The Dangers of Wendy Houses

My thanks to a loyal reader who alerted me to a particularly daft piece of Nanny nonsense concerning a trampoline and a Wendy House.

Scarlett Cox, five years old (far too young to have to encounter Nanny nonsense) has been "evicted" from her Wendy House by Tandridge District Council.

Scarlett was given the house for her last birthday. However, local planning officers have decreed that she can no longer use it.

For why?

Her home is in Auckland Road, Caterham, which is communal and owned by Tandridge District Council.

Her mother Nicola received a letter from the council last month saying that the Wendy House and a trampoline must be removed from the garden by July 10 on health and safety grounds.

Ms Cox is quoted by This Is Surrey Today:

"It just seems so pathetic and petty. We bought it as a surprise present for Scarlett's fifth birthday last year.

We fitted it out with carpets and curtains, and painted it in bright colours.

Scarlett was so excited when she first saw it – she almost cried with joy.

She would sit with her friends in her new house after school, and have her dinner in there."

She said her neighbours' kids used to love playing in the garden too.

"We're all being told we should get kids active and out in the fresh air, yet their play equipment is being taken away.

We four neighbours suggested to the council we could draw up a legal document saying we would exclude the council from any responsibility if there were any injuries, but they don't seem to want to know."

A spokeswoman for Tandridge District Council said:

"The trampoline and Wendy House have been placed on land which is owned by the council and should be available to all leaseholders to use.

We have not given permission for the land to be used in this way and we cannot risk anyone being injured on the land.

We would not consider a joint waiver because it would still be our land and our responsibility and open to anyone to use, which means we would be liable for any health and safety issues."

What a prison we have built for ourselves under the "benign rule" of Nanny!

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Nanny Bans Trampolines

I am gemused to read that American Nanny has become a tad vexed about the dangers of trampolines, specifically children bouncing on trampolines in their back gardens.

According to the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) children are at high risk of breaking or fracturing a bone or receiving a joint dislocation.

Really!!

I find that astonishing!

The AAP then go on to warn that most injuries result from children falling off the trampolines and from collisions when more than one child is bouncing.

Even more astonishing!

The Telegraph quotes Dr Michele LaBotz, who co-authored a new AAP policy statement on their dangers:

“Paediatricians need to actively discourage recreational trampoline use. 

Families need to know that many injuries occur on the mat itself, and current data do not appear to demonstrate that netting or padding significantly decrease the risk of injury.”

British Nanny issued a similar warning three years ago (evidently to no avail!):

"Inadequate adult supervision, several people using the trampoline simultaneously and insufficient safety equipment seems inextricably linked with injury."

Yes but kids fall over and injure themselves all the time, it's part of growing up. This is how they learn how to handle risk and failure etc.

 

However, to the rescue comes Professor Mark Batt, president of the Society for Sports and Exercise Medicine, who said that parents should also consider the health benefits of trampolines, and that the evidence from AAP was "weak" (another example of Nanny using poorly researched data to back up her prejudices):

"As a doctor who is very concerned about physical activity levels in young people, I’d be very concerned about putting off a group of children from trampolining, who otherwise wouldn’t be very active."

As ever, with anything one does (even standing up), there is a risk. However, short of lying in a cocoon wrapped in cotton wool there is little one can do to eliminate risk from our lives. Nor should we do it; as a life without risk is, in effect, a living death.

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The Dangers of Trampolines

And we're back in the room!

Sorry for the couple of days absence folks, a few matters elsewhere to attend to.

Anyhoo, my thanks to Uncle John for his recent post about London and Quadrant Housing Association (L&Q) in Lewisham.

They have a thing about trampolines, as Sharon Farmer who has erected a 14ft one each year for the past 10 years in communal gardens in Lewisham found out.

Gosh, that's quite an erection!

Anyhoo, being quick off the mark (ten years after the first erection) L&Q have just decreed that this may pose a health and safety risk; they have demanded that it be de erected.

Ten years without incident might give a clue as to how dangerous this erection (which has a safety net around it) really is.

Anyhoo, L&Q have allowed the trampoline to remain until the end of the school holidays.

So, correct me if I am wrong, if this erection is so dangerous why are they allowing it to remain up for a few more weeks?

This makes no sense whatsoever!

BTW, the kids aren't allowed to play ball games there either...what is it, a prison camp?

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The Dangers of Trampolines

Nanny likes to come out with statements on "the bleedin' obvious" at times.

Don't know why, maybe she just likes the sound of her own voice?

Anyhoo, her so called "health experts" have just issued guidance on how to use trampolines.

Now that's a useful way to spend taxpayers' money!

The "experts" have noted that people can injure themselves if they fall off a trampoline, or if they jump into a tree.

No kidding!

Therefore physiotherapists have said that equipment should be set up away from trees and fences.

Those of you who are too dimwitted to appreciate the risks of falling off one of these things, or of bouncing up into trees and other assorted overhangs, should read the advice given out by Nanny's experts:

-Set the trampoline up in hole, so falling distance is not as great
-Keep it free of fences and trees
-Ensure springs, hooks and frame all covered by padding
-Place cushioning, such as wood chips or padding around trampoline
-Children should always be supervised
-Only one person should use it at a time
-Children under six should not use them
-Do not exit trampoline by bouncing
-Remove all jewellery

Got that everyone!

Call me stupid, but isn't the above list just plain simple common sense?

As Chartered Society of Physiotherapy representative, Peta Smith, said:

"..bounce safely"

Those of you who are just too stupid to use one of these things, without a book of instructions, should visit the ROSPA trampoline factsheet.