Have I got this right - playgrounds

[edgeware]

Playgrounds in Scotland will be open from the 29th of June I believe - but playgrounds in England will stay shut until Autumn? The leaked plans for after the 4th of July seem to say they will stay completely shut?

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

It’s easy enough to give a swing a quick wipe down with disinfectant before you use it and you can make kids antibac their hands regularly. It’s not going to be fail safe but then plenty of adults (especially drunk ones) are hardly paragons of hygiene. If your kids regularly lick the equipment you don’t have to take them but quite a lot of kids don’t...

As redapplegreenapple said, who's going to clean the playgrounds? Council staff? OK in a pub garden a member of staff could oversee things but how many goes on the slide does one family get before the slide or swing is wiped down. Removes the spontaneity and some of the fun. Some parents will wipe equipment down themselves and teach their DCs to wait patiently, many won't. In a public park who decides whose turn it is next and polices that.

Touching the equipment then rubbing their eyes, younger ones putting their fingers in their mouths or sucking their thumb is the risk. One asymptomatic child wipes sweaty brow/nose/coughs on their hand then touches the equipment, there's thought to be a risk. Virus may not live on surfaces as long outdoors, not sure about that, but in a busy playground would only need to be minutes.The equipment my older ones love is a high, rope net climbing frame. Can't really disinfect that, regularly through the day at least.

I'm normally very much of the mindset that picking up a few germs and bacteria are good for my DCs immune systems! Need to be more careful at the moment though.

As far as I know, there haven't been any clusters linked to outdoor spread, or playgrounds specifically. Not sure you would even have to wipe down the equipment as UV light will greatly reduce the number of live virus. Combined with the fact that children are low risk and the risk of transmission via surfaces is low, I dont see the problem.

Playgrounds where I am are open but if they weren't by now I'm sure parents would just take matters into their own hands. Kids need to play and interact ffs.

I don’t expect council staff to wipe down playground equipment, good heavens. I just see the risks of transmission as very low via this route.

I think England is basically hoping for a strategy where we can keep non economic active children lockdown and they will prevent the spread of the virus because it suits our economic objectives that it’s kids who spread the virus. Actually when we look at countries like Germany that have opened up it’s not schools and playgrounds that have been the hot beds of infection but meat factories and places of worship but I think we don’t want facts to get in the way of our plans on covid do we?😂! (And for the record mine are pretty much past playground age but I just am not seeing the evidence that playground are super spreading places it seems only Mumsnet and the U.K. government that thinks we have yet to see a playground super spreading event that I am aware of - worldwide I mean not just in the U.K.?)

And surely most parents would carry some hand gel and just regulalry put it on their children's hands? Our local playground is still closed but the random climbing rocks couldn't be roped off in anyway so loads of children on those but we just let them take it in turns and use hand gel after.

Round here there are lots of children discovering the art of making dens and climbing trees, as well as sitting on benches (and climbing on benches!) and almost queuing up to use the same bits of grass to play and picnic on. I can’t see why if this is safe, play equipment isn’t. Or if not completely safe, why it isn’t low risk with a bit of hand sanitiser or wipes. I suppose it’s a public liability thing for councils.

People here were very compliant with lockdown but it seems that they have collectively lost their shit and decided to use the equipment. My kids are past that age and considering that it's outside I think they should have been reopened when markets etc reopened imo.

We just went and bought ropes and things, and have been in the trees making swings. We then dismantle them and take them home until next time.

Rope swings etc harder with toddlers and small babies to juggle. Playgrounds are often fenced.

I’ve just written to my MP about this - kids need to exercise.

I was looking for a petition on this but haven’t found one?

I'm fuming about this. We live in a flat with no outdoor space. Where we live in London the general park areas are full of rubbish which of course my toddler wants to touch all of it. There are a few local playgrounds we LOVE and they're very well maintained so I don't have to stress about broken glass of empty beer cans while both of children play. They are both desperate for the sensory input of sand and dirt and I'm doing what I can but FFS, I want a fucking sandpit to open!

