Playground Safety

Boys and girls usually love playgrounds – they enjoy the swings, the slides and the other rides, cope with challenges and meet friends. But a playground is more than just fun and socializing. Like any outdoor activity and game, playing in a playground offers many benefits to children’s healthy physical and mental development. The playground offers boys and girls an opportunity to expend energy, develop their imagination and confidence, practice physical and motor actions such as jumping, running and climbing. Physical activity while playing outdoors and in nature may help children develop a strong body and meet important developmental milestones for movement and physical development. The playground is also a place where children may explore, grow and learn, test boundaries and develop social skills alongside social connections, through enjoyable playing.

It is the job of parents in the playground to mind their children constantly so that they do not end up injured from playing and climbing on rides. You have great responsibility: from choosing the playground, accompanying your children to the rides, standing by or near them and making sure no strangers approach them. It is also your function to guide them step by step on how to play on each ride.

Preparing children for playing in playgrounds

• Set your children the boundaries for playing in the playground. To encourage their cooperation, it is better to tell them "you can play anywhere inside the fence" rather than using a stressful sentence such as "be careful, you are not allowed to go far!"
• Explain to them which rides they can play on because they suit their age.
• Tell them to stay way from moving swings and roundabouts.
• Explain to older children that they mustn’t push, particularly when they are on rides, and instruct them to behave carefully with children who are smaller than them.
• Explain the rules of playground behavior in advance. For example, they are not allowed to eat during playing. When you come to the playground, the early preparation may help children cooperate.
• Make sure with your children that they know that if they see any unfamiliar object, they mustn’t touch it (such as a bag on a bench). They mustn’t touch animals such as dogs either without permission from their owners.
• Tell your children to report to you immediately any stranger who talks to them.

Parental supervision and safe playing in the playground

• It is very important to be near your children and maintain eye contact with them throughout their time in the playground to make sure that they are playing safely.
• Make sure that your children go on rides that suit their age.
• When children get on a ride, particularly for the first time when they are not familiar with it, it is a good idea for you to guide them on the correct way to use and play on it. For example, they should sit on a swing rather than stand on it. When it slows down and stops, they can get off it, rather than jumping off when it is swinging high or fast. On roundabouts, children must sit or stand and hold onto a suitable railing and not let go while it is rotating or jump off before it has come to a complete stop.
• It is a good idea to help children develop motor skills such as climbing, jumping, strengthening their pectoral girdle and more by playing on playground rides. For example, climbing a slide’s ladder is a good opportunity to teach them to climb correctly and safely, hand over hand and foot over foot.
• Remember that a sense of achievement (such success of climbing, for example) is valuable, but it’s completely natural for boys and girls to be scared of unfamiliar rides or new actions or ones that they aren’t used to. If you see that your child is scared, it’s a good time to reassure them without forcing them into anything, to avoid antagonism on their part.
• In any case, it is desirable to avoid putting them in high places that they cannot reach unassisted.

Defective rides

All playground rides, whether made in Israel or imported, are supposed to be regulated by the Standards Institution of Israel. The local authority in whose territory the playground is located is responsible for maintaining the site and rides and is supposed to inspect it periodically to make sure there are no malfunctions in rides, such as due to weathering or vandalism by children or adults. But even if there is a sign confirming that a playground is standard compliant and has not passed its next inspection date, remember that a playground is a dynamic place that is subject to changes at the everyday level because children play there all the time. This means that you as parents also have a responsibility to check the rides and their surroundings personally before letting your children climb onto and play on them. It is important to make sure that the ride is not wet to prevent any danger of slipping, and that there are no tree branches or stones or parts that have broken off the ride itself.

If you identify any defects such as a broken or rusty ride, if parts of a ride are about to fall off, or if the edges of the rides are sharp or are missing parts, such as rungs of a slide ladder, this may cause an arm or a head to get stuck in the resulting gap. It is important to keep children off a defective ride, and to call the municipal 106 hotline to report the defect you have identified.
It is important to pay attention to the temperature of the rides too, to make sure that each ride is pleasant to the touch and dry.

Recommended clothing for a playground

It is a good idea to dress your children in comfortable, light and loose clothing so that they can play freely, such as clothes made of supple footer or cotton. It is important to make sure that the clothes they wear have no loose threads, tears or anything that can snag in rides. Make sure, particularly on hot days, that clothes are not too thick or made of cloth that can heat up to prevent overheating, which may result in dehydration. Also make sure that shoes are laced up properly and cannot become undone and fall off during playing. It is also worth tying back long hair so that children have an unobstructed field of view.

Food in the playground

Many parents tend to bring snacks, sandwiches and drinks to the playground. But it is important to keep children from eating during play or movement because it may cause asphyxia. So what should you do? Between games, offer your children a break, sit with them on the lawn or on a bench, and they can go back to playing after a light meal. Note that in the playground, boys and girls expend a lot of energy and sweat, so it is important to get them to drink plenty of water, not just on hot days.

Possible injuries in the playground

Playing outdoors offers many benefits, but may also involve possible injuries, for example, from exposure to sunlight, heat and dehydration, stings and other preventable conditions.

Written with the assistance of Beterem - national center for child safety and health