[darkwater]

> I debate that this is possible. You can minimize the dangers (like having no solid rock underneath, but sand), but with bad luck(and skill) even a small fall can break a neck.

When you are a child you need a LOT of bad luck to achieve that (in contrast to being an adult), if the playground is properly designed.

[lukan]

True, children are fortunately really flexible and have soft bones (and heal fast). But serious injury is still possible and that rules out "no risk of permanent injury". Main danger would be probably the older kid falling on top of a toddler playing underneath. Or someone forgot a wooden stick there - and the result is a eye loss. But even under perfect clean conditions - bad injury with a fall is possible, even when falling on soft sand.

[osigurdson]

One can imagine all manner of horrors. The greatest risk is an unlived life.

[darkwater]

All of this can happen, nonetheless in a properly designed playground the worst thing that a 2 meters fall can do to a child/kid is probably a broken arm or leg. Maybe if they fall full flat on their back something worse can happen, but usually the body tends to put the bottom as the first point of contact.

[jtbayly]

Traumatic brain injuries, pretty much impossible to completely eliminate the risk of. These can be permanent and life altering. Land on your butt and roll back fast hitting your head on the wall. Done. Rare, but it happens.

[darkwater]

My subthread started with "you need a LOT of bad luck". You can have a lot of bad luck, just like people can have a lot of good luck. It's not impossible but you should not plan your life around it.

[jtbayly]

I agree!

[SoftTalker]

I think about the playground at my childhood elementary school. Swings, jungle gyms, overhead ladders, teeter-totters, all the usual stuff -- in an area paved with either asphalt or crushed stone. Beyond that was a grassy field where you could just run, wander around, play ball, etc. There were a few trees around the perimeter that got a lot of climbing.

Yes you could fall and get hurt. You learned to not do that.