When are playgrounds re-opening?

[cantstopstressing]

Not seen any updates on this. Has anyone seen anything?

[raviolidreaming]

Hopefully no Thursday in Scotland 🙏

[raviolidreaming]

*on

[Nowifi]

No, wish they would at least make a comment on it. It's so annoying walking past and not being able to go in! Run out of ideas what to do with my DD about 2 months ago

[cantstopstressing]

Oh god, so depressing. We are out of options for our 3 boys. WTF is wrong with this government, seriously?

[Kittywampus]

Hopefully soon, children are playing together at parks, and are spending time indoors together at school, so I can't see why playgrounds shouldn't open soon.

[Nochangeplease]

I really do not understand why so many people are in favour of opening them. Maybe it’s a regional thing, but the playgrounds round my way are always busy and literally crawling with children, apart from maybe some crap small ones in estates.
Would people really want their children in close proximity with that many children, touching metal surfaces that do not get cleaned and are touched by possibly so many children a day. In some of the busier ones you’re literally talking hundreds of kids per day

[Nowifi]

I would take the risk, it's not likely to be any different now to another few months time. I guess it's down to the individual but my kid doesn't go around licking the swings etc, some probably do though

[cantstopstressing]

Yes nochangeplease, I would be absolutely fine with that. We have plenty of playgrounds near us and they are rarely/never jam-packed.

Do you realise that the risk to kids is minimal and that having no outside space to play in is really detrimental to kids?

[cantstopstressing]

And, nochange, how is that different from schools and nurseries?

[YouSetTheTone]

Nochange the risk of virus transmission from touching items is apparently low. You would literally need to pick up something that had been freshly sneezed or coughed on and then touch your eye/ mouth. I would imagine if you took your child and then squirted on some hand sanitiser when you left the park (and washed when got home) it would be fine.
Children NEED to play. Children NEED to exercise and interact with peers. Children also need to come across germs and bacteria for their immune systems - its actually quite bad for them to be closed away like this and I worry about that from a health POV.
Community transmission is now low. The risk of a child getting seriously ill from covid is lower than the risk of a child getting seriously ill from measles.
Empty play parks and no meaningful education or interaction with their peers is far more worrying to me than the potential risk of them contracting covid-19.

[OnlyFoolsnMothers]

Yes I want playgrounds open!! It’s not compulsory to go but for those of us who can understand statistics and that the risk is minuscule we would have the option. My child’s at nursery and I can go shopping on Monday so seriously why the hell not.

[GeriGeranium]

I can take my child shopping, on public transport, send them to school. None of those are as important as children getting outdoor physical play. We’re lucky and have a big garden so we’re ok, but lots of families are in flats with no outdoor space at all.
Living with covid 19 is all about balancing risks.

Yes - there’s a risk (a low one) that children catch it in playgrounds. But there’s a much bigger risk that their development and mental wellbeing suffer long term if they’re not able to play.

One of our local playgrounds does get very busy, but good grief it wouldn’t be hard to put a warden volunteer on the gate and let a limited number in at a time.

[CeeJay81]

I'd love them to open playgrounds. It's outside, so the virus is more likely to disperse from surfaces there. We are only allowed to travel 5 miles(Welsh government aren't in hurry to change this). The kids are getting so fed up and glued to video games far more than they should be. Being able to pop down to the playground/football pitch would make a difference would make such a difference to parents.

[edgeware]

It’s taking the piss now isn’t it. If they still haven’t officially opened by the time the pubs can open I’m just taking my DS anyway:

[Sandybval]

Yes I agree. We are in a fortunate position as to be able to buy a swing set and a slide, it's not the same but for those little ones without even a garden it's cruel. There would need to be some reliance on people being sensible and waiting if it was already full and some people seem to be incapable; but that doesn't seem reason enough to shut them. Use hand sanitiser when before and after and then wash hands as soon as you can.

[geojojo]

It's so unfair. Obviously there will be very cautious parents who don't want to risk it but it should be optional. At our park the main area is fenced off but there is a bit with two swings which can't be fenced off and it is always very busy. So if the risk is so high surely it's higher with more children just using these swings? My husband says they will be the last thing to be opened though as they don't contribute towards the economy in any way.

[Tholeonagain]

Sometimes I wonder if we have a twelve year old designing the lockdown lifting strategy: yes to Primark, McDonald’s and hanging around in parks in large groups, no to public toilets, schools or swings for little kids...

[Barbie222]

I think the playground decision makes parents nervous about school, I bet it's the reason why there are such low uptakes in Y1 and yR.

[Nochangeplease]

I’m not scared of risk. I understand kids are low risk and that’s why my child is going back to school next week. I’m not worried about that at all. But that will be in a bubble, not mixing with hundreds of different kids per day. Would make contact tracing impossible too to open playgrounds. This is from someone in a flat with no garden too. We’ve actually managed ok. I’m more worried about lack of social contact.
I don’t think playgrounds being shut is anywhere near as detrimental as other things. Id rather break the rules and let my kids play with a couple of friends in a park rather than go in a playground. I can’t see me feeling comfortable with playgrounds for a long time, but as I said, it may be to do with how packed our playgrounds get.

[Nochangeplease]

I’m genuinely always shocked by playground threads. So many who are worried about sending kids to school, but I’ve never seen anybody against playgrounds. I would have thought it’d be the other way round.
It really must depend on where you live. My little local playgrounds for toddlers probably do not get very busy at all thinking about it. But the sort of playgrounds my 7 year old would want to go to where we live, I’m not exaggerating when I say hundreds. Like ants

[Coolcatsandkittens]

@Tholeonagain

[aquamarine1]

Come up to Glasgow, the kids have been playing in them for the last week. I'm absolutely in favour of it - less risky than a trip to Asda!.

[cantstopstressing]

For me, living in central London with 3 energetic boys and a tiny garden, closed playgrounds has the biggest impact on our quality of lives. Coping with closed schools would be far easier if playgrounds were open. I get that leisure centres, swimming pools, museums etc are higher risk but playgrounds? Completely ridiculous. Even more annoying is that in our local playground there is an astroturf pitch which opened a few weeks ago where we would love to play football but is now overtaken with groups of up to 50 men playing football pretty much every day. Lots of people have complained but the park police and social distancing officers basically just sit and watch them - apparently social distancing is advisory only and they have no powers to break-up groups. On the other hand, if any kids dare to try to use the playground, the park police throw them out in seconds. A friend of mine tried to use the playground (the gate was open so she thought it was open) and a social distancing guy was super-aggressive and threatened to call the police and have her arrested for trespass. This is the same guy who sat all day watching 50+ men play football together. Makes me sick.

[OnlyFoolsnMothers]

I agree OP. We’ve been to the park today, my 3yr old having a melt down over wanting to go in the playground, and I have to say we still can’t when adults are playing tennis/ table football and ping pong 10feet away. Disgraceful! This country doesn’t give a shit about children!

[Spinakker]

I've got 3 boys too, 7, 5 and 1. We've found some skate parks are open. Not sure what age your boys are but they can be fun for bikes and scooters if they are able enough.