Risky Business

Interesting stats from last week's Time magazine. There was a 36% decline in the number of children injured by falling out of trees who were admitted to English hospitals between 1999 and 2006. It made me recall the regularity with which kids broke wrists and arms while climbing trees when I was young. At Wolaroi, the boarding school at Orange that I attended in the early 1960s, there was a huge set of monkey bars. In the first few weeks of Term 1, new kids broke arms and wrists with regular monotony as they flung themselves like Tarzan between the bars. And there was no soft landing material on the ground. Injuries declined as the term wore on and kids became more skilled or became more wary. I think we have become very protective of children and perhaps there are many good reasons for this given the number of wierdos we all have to survive. However, lawyer driven liability concerns and endless regulation and OH&S issues and daily media doses of fear have all helped to discourage risk taking among many of us and our children. It's easier to watch a video or play a computer game. Hence the other stat from Time: There was a 35% increase in the number of children admitted to English hospitals with 'repetitive-movement injuries' commonly caused by playing video games!!!