, while “[m]ost adults can remember the carefree days of childhood, climbing trees and jumping from swings, often on schoolyard playgrounds,” children of today “find themselves grounded, victims of a culture of fear and injury litigation.” She reports that schools are increasingly banning such games as tag, dodgeball, and tetherball and that Portland Public Schools recently decided to remove all swings, merry-go-rounds, tube slides, seesaws, and other similar equipment from their elementary schools. “Is there real danger on the modern playground?,” she asks. Answering in the negative was one parent who expressed that “it's really the nature of childhood to take small risks and find out what they can do and what they can't do.” A child psychologist Harding interviewed agreed, citing “the rising trend of childhood obesity in defense of letting kids play like kids.”
Click to read the story and access a video of the segment.
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