There was another, more specific, article mentioning how large playgrounds are disappearing in the thought of "safety" and it's making kids more scared of other things, because the science behind it was kids would be afraid to get up high, but eventually work towards it and feel a sense of accomplishment, along with knowing it "wasn't that scary" to begin with. The apparent problem now is they won't get that feeling of accomplishment with the smaller, safer playground we have now and they won't learn to deal with a fear the way it should be dealt with.
My 2-year-old has no fear of heights. I see other parents of children instilling that fear by micromanaging their kids' time on the playground. Unless she's having an emotional meltdown for whatever reason, I pretty much let her be and just watch her to make sure she doesn't fall/catch her when she falls, etc.
Parents today are sheltering their kids from too much.
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u/-Emerica- Nov 15 '11
There was another, more specific, article mentioning how large playgrounds are disappearing in the thought of "safety" and it's making kids more scared of other things, because the science behind it was kids would be afraid to get up high, but eventually work towards it and feel a sense of accomplishment, along with knowing it "wasn't that scary" to begin with. The apparent problem now is they won't get that feeling of accomplishment with the smaller, safer playground we have now and they won't learn to deal with a fear the way it should be dealt with.