Climbing frame with sheer drop

[Afraidoftheclimbingframe]

Really looking for advice on how to manage this. There are two kids playgrounds a short walk away from our house. Both have a really dangerous design: At the top of the climbing frame, next to the slide, there is a sheer drop with a climbing wall and rope attached.

My DS is an extremely active 20m old. He loves slides and is great at climbing, so he is easily able to get up to the top of the ladder on these climbing frames independently (I always stand behind when he climbs up, just in case).

The issue I have, is the sheer drop next to the slide. Until this month, DS would climb up the ladder by himself and go straight down to the slide, so I would just make sure he didn't go near the sheer drop by hovering just behind it while he went down the slide.

However, recently, he has started to wander off near the sheer drop when he gets to the top of the ladder. This is getting stressful and dangerous, because I then have to pull him back towards me (I am standing on the floor and having to reach up quite high while this happens, and I am only 5'5).

He's also started thrashing around and having a tantrum whenever I do this, as he doesn't understand the danger of the sheer drop, and why I don't want him there.

Last time this happened, I had to hold for ages him while reaching up and wait until he stopped having a tantrum before I could safely move him down off the climbing frame. I was really petrified he would move out of my reach while he was having the tantrum.

Do I just not let him use the big slide in these playgrounds until he can understand the danger of the sheer drop? It's very sad and depressing, as that seems years away, and he's perfectly capable of climbing up and using the big slide.

I have thought about complaining to the council that the design of both these playgrounds is dangerous and unnecessarily excludes smaller children from being able to use a large amount of the playground equipment.

It's frustrating, because both playgrounds in the area have this set up. I don't understand why the climbing wall with rope and sheer drop can't be an entirely separate from the slide, so that it doesn't turn the slide into a death trap? Would raising this make me a PITA though?

The problem with play grounds is they need to challenge children with a wide range of physical abilities. Playgrounds should contain some risk. If there are parts of the playground not suitable for a toddler then you need to tell him he can’t use them until he is older or just use another playground.

Totally with you, OP. At my local park, there’s a big wooden climbing frame and, to one side, is a sheer drop (of over 7ft!) with a fireman’s pole. DS loved this climbing frame as there was a slide also at the top but it would always make me so nervous seeing him as a little toddler, wobbling towards the edge!

But the other playground near us has the same issue. It seems insane to have to walk 40 minutes away to a playground which doesn't have the slides attached to deathtrap sheer drops, when there are two playgrounds within 10 minutes of us.

My point is that, given these are the only public playgrounds in our area, it's not great that neither have been designed to include younger kids. Simply adding a separate large-ish slide, not linked to the deathtrap climbing frame, would mean that the playground could also cater for active toddlers.

Play equipment should exist to challenge older kids but it should be designed so the first rung to climb up is far enough up off the ground that younger ones can’t reach. And if they need help to get started on the ladder then that should indicate they’re too young for the equipment. So if he’s doing it all by himself then I agree it does sound like really poor design.

Mine is an enthusiastic climber too but at 20 months also wouldn’t have understood the drops so I simply wouldn’t have let him up there. At 2 and a half he now gets it so my rule is that I won’t ever help him (as per my point above) but he can do anything he can climb.

He doesn't need any help to get up the ladder. I just stand behind the ladder while he goes up, just in case he falls from the ladder, but he never has.

The big frames / slides aren’t designed for toddlers at all. If you feel you can’t control him you need to either stop taking him to the playgrounds and find ones suitable for toddlers, kr teach him how to be safe on them. I think at 1 your son is way too young to be going on them & you’re being massively unreasonable for even thinking of complaining.

One day your DC will be six, and then you'd be moaning if every playframe in your area was set up to cater to very young toddlers and offered no risk or challenge to an older child.

When your child is that age you have to manage the risk for them. That means not letting them on things they can't handle. It's exhausting, but that's the gig with a child of that age.

Go up the ladder with him. It will be easier to direct him to the slide.

If the sheer drop is next to the slide it does suggest bad design. However in another couple of years he will love the climbing wall bits!

That’s where the design issue is then. There’s nothing wrong with a climbing wall and they’re not sheer drop death traps and of course they should exist for older kids. A 20MO just shouldn’t be able to get up there at all.

That must be frustrating for you though, because when you tell him no, which you definitely should be doing as it doesn’t sound safe for his age at all, it’ll probably be a tantrum. Is there other equipment in the playground he can use safely? If not I’d probably just avoid it full stop for the next 6 months and kick a ball around or go to soft play instead.

You can either:

Stop going to the park

Go up with him

Call the city and aks them to install a second slide at the top

I understand the frustration as my DD was a climber too and always wanted on the bigger play equipment when she was too little for it (at 2 she was climbing up and over the net climbing frame that was far above my head) but that just means I had to be ready to catch her (I'm even shorter than you so wasn't easy) if I let her go on it. I'm still very glad they have equipment that's fun and has age appropriate risks for older children, your child will love it when he's a bit bigger but for now you either have to avoid or manage the risk yourself. Don't complain to the council, if they do anything in response it'll just be to remove the equipment which ruins the park for all the children big enough to enjoy it.

