Public sandpits are always a risk but they are no different to the beach.

All that and you’re kids are still likely to hurt themselves. Safety, rules, being careful…..all handy but will never completely stop kids from being hurt in playgrounds

I am more likely to sing with my little one at home not in the playground.

I sorry to sound rude but I did find parts of this article strange …”Summer is a time when children have greater opportunities to explore their environment. The weather motivates them to enjoy the sun, and they are not obligated to spend time in the classroom and on homework assignments.” Gosh we don’t live in America where they have summer break.

“Oftentimes, many playgrounds will have signage posted around the equipment, indicating which parts are designed for smaller children and which parts aren’t. ” Personally I am yet to see this.

“There are playgrounds out there that have sandpits where kids can spend their afternoon playing and digging in the sand, but these often don’t get covered up at night so it’s a good idea to encourage your child to keep their shoes on in the sandpit, you can also take the time to investigate and dig through the sand yourself. Sandpits can often have glass, spiders or – yikes – sometimes needles in them, so you might save yourself a lot of grief if you take a quick look for yourself.” Personally I feel for person safety that shoes should remain on throughout the visit, with the exception of at the end maybe taking off to shake out dirt etc but then its straight back on. Also leaving shoes on in a sand pit is going to protect their feet but also does nothing to protect their hands etc. I do not like sand pits at all, even if you rack through the sand your self you still can’t eliminate the bacteria and germ factor.
Thanks for sharing your article though.

Regarding reading the signs, many parks ban dogs or require dogs to be on a lead. Many people not only ignore these signs but do not pick up after their dog. You need to teach your child not to approach a dog unless the owner is present and not to pick up dog poo.

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  • • deb_gs replied
    • 17 Sep 2016 , 7:09 am

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  Also, the playground in the park looks great – where is it located?

also check the temperature of ANY play equipment before you let the kids get on. Some things gets SOOOO hot in summer especially slides

Great comments – and whoever takes the children to the playground must watch the children and not be distracted by a book or their phone.

One issue have when I take our children to the playground is the little ones trying to do what the older ones can do safely. i have a 9 year old boy who will not listen when I explain to him that his 4 year old brother and other even younger children will want to try to do the same things. It can be difficult for a parent of 2 or 3 children of different ages to watch all of them 100% of the time in a large playground. Sometimes I cut short the length of playground time if my eldest one will not comply with our rules to protect both his own brother and smaller children. To make matters worse the eldest one knows I can’t physically catch his as I can’t run and takes advantage of it when I try to stop him getting on equipment the other side of a large playground.

Shoes always stay on and I stay close to my daughter

Shoes always stay on when at parks and a general safety check.

Whenever I took my daughter to a playground, I pretty much hovered because older children could be rough and sometimes would not let her have a go unless I was with her.

Good tips.
When I go with my toddler to the play ground I like to go to an enclosed playground which isn’t too big so I can oversee it easily. When I take my older kids as well I always warn them to watch their behaviour as toddlers see them as example and copy them.
We go together, we leave together, we play safe, we give the right example and always include.