We're going to have to see some ID before we can let you kids play dodgeball...
This article, Vestal lawsuit could put dodgeball on trial is from my local paper. To summarize, a 7 year old girl got hurt (fractured arm) playing dodgeball in gym class and now her parents are suing. They trotted out an "expert" witness who said that dodgeball was not an appropriate sport for children younger than 4th grade.
Wow.
I won't bother commenting on the absurdity of all this, because there's just way too many tangents to cover. Though it does give me an excuse to share some pics.
Take a look at this swingset....
It's located in a park in my hometown, some of you folks should recognize where. I played on that swing when I was a kid, my mother played on that swing when SHE was a kid... and yes, those are my daughters playing on the swings.
That swing set is about 15-18 feet high, with METAL chainlink attached to METAL seats. And as you can see from this picture...
It sits up on a small hill, that drops off a couple of pretty steep feet in the front. You know what's coming next.
When my friends and I played on that set we'd egg each other on with "higher!... Higher!....JUMP!"
And, So we did.
I'm also willing to bet most of us are still around to tell the tale and share the experience with our kids.
Just in case we didn't darwin ourselves out of the gene pool on the swing set, there was always (my favorite) the giant slide.
Big.
Metal.
And baking all day in the summer sun. (Notice the blinding glare in these photos?)
You risked life, limb and several layers of skin from your backside if you dared to attempt it in shorts. But first you had to climb up to the top (a good 20 feet in the air) on the metal GRATE rungs of the ladder. Which gave you plenty of distance to build up some serious speed before you went flying off the bottom, feet or bottom first into the dirt.
And yes, I know my daughters are wearing shorts in these pictures. Even after several disjointed 'rides' down the slide which were punctuated by the SQUEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK of their little legs on metal hot enough to fry an egg, they were very upset when I announced it was time to leave.
They adjusted their wedgies, and pouted all the way back to the car.
Do you think they build playgrounds like this anymore? Of course not! Do you know why? Go back to the top of this entry and read the linked article.
Notice I didn't tell you the name of the park. I don't want someone to come along and ruin our fun in the name of 'safety' (aka litigation).
Comments
If my family had been as suit happy as some families are today, we would never have had to pay an ER bill when I was growing up! We were young, we were immortal and invincible and constantly looking for ways to prove we were right! We took our lumps in the form of cuts, bruises and the occasional broken bone but it never occured to us to sue anyone because of our poor judgement. Too bad people today can't be counter-sued on the basis of stupity!
Posted by: Luke | November 21, 2004 12:26 PM
OK, I'd get it if dodge ball was bad because the bullies / cool kids would gang up on the little / uncool kids. Happened in my school, and I felt bad about it. To say it's bad because kids fall down!! What a dumbass. This lady should wrap her kids in bubble wrap, set them on a couch and stick her lawsuit in a safe place. Like where her head appears to be stuck.
Posted by: DanB | November 22, 2004 1:34 PM