Controversial Push To Remove Monkey Bars From Playgrounds

This popular playground equipment is about to become the next victim of the fun police, but are monkey bars really too dangerous for our kids?

Monkey bars are set to be removed from playgrounds around Australia after child healthcare experts claimed that they are one of the leading causes of injuries in young children The Daily Mail reports. With emergency rooms crowded enough, it was found that there has been a 41% increase in hospital presentations as a result of injuries sustained on monkey bars prompting the push to have them banned.

No Longer Appropriate

Despite efforts to improve monkey bar safety, including a reduction in the height of the equipment to 2.2m and the softening of the surface beneath, Professor David Eager from UTS, chairperson of the committee looking into the ban, still believes they will need to be phased out in favour of space nets and spider webs.

Speaking to The Age, Mr Eager said, “Monkey bars were ok when I was a kid 60 years ago, but they’re not an appropriate form of play equipment. Most councils and schools have been pulling them out and replacing them with spatial nets, but not as quickly as we would like.”

Ban Is Ridiculous

In a segment on Today about the ban, most people were vocally opposed to monkey bars disappearing from our playgrounds. Some of the comments included:

“Just ban everything stick our kids in a bubble wrapped box with an ipad for the rest of their lives… ”

“Let’s take away a source of fitness and exercise for kids. Let’s replace it with recharging docks and more apps so our younger generation can contribute to child obesity figures. We have all done things as kids that may have been questionable and may have caused an injury, but it’s these life experiences that we learn from.”

“Why don’t we just stick them in a glass cabinet and just look at your kids that way they will never endanger themselves…boring. Life comes with ups and downs, its called resilience. You’re not doing the kids any favours by wrapping them up as you won’t be here forever to look after them”

Safety Gone Too Far?

Monkey bars have been a playground staple for so long that we can’t help wondering if this is safety gone too far. After all, can we really wrap kids in cotton wool forever? Climbing a tree or taking a gymnastics class could be just as dangerous, with the potential for similar injuries. However, we think it is the unsupervised, incorrect usage of monkey bars that makes them a culprit in children’s upper limb injuries. It’s a difficult one, but we’re pretty sure most kids will still find a way to injure themselves at the playground even with a monkey bar phase out.

Do you think monkey bars should be banned to prevent injury? Let us know in the comments.

112 Comments

- - rovermum said
  - 30 Oct 2019
    9:02 am
Kids can and do hurt themselves everywhere. Let them be kids and experience the fun and exercise of play equipment.

- - amanda76 said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    2:17 pm
Kids can hurt themselves on any play equipment. Friction burns from a slippery dip, jumping off a swing as kids do, so many different things. We cant ban everything. I have no problem with monkey bars, as mentioned in other comments, children do need to be supervised.

- - ThisIsMe said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    1:41 pm
I’m not a big fan of them as they are quite high and can get hurt but as a parent you need to supervise your kids on things like this especially if they are young. Even though I don’t like them much my kids still go on them and when they were younger I just used to stand under them ready to catch if they weren’t strong enough. I think too many people ruin things for kids these days – let them continue on their iPads instead of leaving them out and about and see what happens

- - shanika said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    11:47 am
My kids really love monkey bars.Play grounds accident can happen anywhere not only the monkey bars.

- - lwcarden said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    10:58 am
We have really got to the ridiculous with removing things which enable our youngsters to have plenty of exercise and build their muscles and enjoy the fresh air. Children are going to fall from lots of places, if you remove the monkey bars then they will fall from the spider webs or similar. From what I have seen the spider webs are far taller than the monkey bars and I have been wary of letting my children go too high on them.

- - ceelicious said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    9:55 am
Monkey Bars are so good for kids! They build strength and agility, hand/eye coordination, and are just a lot of fun! That would be very sad if they are banned… political correctness gone crazy, worrying more about legal costs than our children’s health!

- - mom152736 said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    9:34 am
these are so good at building stamina and muscles and hand-eye coordination and quick reflexes. kids need them.

- - laurafil said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    7:32 am
I used to love playing on the monkey bars as a kid. Great for kids to work on their upper body strength especially as they are growing, as well as to have fun. Anything these days can be a potential hazard, my daughter chipped a tooth just tripping over her feet at home! Would be sad to loose the monkey bars from playgrounds

- - MisChip said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    7:18 am
Find safer ways to include monkey bars in play equipment.

- - mom147477 said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    7:11 am
This is sad news and our kids are already missing out on so much with so many rules and don’s.
Upper body strength is so important and there are risks everywhere – supervision in the playgrounds is really the key.

- - mom322089 said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    6:53 am
Risky play has so many benefits and if we really think about it….accidents can happen anywhere – even just tripping over a rock.
- Ellen replied
  
  29 Oct 2019 , 8:44 am
  Exactly ! I don’t even need high heel to trip over my toes 😉
- - happymum2018 said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    6:52 am
No way this is what I had when I grew up and I’m still fine I think it’s not worth even discussing, no

- - Ellen said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    4:58 am
Crazy ! My youngest ran on the pavement, fell and grazed her knee ? Maybe I’ll better keep her inside between the pillows, then she can’t fall….

- - Mummyofone77 said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    4:35 am
SOon our kids will be in bubbles

- - ~Loui~ said
  - 29 Oct 2019
    12:30 am
Oh dear, anything can be a potential hazard. Monkey bars are an important piece of play equipment. Being able to cross to the other side of one is a rite of passage.

- - silvertaranis said
  - 28 Oct 2019
    11:57 pm
My kids always play on the monkey bars and no broken bones or accidents and my oldest is 13. My 8 year old broke his arm stopping a soccer ball. Should we ban all sports now because of something that may happen? I would rather them be outside doing something active that being inside sitting like a couch potato.

- - mom290396 said
  - 28 Oct 2019
    11:55 pm
How are children going to develop upper body strength? Running on pavement can cause kids to trip and hurt themselves, will we get rid of all pavement too? Or grass? That’s slippery when wet. Utterly senseless

- - mom67303 said
  - 28 Oct 2019
    11:06 pm
Too far. We have gotten to the point of helicoptering and bubble wrapping. Kids need to learn about risk and consequences plus if they werent so tied up in technology instead of playing with dirt and climbing trees then monkey bars would not be an issue.

- - jenniw said
  - 28 Oct 2019
    10:35 pm
If we take away every toy or piece of equipment that might cause an injury we are not allowing kids to learn how to not get hurt, how to take calculated risks and gain confidence. I think is crazy to ban monkey bars.

- - mom69828 said
  - 28 Oct 2019
    10:07 pm
So ridiculous! My son fractured both his wrists earlier this year when he fell from monkey bars, but we still go back & play on them. I’d much rather him learn that he’s breakable & not invincible when the consequences are less… as opposed to say, driving a car!