Get two bandaids...

[Debi]

What playground equipment kicked your butt as a child?
I broke an arm on a swing.
Got a second degree burn from a slide.
How about you?

​

 

[Stevedog]

6. Definitely 6. But it had some help.

In school a bunch of us used to compete by seeing who could hang the longest. So there would be about one boy per rung all hanging there and groaning while trying to not fall off before everyone else. Then one day in a moment of desperation one boy wrapped his legs around another's waist and pulled him down. We all agreed that didn't count for hang time competition. But it also gave us an idea for a better game!

We still tried to hang on the longest but now we would wrestle our legs at the same time. Leg wrestling soon became full on kicking. Then came head butting and the high risk high reward tactic of hanging on with only one arm and using the other to grab, punch or otherwise strike each other trying to make someone else fall. Before long it was just a big free for all Battle Royale of boys pummeling each other until the last boy hung there by themselves, victorious.

I still remember being let out for recess and all the boys would make a bee line for the monkey bars. All of us running to get there, all with a single purpose in mind, yelling our battle cry of "There can be only one!"

 

[Debi]

6. Definitely 6. But it had some help.

In school a bunch of us used to compete by seeing who could hang the longest. So there would be about one boy per rung all hanging there and groaning while trying to not fall off before everyone else. Then one day in a moment of desperation one boy wrapped his legs around another's waist and pulled him down. We all agreed that didn't count for hang time competition. But it also gave us an idea for a better game!

We still tried to hang on the longest but now we would wrestle our legs at the same time. Leg wrestling soon became full on kicking. Then came head butting and the high risk high reward tactic of hanging on with only one arm and using the other to grab, punch or otherwise strike each other trying to make someone else fall. Before long it was just a big free for all Battle Royale of boys pummeling each other until the last boy hung there by themselves, victorious.

I still remember being let out for recess and all the boys would make a bee line for the monkey bars. All of us running to get there, all with a single purpose in mind, yelling our battle cry of "There can be only one!"

We had playground monitors that watched our every move!

 

[Stevedog]

We had playground monitors that watched our every move!

We had that too, and our games were eventually stopped but it took a while. At which point we found other... games. Looking back we were safer kicking each other off the monkey bars.

Have you ever heard of a Panopticon? It's a theoretical prison design where all cells are facing a central location where a guard is stationed. The idea is that a single guard can watch all the prisoners all at once. Now practically the guard can't actually watch every single prisoner simultaneously all day every day. But so long as each prisoner believes that they are constantly being monitored then they behave themselves accordingly. In theory there doesn't even need to be a guard, just the belief that a prisoner would be caught the moment they did something.

This is how I saw our playground. Sure we had monitors, but there was only a few of them and hundreds of kids spread out across the entire school yard.

 

[Debi]

We had that too, and our games were eventually stopped but it took a while. At which point we found other... games. Looking back we were safer kicking each other off the monkey bars.

Have you ever heard of a Panopticon? It's a theoretical prison design where all cells are facing a central location where a guard is stationed. The idea is that a single guard can watch all the prisoners all at once. Now practically the guard can't actually watch every single prisoner simultaneously all day every day. But so long as each prisoner believes that they are constantly being monitored then they behave themselves accordingly. In theory there doesn't even need to be a guard, just the belief that a prisoner would be caught the moment they did something.

This is how I saw our playground. Sure we had monitors, but there was only a few of them and hundreds of kids spread out across the entire school yard.

You went to a much bigger school than I did for sure! lol Or a much bigger playground area.

Now, I always liked #1 because I could make that thing whirl and eventually launch my sister into the gravel. Payback for her tattling on me so often...lol

 

[Ragnar0711]

What playground equipment kicked your butt as a child?
I broke an arm on a swing.
Got a second degree burn from a slide.
How about you?
View attachment 55721​

Never broke a bone until I was 39

 

[Debi]

Never broke a bone until I was 39

Mine was probably Karma from launching my sister.

 

[Ragnar0711]

Mine was probably Karma from launching my sister.

Oh I had my fair share of bang ups.....just lucky

 

[garnetsilver]

I avoided those things; there were too many mean kids who liked to cause pain.

 

[ozentity]

I never had a problem on equipment at the park on weekends despite us doing stupid stuff. I did break my arm and had a second elbow at school sports day. We had to spring on a board over a wooden horse, the teacher would catch you, spin you over onto your feet. I ran and sprung on the board but the teacher looked away and I crashed into the ground, breaking my forearm. I had to wait 8 hours at the hospital to set it while conscious and that was a long time for a 10 year old. I still remember the cracking sound when the doctors pulled it back into place.