Bringing “Risk” Back To The Playground

A movement is gaining traction among government officials and schools in the UK: Playgrounds are systematically “bringing in risk,” in the name of promoting resiliency and self-reliance. That means materials like bricks, boards, steel, and a certain amount of randomness, are replacing the plastic toys, shredded rubber and the fake rocks. It’s a movement that has sympathizers on both the left and right – the right because it’s a poke at the nanny state, and the left because it smacks of being “natural.” A number of other countries are making similar moves, but the idea hasn’t made much headway in the United States. Some attribute that to a litigious mindset and consequent fear of liability, but sources quoted in this New York Times article point to a more basic reason. American families must “find someone to blame” to cover their medical expenses, unlike families that live under a more socialized or public-funded system of health care, according to a Norwegian education professor. “In Norway,” she says, “the society has already paid for it.”