Another Example of Dumb Parents...

[nycemt728 49]

Black rubber mats designed to break a child's fall turn blistering hot in the summer, soaring to higher than 165 degrees, a Daily News investigation found.

Doctors at two city hospital burn units reported seeing 16 to 18 young children with playground burns a year, mostly from the mats under junglegyms and sliding boards.

"I have nightmares," said Anne Casson, whose toddler son, Will, ditched his shoes at Carl Schurz Park on the upper East Side one day last May.

"He stepped onto the black mats and was screaming hysterically," Casson said. "When I picked him up, the skin was just hanging off his feet."

NY Daily News 7/21/08

A Sole Priorty

I still cannot fathom why anyone would let their child run barefoot through a public playground. There are million things that can be stepped on (in any park anywhere) and yes, common sense would dictate that in the summertime, in the middle of a heat wave, things that are out in the sun WILL BE HOT!!! I'm glad NYC P&R is sticking to their guns and defending the mats...our playgrounds have been dumbed down enough over the years with crazy lawsuits, enough is enough. I truly feel sorry for the child, but I totally blame the parents 100 %. If they sue the city, I say the city slaps them with a child endangerment charge for not properly clothing their children.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

I'm on both sides of the argument. I can't think of anytime that I wasn't watching my kids close enough to know if they were taking their shoes off. The flip side is the material that is being used, particularly the black colored soft matting does get extremely hot and you have to balance the safety factor regardless. What if a kid simply falls and lands on their knees and hands...should their really be that much of a burn risk? Is there something else that could be used that won't retain as much heat? I know that at a couple of playgrounds my kids play at...even at moderate temperatures there are slides they cannot go on because of the amount of heat they retain. You have to balance the risk. While great in concept to have some cushioning...one safety item should not make another safety issue. I have to give one credit to kids...the radiant and convective heat that stuff must give off must be pretty wicked...I've played on artificial turf and remember that heat.

[Medic137 6]

Sometimes low tech is the best. At my condo we ripped up the asphalt on the playground and replaced it with.......Grass. Yes, by the end of the summer it was beaten down to packed dirt. It felt good on bare feet, didn't cause more than a few skinned knees, and didn't cost us anything. Same surface I played on 45 years ago.

[ny10570 745]

Medic137 thats insane!! Dirt is dirty, and kids cannot get dirty! Those mats have been blistering hot for years. Same as the black swing seats and tire swings. You flipped the swing seats, put water on the tires and stayed off the slide when they got too hot. Amazingly kids have survived and persevered through such trying times.

[WAS967 97]

Most of the playgrounds I visit with my daughter have the wood chips on top of soft dirt as padding against falls. I don't think I'd allow my daughter on those black mats either because, as ALS mentioned, what happens if a kid simply falls on their hands, knees, or face. If they get so hot that they present a burn risk, then I semi agree they need to be removed, but at the same time you have to weight the risks vs the benefits. But at the sime time I can't help but wonder if there is a better material out there for the job.

[Guest MVFD334]

Most of the playgrounds I visit with my daughter have the wood chips on top of soft dirt as padding against falls. I don't think I'd allow my daughter on those black mats either because, as ALS mentioned, what happens if a kid simply falls on their hands, knees, or face. If they get so hot that they present a burn risk, then I semi agree they need to be removed, but at the same time you have to weight the risks vs the benefits. But at the sime time I can't help but wonder if there is a better material out there for the job.

If you take away with the mats and go with chips, then parents are gonna complain when their kids are filthy and clothes get ruined. why not just go with a light colored mat that wont absorb so much heat as the black does? what ever happend to good ol fashioned sand?

[RC2389 0]

Black rubber mats designed to "break a child's fall"? My playground had pebbles.

[CAM502 6]

You know when I read this in the Post the other day only one thing came to my mind.....What FREAKIN MORON would let there kid walk around barefoot in a NYC playground?

[WAS967 97]

If people complain about "dirty" with the wood chips, then they're really gonna b**** about sand. In the end I think a lot of it comes down to people taking responsibility for their kids and what they are doing. A playground is not a daycare, the swingsets aren't babysitters. A lot of these playground injuries could be avoided by simply watching your kids and making sure they aren't doing anything unsafe.

Thankfully not all lawyers are useless. My brother in law is thankfully on the side of uncommon sense and has been an advocate for defending playgrounds from frivolous lawsuits. I fear for the day when someone is successful in suing a playground for some silly injury and all the toys disappear. God Bless America!

[helicopper 1,050]

If the mats are getting heated to 165 degrees that's too hot for anyone let alone little kids. Lawsuits are not the answer of course; perhaps some SHADE would solve the problem.

The City does have the responsibility to make sure the playgrounds are safe and parents must, as WAS said, not use the playgrounds as baybsitters. Responsibility is a two way street.

[Future Fireman 4]

When I was little, there was a playground I went to that was made of WOOD and PEBBLES were on the ground. A 'stairway' that went up to a second level had steps made of TIRES. THAT WAS IT. You fall through that hole, you fell about 5 feet onto pebbles. That was removed about 7 years ago. The whole place was destroyed about 4 or 5 years ago for a PLASTIC playground. Damn lawsuits. That was a fun playground.

Mike

[Guest MVFD334]

When I was little, there was a playground I went to that was made of WOOD and PEBBLES were on the ground. A 'stairway' that went up to a second level had steps made of TIRES. THAT WAS IT. You fall through that hole, you fell about 5 feet onto pebbles. That was removed about 7 years ago. The whole place was destroyed about 4 or 5 years ago for a PLASTIC playground. Damn lawsuits. That was a fun playground.

Mike

When I was a kid and used to go with my dad to his job with NYCHA, a few of those buildings had there playgrounds right on the blacktop.

[JimmyPFD 11]

This is a retarded issue which only exists because we live in culture where people refuse to take personal responsibilities for ther choices and actions! These are the same mats that have been used in every NYC playground since at least the 70's. And NOW it's an assue!?!

Kids are going to get hurt. Keep your kid home in a plastic bubble or watch, care and help them learn. It's your choice.

These mats burned the consept of, "black absorbs light/white reflects it" into all of our minds growing up. (pun is intended and truthful!)

Everyone should spend a day in public park or playground in a place like Canada. You would be shocked at the beauty and lack of protection....because you need to be responsible for your children.....not the personal injury lawyers and losers that make them rich at the cost of some legitamate injury; but mostly from people who are trash.

.....my 2 cents, (please excuse my spelling; my family never sued anyone for my dyslexia)

[AFD_32_4 0]

What happen to good old sand? Yes, it does require the park committee to occasionally rake it out, but it doesn't get hot, I'ts clean, it's inexpensive, It breaks there fall, and it doesn't burn.

Simple, A little work, no lawsuits, child safe. Its not that hard, and think about it, when was the last time you heard of a child being hurt at a sand beach from falls or burns?

[SageVigiles 1,194]

If you used a lightly colored mat, then everyone could see how dirty they are, and we wouldn't want that, now would we? This situation is rediculous.