Your child is a toddler. He’s going on equipment designed for older children. Unfortunately that means you have to go on it with him to keep him safe, or not let him go on at all. The answer isn’t to remove the risk, which is ultimately not risky for the children of the age-range that the equipment is intended for. It’s really exhausting having children of this age because they can physically access equipment but haven’t got the capacity to assess risk - and both elements have to be there in order to play safely. So YABU unfortunately as he’s not the intended audience for the climbing frame.

To be fair, that equipment isn't made for a child your son's age.

My DS would want to go on everything in the playground at that age so I'd just go with him and be right behind him at all times.

If you can't or don't want to do this, don't let him on the big boy equipment yet.

Another poster suggested that I ask the council whether it's possible to put it a separate slide. That seems like a good/sensible request that I could make.

The main issue is neither playground in our area has a safe slide for younger kids, and I agree that it's not good to make the existing equipment dull for older kids. There's certainly space for an extra slide in both cases.

This thread has made me smile. Op, I'm in your boat. Only my son is a six year old with sen. He has zero understanding of danger and although he is verbal, he doesn't always respond. He's also highly unpredictable and at times can be wobbly on his feet (due to lack of focus). Play parks terrify me

It’s really crap there’s no toddler suitable park. It wouldn’t be hard for them to plonk in a mini climbing frame with little slide next to the big one. If you want to raise it with the council then that’s what I would say. I would not though complain about any of the existing equipment because it would be a real shame for the older ones if the climbing wall was replaced with a toddler slide.

I had a curious climber. You need to go up with them/ behind them and you need to talk about what they are going to do and not draw attention to what they are not to do, not in an exciting way anyway.

So up the ladder with him and talking about the slide. If he goes to look at the climbing wall, you just say that it's a way to get up, not down. You don't say "don't go near the edge," as they'll then want to look even more.

The ladder is as much an edge as a climbing wall with a rope, you won't find edge free play equipment and under 2 you need to be up there not hovering around underneath to catch them.

Ask for that, good idea, just don't mention the sheer drop feeling dangerous, just say there's a need for a slide for children too small for the bigger equipment. Hope they take the suggestion on board.

Part of the problem is trying to make a space that is suitable for under 12 years olds which is obviously a huge age range.

The council will have chosen those pieces of equipment because it's cheaper to have one combi piece than 2 separate ones. Probably received a discount if they bought in bulk as well which is why both parks have them.

Slides can be surprisingly expensive so I doubt the council will add an extra slide to a park that already has one when the money could be spent elsewhere.

Problem is, if they added a small toddler safe slide, would your son stick to that and ignore the big slide he has previously been allowed on? My daughter wouldn’t have done. She has always wanted to go on equipment she’s too small for really - wanted to go round the big soft plays at 18m and so on - I either followed her to keep her safe or didn’t allow it.

it probably isn’t long before your son will understand the drop isn’t safe and will avoid it. You already go up the ladder with him, why can’t you stay with him til he goes down the slide to avoid him going near the drop repeating each time ‘don’t go near the edge, it’s not safe’ so he starts to learn?

honestly by the time they added a new slide he’d likely be big enough for the current one anyway!

It's just logistics re: going up with him. I can follow by being a rung or two behind on the ladder going up, but there isn't room for me too also be up at the top of the climbing frame. It's then difficult for me to have full control of his safety while standing on the ladder, as he can run off to parts of the top that are difficult for me to reach.

*to (typo)

I think that's quite a common design. There are several around us like that. I always just stood right next to the sheer drop side to dissuade DD1 from going near it and so I could redirect her (or catch her!). She's 4 now and I haven't needed to hover there in quite some time, so it doesn't last too long thankfully!

I remember this stage. In our case it was a platform with a fireman’s pole.

I didn’t try going up with small climbing DC. I stood at the bottom while she climbed up, ready to catch if she fell. Then when she got to the top, I ran round the other side to remind her not to go near the drop and be there to catch in case she went near it. Terrifying.

My point of view was that if I allowed my DC to climb on equipment for older children then as a parent it was my responsibility to accept the responsibility of keeping them safe, or take responsibility for not allowing them up.

The fact you keep talking about the climbing frame as a "deathtrap" seems over the top to me.

If you genuinely believe the climbing frame is a death trap, you can't adequately keep your child safe and/or you don't want to deal with the tantrum that comes from you holding safety boundaries then you need to not take your toddler to those climbing frames.

By all means email the council about a toddler frame but you may find that your DC wouldn't be interested. Mine quickly got bored of toddler equipment.