This is guidance not the law isn’t it? People round here have cut the tape and are just using the play parks anyway. Surely the police have better things to do than arresting three year olds? Children may not have been affected much by the virus but they have been the forgotten victims of lockdown.

So if you are a child in a family with no money you:

Don’t have a car so can’t drive somewhere for a walk (Strictly speaking isn’t public transport still for essential journeys only)
Can’t play on a playground
May not have access to own green space
May not have technology to access school stuff

But if you’re in a family with money you can
Get taken to a theme park (from July)
Go on holiday abroad
Drive somewhere different and new fo a walk
Have the tech you need/access to online facilities and learning.

“But you can go to the zoo” someone said that me the other day. What, every day, with a toddler and a newborn?

I am worried that we are going to have a fight with some councils to restore amenities that were low cost or free and accessible for different ages and abilities. Their budgets have been slashed over the years and the complications and cost of making things “safe” (inverted commas because I’m dubious about some of the guidance in that respect) will be prohibitive

I’ve seen a photo on Facebook today of someone’s toddler on a swing in what looks like one of the local parks.
I’ve also seen children on the climbing frame in the little play area across the road from us.
So a lot of people aren’t following the ‘rules’ anyway.

The government doesn’t have the power to force councils across the country to open playgrounds. Each council owns and operates its own playgrounds. Just because they’re allowed to be open doesn’t mean they will be.

The council I work for has decided to keep playgrounds closed for the foreseeable future because they don’t want the liability and expense of opening them. If we open a playground we have to pay for regular cleaning and install social distancing signage etc. There’s no profit in opening playgrounds, only unnecessary expense.

People are ignoring this rule here anyway! Not many, but the taped signs on the gates are ripped off within days every time. There is always one family in there. I personally think they should be open by now. I would use common sense - if they’re busy then we will go elsewhere. Take your own hand gel, don’t picnic at the same time so the kids can properly wash hands before eating etc. I really hope they’re open before summer holidays!

The council I work for knows that people are ripping off the tape and using the equipment anyway. We don’t care. As long as it’s officially closed we aren’t liable and don’t have to pay for cleaners etc.

Let's open them ourselves. Just start using them and reclaim the spaces for the sake of our children.

@iliketallgiraffes

I'm actually in tears reading this. I have two toddlers. The park is our daily thing. It's part of a large country park so many play areas spread a big distance apart takes a good couple of hours to get around and my 3 year old cries asking to go to the park daily.

He literally refuses to go for a walk anywhere else now.

I was hoping beginning of July at the very latest. I'm so, so sick of it.

What part of the country do you live in @iliketallgiraffes ? We have an annual pass for a country park as you describe and had our fingers crossed for July too

I can understand soft play, play groups and classes being closed (though we really miss them!) but I think to open outside play equipment at the same time as salons and pubs is reasonable

I remember zoos being told they could not reopen and it seems there was a change in policy following public pressure - it could be the same here? I appreciate it's a risk that doesn't help the economy but I do also think young children are very very limited in activities at the moment especially with even play dates off the cards

I remember zoos being told they could not reopen and it seems there was a change in policy following public pressure
Zoos wanted to open because they wanted to charge entry fees and make money. Councils don’t want to open their playgrounds because they don’t make any money from them. Even if the government said tomorrow that playgrounds could open, the council I work for wouldn’t open ours because we don’t want to pay for cleaning etc.

Yes, I appreciate it's different, just that some would see it as a valuable public service

I'm really fortunate that our toddler does quite like walking (albeit not as much as she used to enjoy play dates, toddler groups etc!) and we can just about afford the odd zoo trip etc at the moment, but for some this will be extremely difficult

It is a valuable public service. Unfortunately our council doesn’t have the extra money to pay for signs, lines on the floor, screens between swings, hourly cleaning, etc. It’s not something we normally pay for and therefore not something we’ve budgeted for. Put simply: we can’t afford it.

The thing is that children are so much lower risk than the older folk in pubs and garden centres. That in itself is a major point.

The main problem my MP mentioned was they are 'high touch' environments, but the children could wash their hands after or use hand sanitiser.