A 16 girl is killed playing in the snow ...

[clumsymum]

ok, because she was using a car roof panel, etc edtc.

Now many of the schools were closed. In some cases, they were closed "because of health and safety issues", in other words, schools are worried about being sued if a child slips and breaks an arm in the playground or something.

But if that girl had been at school (albeit a school where not all of the teachers could get in or something), she would still be aliove this morning.

"But if that girl had been at school ...... she would still be aliove this morning."

Probably but not definitely?
And if an accident had happened at school resulting in a child's death then someone would be saying something along the lines of 'if the school had closed, then this child would have been alive this morning'

It is a tragedy and I can't begin to imagine how bereft the girl's family are.

But I can't see how you could blame the school.

Yes well, but not safe from walking out in front of a bus on her way home. Or are you saying teenagers should never be allowed out on their own after school hours?

The truth is that accidents happen throughout the year; they only make the news if there is an unusual element in them.

There was even a news item about a man who injured his back sledging- do you suppose that would even have got into the local news if he had got the same injuries falling off a ladder while doing DIY?

A little boy from ds's school was killed last year crossing the road- that certainly didn't make the national news.

The problem is that any outdoors accident gets reported in such detail that parents start thinking it is unusually dangerous to do outdoor sports.

Children killed in road accidents is something seen as normal = doesn't get reported = people don't feel afraid to let their children go in their cars with them.

Think of all the children who get killed in their parents' cars on the way to or from school- perhaps they would be safer if all schools were permanently shut.

(not being anti-school here, just wishing more children had more access to outdoor adventures)

Disagree with blaming the school too. It's just a very very sad accident. No one's fault per se. Teenagers do up the anti and find ways to push the potential fun factor as high as possible and it's just terribly sad that this time risktaking combined with bad luck to result in such a tragedy. I feel so sorry for the girl's poor family and friends.

Could just as easily have happened before /after school hours assuming she should even have been in class that day/time. Tragic accident but hardly the establishment's fault, that is a product of the blame culture . Remember most accidents happen in the home as that is where we spend the bulk of our time and many are preventable, this was exceptional.

The other thing to learn from this is to teach your children to roll off sledges. We tobogganed with ds (then 2.8) last New Year and got him to practise rolling off before the sledge hit whatever it was going to hit (eg a tree - he wasn't any good at steering)(dh was at the top of the short hill, I was at the bottom - sometimes ds slid sideways in the middle...) - we did this as I used to sledge on a hill with a barbed wire fence at the bottom - and we all rolled off and let the sledge/tobboggan/saucer carry on into and sometimes under the fence. I think that this is a really important skill for children to learn and understand when they should use it.

..and if the girl had stayed in bed all day yesterday she'd still be alive, or if the panel hadn't been there to be used as a sledge she'd still be alive, or if it hadn't snowed she'd still be alive.

That's a flawed argument, sorry. The school is in no way accountable for the tragedy. It was a tragic accident, nothing more.

Just noticed this. Agree with kettlechip - it;s a ridiculous illogical argument.

It's terribly sad. Having read in the paper about how many young children and families were in the vicinity, let's just be thankful no one else got hit and killed or injured.

Do you not think the fact that she used a bloody car roof as a sledge the mitigating reason why she died - WTF was she thinking using a car roof!

Aparently DH did exactly this at the same age, so obviously just a tragic accident.