Nice people thread

vivatifosi

I remember those days. I used to bet with my friends (I was 5 at the time), that I could ride my bike closest to the wall without braking. The net result was I got closest, but cut my ear off on a particularly evil bit of pebble dashing and it had to be sewn back on. Those were the days...

Maybe the H&S people have a point...

lostinrates

vivatifosi wrote: »

I remember those days. I used to bet with my friends (I was 5 at the time), that I could ride my bike closest to the wall without braking. The net result was I got closest, but cut my ear off on a particularly evil bit of pebble dashing and it had to be sewn back on. Those were the days...

Maybe the H&S people have a point...

The whole ear :eek:?

michaels

I don't believe this for one moment - the local council is more likely to ban any parent seen playing with their children from the local parks as they are clearly a !!!!!phile...

vivatifosi wrote: »

And another where, after 20 odd years of health and safety getting slowly more bonkers, parents are having to be taught how to play outside with their children because they never did it themselves and can't cope with their kids coming in dirty.

Generali

Some health and safety is great - children's playgrounds should have soft floors for example and I should reasonably expect my bosses to provide me with a relatively safe environment to work in.

The idea shouldn't be, however, to seek to eliminate risk. It's impossible for one thing and part of childhood is about learning to evaluate risk in a reasonably safe environment.

For example, I took the Generalissimos to Cronulla and one of them fell of the climbing frame onto his head. Big cut, lots of blood, crying followed by ice cream because he fell onto a soft floor.

If he'd fallen onto concrete from about 8 feet up, the consequences could have been rather more severe.

lemonjelly

Generali wrote: »

Some health and safety is great - children's playgrounds should have soft floors for example and I should reasonably expect my bosses to provide me with a relatively safe environment to work in.

The idea shouldn't be, however, to seek to eliminate risk. It's impossible for one thing and part of childhood is about learning to evaluate risk in a reasonably safe environment.

For example, I took the Generalissimos to Cronulla and one of them fell of the climbing frame onto his head. Big cut, lots of blood, crying followed by ice cream because he fell onto a soft floor.

If he'd fallen onto concrete from about 8 feet up, the consequences could have been rather more severe.

Great post.

Playing games, & playing in general is about learning, competing & evaluating all kinds of things, including risk. How often do we hear the phrase calculated risk?

An example of risk, if I eat all that chocolate cake to myself, I may put on weight & encounter feelings of guilt (suitably counter-balanced by the feelings of immense pleasure from eating said chocolate cake!)

Plus, lostinrates is completely right. You don't teach how to play, you just do! As wittgenstein said, there are things we can talk about, & things we are shown or do.

& lastly, where is the personal responsibility here? If I take my nephews out to the park in summer, then it is my responsibility to make sure that they're safe whilst there. When they get older, it is the families responsibility to ensure they're aware enough to have an idea of what is safe & what is completely dangerous.

Kids play. It is what they do.

Oh, & if you're p1ssed out your face, don't go walking on a cliff in the dead of night...

lostinrates

lemonjelly wrote: »

. You don't teach how to play, you just do! As wittgenstein said, there are things we can talk about, & things we are shown or do.
......
Kids play. It is what they do.

Actually, thats quite imortant....its KIDS who play. They haven't had the chance to evelope so many hang ups, and self awareness....they leap and jump like loons, loving the leaping, the jumping and not being embarrassed to put on silly voices, or behave without dignity in games and play. Imaginary games and dress up is precious: for kids a ring out of a cracker is both a beautiful item in itself and can be ANY ring in the world worth as much as HUNDREDS of pounds. For us it seems to get harder and harder to pretend...and then when we do we don't think of it as a pretty ring we can get bogged down in the details. Perhaps this is why living beyond ones means is so temting....you can't imagine the cracker ring is real, but you can imagine the credit to buy a ring is real money?

I dunno. Looking back I think, in the face of concerns I now understand as an adult, that I was incredibly lucky to survive childhood, and that load of stuff could have been done to ease some things, but I also wonder if those things might have made life harder now? I wonder what the children of current children will have as safe limits? I guess there is a lot to be grateful for in not having to make these decisiond for a little person!

lemonjelly

lostinrates wrote: »

Actually, thats quite imortant....its KIDS who play. They haven't had the chance to evelope so many hang ups, and self awareness....they leap and jump like loons, loving the leaping, the jumping and not being embarrassed to put on silly voices, or behave without dignity in games and play. Imaginary games and dress up is precious: for kids a ring out of a cracker is both a beautiful item in itself and can be ANY ring in the world worth as much as HUNDREDS of pounds. For us it seems to get harder and harder to pretend...and then when we do we don't think of it as a pretty ring we can get bogged down in the details. Perhaps this is why living beyond ones means is so temting....you can't imagine the cracker ring is real, but you can imagine the credit to buy a ring is real money?

I dunno. Looking back I think, in the face of concerns I now understand as an adult, that I was incredibly lucky to survive childhood, and that load of stuff could have been done to ease some things, but I also wonder if those things might have made life harder now? I wonder what the children of current children will have as safe limits? I guess there is a lot to be grateful for in not having to make these decisiond for a little person!

Goodness yes, so true.

My friends 2 year old does all sorts, wherever he is. It is so endearing!

I love the way he bursts into song. As I love music, I wish so much I hadn't developed the inhibitions which stop me bursting into song when there may be another human being withing hearing distance of me...:o

lostinrates

lemonjelly wrote: »

Goodness yes, so true.

My friends 2 year old does all sorts, wherever he is. It is so endearing!

I love the way he bursts into song. As I love music, I wish so much I hadn't developed the inhibitions which stop me bursting into song when there may be another human being withing hearing distance of me...:o

Break down the inhibition: its good for you, both physically and emotionally.:D

Pobby

Me, I sometimes burst into song. Often caught whistling bebop improvisations, seriously.

carolt

Am I the only one who finds it works the other way? Or is just an age thing?

My v nearly 10 year old has already developed the tendency to look like she wants to sink into the floor when she sees mum and dad dancing wildly in public (esp mum, who frankly enjoys a good boogie too, and isn't really too bothered who's watching or what they might think ).

So, at a festival, we were boogieing away to Chuck Berry (yes, that one), the baby was - astonishingly, given the decibel level - asleep, middle child was grooving away too, and oldest child was casting worried glances in case anyone else spotted mum in the dark with arms flailing, wiggling away.

At some points, I do feel like the Jennifer Saunders character out of Absolutely Fabulous (minus the booze and Joanna Lumley), when I look at my Saffy of a daughter. :rolleyes:

Or is this just another stage, and do they grow out of this one, too?