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?

Just to add to @MedSchoolRat's details, it's also worth bearing in mind the need to get an infectious dose to actually be infected. 3 half-degraded particles won't affect anyone. The specificity of 15 minutes talking to someone is based on an infectious dose of around 1000 particles. Not all children lick the swings, they grow out of that pretty quickly. We use hand gel in normal times because he has a snack on the way home. A quick 99.9% alcohol spray of rails if you have a licker would work fine, but only even necessary if there's an infectious dose on the bit being licked, which is vanishingly unlikely.

We'd happily go early morning, no interest in being there when it's busy. Desperate for playgrounds to open though.

I was in the Wirral at the weekend and the playgrounds were full of kids.

We’ve 2 local parks with some playground equipment open, not fenced or taped off. People are social distancing, even with very small children. These facilities are really important for children’s health - I’ve already seen a number of studies reporting that children’s movement has decreased during the pandemic. It’s about time the playgrounds were opened again.

I wish @MedSchoolRat and @MRex could have a slot on The One Show, might help some people understand what is really worth worrying about. Not swings.

I found a park that wasn’t taped off or shut. I took my dd and met a friend with her 3 year old ds. We had a blast. We went start of this week.

No one else was there, but it was amazing. I took some lovely photos and think I will always remember it.

Is it because after being a parent for 20 years the council has relived the pain of having to push a fucking swing just when the youngest stopped needing me to do it.

Surely swings are the very worst about reproducing.

I personally think this is ridiculiuus.

We can now go to our large, v popular and busy Forestry Commission site and pay for parking (using meters that everyone else has to touch), use the toilets, get a coffee and cake at the cafe (outdoor takeaway hatch) where we have to queue etc, and the kids can climb and play on all the wooden structures dotted through the forest (which are essentially play equipment), you can sit at any of the multiple picnic and bench areas, but as soon as you get to an actual play area, it's roped off! The majority of items in them are wooden, the swings are wood with rope and they've been carefully tied up so kids can't use them.

It's completely senseless, there's no evidence of transmission, it just comes across as wanting to ensure children are impacted as negatively and for as long as possible.

And it increases inequality, because my children have a garden with play equipment, and get taken out everyday because we have a car and fuel and money for parking charges, and they get to play and be active. Children who ar ealready disadvantaged are being further made to bear the brunt unfairly. And it will have significant consequences for health and wellbeing outcomes for a long time to come.

Totally agree. This is having a huge huge toll on our kids.

I don't mind if a safety check hasn't been done on our village park (also being told that's one reason it's not open). It was perfectly fine for the 12 years of my childhood and I'm perfectly capable of spotting problems. There are big problems with our society and our attitude to risk that's only going to get worse.

Well the council park team are regularly popping by to refix (and indeed add bigger) signs telling us not to use the park/look at each other/think so I’m sure they could just check over the equipment easy enough while they were there.

It’s utter nonsense.

We went for a walk and used a car park next to a massive set of skate ramps. The skate park is locked with padlocks on the gates but it was v busy with kids and teens skateboards on all the ramps. I watched oeiole arrive and leave by jumping the fence. They had clearly been doing it for weeks. Why not just take the padlock off?!

The police have said they will not interfere in the toppling of statues for public safety reasons. I have a cunning plan

Find a park with a statue take along some ropes and few mums, practise lassoing the statue, while the police are watching you tell the kids to play on the swings, roundabout, slide etc.

Makes me sad there are now regularly queues for the good climbing trees in most local parks and wooded areas.

I've made a petition to reopen the park. I used a lot of really brilliant points made by PP on this thread and another one about playgrounds needing to be reopened as i'd never be able to word it so articulately myself.

Ive also emailed my MP

www.change.org/reopenplaygrounds

Well done op, might want to post it here too When are playgrounds re-opening? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3938094-When-are-playgrounds-re-opening

Signed and shared OP. Let's all try to get it moving!!

I've signed your petition. It is totally disproportionate considering what else is now happening for them to remain closed.

It's sad but children can cope with a few months without playgrounds to reduce risk to vulnerable people around them. Everyone is taking a hit with this virus, they will be open soon enough

They open on Saturday

The closing of parks was, in my opinion, outrageous. Even the gruffalo statue in my local woods has barriers around it, it's not even a statue you can climb/sit on and now kids lean on the barriers, so actually more contacting of surfaces than before...
The whole thing is ill thought through and children have been severely let down.

Its ridiculous. In Ireland we had strict measures but playgrounds (and the zoo) have been open for a while now. I think playgrounds etc are just very low priority for the powers that be.

@Scarlettlmc

It's sad but children can cope with a few months without playgrounds to reduce risk to vulnerable people around them. Everyone is taking a hit with this virus, they will be open soon enough

And 5 months off school And no contact with family And no contact with friends

How to raise, happy, healthy children with good social skills

In the absence of anything child-centred beyond the family home, playgrounds are an important place to let children be active children. We already had an obesity epidemic, what has 3 months and counting of no more activity than a dull daily walk done to children's health?

Playgrounds are no more hazardous than other aspects of life that were reinstated weeks ago.

I snapped when it was confirmed that my children weren't going back to school this year and it is a minimum for 5.5 months away from school and all other social/ sporting activities for them. The monotony of life is depressing them. Home school is a disaster. DS1 has dyspraxia and his physical skills are hard won and easily regressed. If an illicit trip tothe playground lifts them out of a fug of inertia and general anger with their world, the benefits far outweigh the hypothetical risk in a quiet play area. I decided not to overlook an accessible play area again.

Covid 19 is not the only hazard in the world and there is a generation of children having their needs and rights neglected by society as other age groups get other layers of normality back quicker. Thousands of children will be paying for this with their physical and mental health for decades.
More teenagers have died from suicide than Covid 19 and lockdown will have been the final straw for many of them.