[alistairSH]

HA! First week of 5h grade at a new school, my son decided to be a "badass" and do a flip off the monkey bars, over the head of a friend. He landed badly and broke his forearm (which required a rod inserted surgically to stabilize).

He learned his lesson!

And we didn't sue, because kids can be dumbasses and will always find ways to hurt themselves. If he wasn't jumping off a 5' tall jungle gym, he'd be doing backflips out of swings or jumping from tree to tree or something else that doesn't make any sense to adults with fully developed brains.

[mlrtime]

> And we didn't sue..

You say this as a virtue, and I get it. But this shouldn't even be a possibility.

A few problems I see:

1) Very few people take personally responsibility for their choices [kudos to you]

2) Someone always has to be at blame, there can't just be accidents

3) Scrupulous lawyers looking for paydays.

4) Local governments pay out somewhat easily for accidents [see NYC]

5) Tort reform is not popular due to lobbying.

[alistairSH]

I get that, but there's definitely a time and place for lawsuits for negligent design.

Like, a two story jungle gym probably shouldn't exist. But a "normal" shoulder height version? Sure, I have no problem with that.

But I also let my son skateboard several miles across town to get to middle school, so I'm obviously crazy and a terrible parent. /s