Why can't children go to the park?

[Hileni]

I'm feeling so cross, can anyone show me the light on why Toddler DS can't play at the park? He can sit on a bench when we are on a walk but can't sit on a swing?

It's outside so risk of infection is supposedly lower. Yet some children are allowed back to school cooped up indoors?

All non essential shops open for people to browse round and touch everything... Indoors. But i can't push my child on the roundabout?

If mine were toddlers again I would probably climb over the fence, wipe the baby swing handles down with an antibac (&virus!) wipe then stick them in... Poor babies, it’s such a sad and simple thing to miss out on...

Give people the choice.

They don't have to let their kids use the parks if the think its unsafe.

If they open them there will be big groups of children and adults congregating - especially as other places like cinemas are closed and people don’t have many places to go.

Because Children don’t social distance
Because the virus lives on surfaces
Because more children will use the play equipment than sit on a bench
Because there are no washing facilities and children touch their faces

If you want your child to use the equipment then don’t moan if they do catch it, and children can get it

I don’t understand why people don’t just accept these are the rules at the moment, if we all abide by them then all of us get out of lockdown sooner

I’ve said this is ridiculous all along.

My 3 yo’s bedroom window looks out on to a play park and she asks almost every day if it’s open yet.

It’s so overgrown now the grass and flowers are waist height. If you ask me this, like a lot of other things, was more about cost cutting than it ever was about virus safety.

Supposedly playgrounds will be opened in Scotland as part of phase 2 (next week, if NC deems to allow it) but ours is out of action until they cut the bloody grass.

@SuperSleepyBaby

If they open them there will be big groups of children and adults congregating - especially as other places like cinemas are closed and people don’t have many places to go.

Ours is open because local parents forced the lock. No “congregating” here. Just little kids playing happily.

Come on, surely it's obvious?? If parks are open then there may be several families in there. Children won't socially distance. Plus the virus may live on the equipment and it prob won't be getting cleaned

I mentioned this on another thread... From the point of view of my council, if we officially open the playground then we are liable for any failure of social distancing and we have to shoulder the expense of signage and cleaning. If we put up a Closed sign then we are not liable. If you tear down the tape or lift your kids over the locked gate then the consequences are not our fault. We aren’t bothered about whether your kids catch Covid - we just don’t want to be sued or fined or have to fork out.

I agree with you, OP. This is ridiculous and I am thankful that I no longer have children of the age who would want to use the playgrounds.

They should be open, as should all public toilets. The government have totally lost the plot, if they ever had it in the first place.

Children have been forgotten about, and they have also forgotten that people need access to toilets when out and about.

I always thought it would be due to the amount of different hands touching it and being unable to clean hands before moving onto the next piece of equipment n

I suspect many children would do better at social distancing than the pissed people in the pubs. No-one seems to care about children’s needs to play and to be active.

This argument about kids touching things and catching the virus simply doesn’t stand up.

If it were the case then in the weeks running up to lockdown (or before if you believe the virus has been around longer) there would have been kids and their families dropping like flies.

I think it’s also about reducing the amount of things (Opportunities to catch & spread Covid) you do.

So if you go to work, go to supermarket, pop to friends for dinner & go to a park - that’s 4 potential opportunities to catch and spread it. Whereas if you just go to the park it’s only 2 opportunities.

The government are just choosing the things which benefit them the most. Income tax, people not on benefits, people eating. They don’t give a shit about your relationships and children’s play. They’ve mainly opened schools so parents can work and disadvantaged kids get food/checked on. That’s why the park is shut.

My friend and I were just talking about this as she was telling me the debate her neighbourhood are having about opening the community pool. I honestly think we’ve got to the point where playgrounds should be opened. If it’s too much of a risk for you personally, then don’t go.

Yesterday I was in the woods near us. There’s a swing that someone ( not council) has put up and kids were queuing up to have a turn - no 2m distancing
Mind you the actual playground was open as normal

Kids playing Normally and no social distancing there either

In our community huge amounts of money were spent on the “health and wellbeing” of the residents, they razed a perfectly good if slightly naff in design 80s leisure centre and rebuilt a new one in its place to the tune of millions. Outside it are pitches, an adventure playground etc, just along the road is aN all singing all dancing BMX track, brand new, lying untouched. Next to the new swings and slides in the new play park there are those outdoor exercise machines again aimed at our health and wellbeing, again loads of (our) money spent on it and lots of fanfare about it all.

Funny how all that goes out the window so easily.

Now apparently all these places are potential death traps.

By the time they reopen them they will probably all need knocked down and replaced again... someone is making money somewhere!

If you took your toddler DC to the park, whilst no one else was there, zaflora'd before use and antibacd before and after using each piece of equipment and then a passer by starts having a go at you, what would you say to them in response?

Playgrounds staying closed so long makes my blood boil.

If course playgrounds should be opened up again. Poor kids, it’s ridiculous. Abhorrent treatment ignoring their developmental, social, mental, physical and emotional needs. The government hasn’t given children a second thought in all this.

When did it become acceptable for a society to heap the responsibility for government failings to manage this crisis (think PPE fiasco, late lockdown etc) on a specific vulnerable group and neglect their needs?

They don’t have a voice in all this. Someone needs to speak up for their rights and needs too.

Sensible parents may care not to get infected/infect others. But children can't SD, and they may bring back virus into homes. It's too risky. It's easy to say if it's a risk don't go. But those with risk within family may have children, and it will make it so difficult for them, to say they can play, but you can't. So people are saying those children who are vulnerable or have family members who are vulnerable are fine not to be able to play because it's their fault, that's tough luck?

Playgrounds aren’t government owned though. Most are owned by local parish councils who don’t want (can’t afford?) the liability of opening them.

You can’t really compare it to the shops.

As soon as the playgrounds open, they’re going to be packed. There’s no way they’re going to be empty, unless you take your kid out at 3am. Non essential shops are limiting how many people can enter the store at once. There’s no way to control this for the playground. Even if there’s a sign like ‘no more than 8 people at a time’ it’ll get ignored.

@leftovercoffeecake

You can’t really compare it to the shops.

As soon as the playgrounds open, they’re going to be packed. There’s no way they’re going to be empty, unless you take your kid out at 3am. Non essential shops are limiting how many people can enter the store at once. There’s no way to control this for the playground. Even if there’s a sign like ‘no more than 8 people at a time’ it’ll get ignored.

Like I said, the one near us is open. It’s not packed.

Get shops open. Get pubs open. Get cinemas open. Get theme parks open, get zoos open.

But deprive kids - you know the ones who don't tend to get ill and who don't tend to spread it, of the joy they get from a playpark.

Many people are getting made redundant. There won't be trips to the zoo for many kids. Or the theme parks.

If anything is going to cause a 2nd wave its pubs opening.

Not schools and not playparks.

And i know many are not opening until 4th July. But I have not seen playparks mentioned.

And we already know how little they think about the kids with the shit show that is schools reopening.