Treeclimbing to be banned?

[short-circuit]

Ha! Reminds me of my risk-taking daughter... She climbed onto the roof at the High School she attends (more than once) and all hell broke loose!

DangerousBastard = dangerous daughter

[Mekk]

Schools should just put bark underneath trees like on the playground. Not a whole lot of difference between that and a jungle gym.

We were never allowed to climb trees and that didn't kill our imagination.

[slofox]

"Wrap them up in cotton wool and store 'em in a glass case" is what my old dad woulda said about all this crap...

[Number One]

when you stop kids being kids, what you achieve is a load of repressed, under-achieving adults.

AND apparently less physically developed and slightly infirm also!

Climbing trees is the shizzle - I still do it now and then when I come across a good tree.

How the hell else are supposed to teach kids to hang on properly and take risks in what is actually a pretty safe manner? Most kids don't climb too high to do themselves REAL damage and nothing quite beats scaling a knarly old tree!

[marty]

BOTs in schools Decile 5 and above are mostly made up of women.

Most of the primary schools in the Hutt have mixed age classes. The ones that don't are generally Catholic.

Really? Where did you get that stat from?

In the 2 'above D5' schools that I have chaired on the BOT, the split has been 50/50, with male principals at both.

[SPman]

"Wrap them up in cotton wool and store 'em in a glass case" is what my old dad woulda said about all this crap...

That's the teachers, right?

[Big Dave]

The Nepean river to the south-west of Sydney is a meandering, usually gentle stream that has, over the eons, cut steep ravines through the sandstone hills.
In one of these ravines is the 'Picton Weir'. Created to control the river's flow whilst a larger dam was constructed downstream, the weir has high, with steep escarpments on both sides and a reservoir of great depth behind.
A huge, moss covered slippery slope is to the front. The slope can be 'slid' on a Hessian sack and the shallow catchment pool at the base and ensuing high speed aquaplaning can cause some slight abrasions, the buzz was the second best reason we rode out there regularly.
The main attraction (not counting the girlfriends who went topless anywhere near water) was the 'Tarzan' swing that must be a contender for best on the planet.
Some brave soul had climbed a massive ghost gum and securely attached 40m of the type of rope you would see on a tug-boat, to a huge overhanging limb.
Somebody just had to climb up and get it, till we attached a grabber rope.
Then it was just a matter of climbing the steep sides, rope in hand, as far as you could 'bottle it' - grab hold and swing out over clear, fresh water, a hundred feet deep.
There was a small ledge to clear, but once done (easily), how long and how high and how far you fell were virtually limitless, just depended on how high you climbed and how long you hung on.
There were four ledges up the slope that saw most of the action: Girls, mice, men and bloody lunatic.
Most of us would leap off the 'man's platform', the more athletic dived from the rope, most attained a good altitude and then dropped into the drink as stylishly as we could. What a hoot.
Some of the best riding days. Stinking hot on the bikes though.
You can still see the moss on the slope.

[slofox]

The Nepean river to the south-west of Sydney is a meandering, usually gentle stream that has, over the eons, cut steep ravines through the sandstone hills.
In one of these ravines is the 'Picton Weir'. Created to control the river's flow whilst a larger dam was constructed downstream, the weir has high, with steep escarpments on both sides and a reservoir of great depth behind.
A huge, moss covered slippery slope is to the front. The slope can be 'slid' on a Hessian sack and the shallow catchment pool at the base and ensuing high speed aquaplaning can cause some slight abrasions, the buzz was the second best reason we rode out there regularly.
The main attraction (not counting the girlfriends who went topless anywhere near water) was the 'Tarzan' swing that must be a contender for best on the planet.
Some brave soul had climbed a massive ghost gum and securely attached 40m of the type of rope you would see on a tug-boat, to a huge overhanging limb.
Somebody just had to climb up and get it, till we attached a grabber rope.
Then it was just a matter of climbing the steep sides, rope in hand, as far as you could 'bottle it' - grab hold and swing out over clear, fresh water, a hundred feet deep.
There was a small ledge to clear, but once done (easily), how long and how high and how far you fell were virtually limitless, just depended on how high you climbed and how long you hung on.
There were four ledges up the slope that saw most of the action: Girls, mice, men and bloody lunatic.
Most of us would leap off the 'man's platform', the more athletic dived from the rope, most attained a good altitude and then dropped into the drink as stylishly as we could. What a hoot.
Some of the best riding days. Stinking hot on the bikes though.
You can still see the moss on the slope.

Tch tch tch...oughtn't to be allowed that. Someone might stub their toe!!

[FROSTY:Me]

Tree climbing was banned at all schools I attended since way back in 1992. If not to keep the trees in condition, then definitely to stop things like this from happening.

While you are quite open minded Frosty other parents will want to drop an A-bomb on the school for their kid not being supervised while tree climbing and subsequently cracking their poor little head open, or worse. Would you still be so ok with it if he'd landed just a little bit more vertical and paralysed himself or worse yet crossed himself out of the great human race?

Seems like a smart move to me. If they were to ban tree climbing full stop (as in on private property) then there is a problem. What your kid does at home under your supervision is a whole different ball park compared to what a teacher is prepared to be responsible for, and fair enough too.

wOULD i BE GUTTED -HECK YEA - Would I then want tree climbing banned-no way

[Number One]

I believe the REAL problem here is that there is basically NO supervision in 'out of class time' at schools. Seems the teachers are not really interested in having a bar to do with our little gems when that play and lunchtime bell rings!

ooo this could start me on my lunchtime bullying rant - I won't go there!

backs away from thread...

[soundbeltfarm]

It a good way to develop hand eye co-ordination, muscle strength, flexibility and balance...... maybe he should go to his technology and play a bit of Playstation like the rest of todays yoof

too true.
Im on a bot for our school and ERO are the ones that make us take down our school fort because of risk and also stop letting kids climb the trees.
But alot of it is the parents fault, it goes like this.
kid falls out of tree, tells parent, parent comes ranting at school because johnny has never hurt himself playing on his playstation, so we as the school must be in the wrong, we have board meeting and this bull shit comes up in the meeting.
a meeting with some people from sports places and sports taranaki last week.
we are finding out now that kids are not developing adequete upper body strength , ( wonder why, ) not allowed to climb anything and the school ,jungle gyms are a crock of shit., no firemans pole, tire ladders etc.

also kids dont have periphial vision now from playing games on computer and tv.
3d games but the kids eyes are looking at a small area.
dont believe me.
get kids lie them on their back hold a string with a tennis ball on the end.
anchor string directly above their eyes , then pull the ball to the side and let it go. the kid has to keep their eyes facing up at all times. and see if they can use periphial vision to spot ball and stop it with their hand.
easy eh, well
the kids could hardley do it.
the adults that were there tried it and we all stopped the ball.
this is pretty shocking.
now when they are older and ride a bike, fukn look out.

[Swoop]

Humans need risk. If we're denied it legally we seek it illegally.

Funny that 10 year olds know this but all the clowns in charge don't......

Superb. Blingo!

I believe the REAL problem here is that there is basically NO supervision in 'out of class time' at schools. Seems the teachers are not really interested in having a bar to do with our little gems when that play and lunchtime bell rings!

Damn right. The teachers need a break, away from the "little darlings" that are placed before them in a classroom in groups of thirty or more. Surely the parental guidance that has been instilled in them by the parents will mean that they are well behaved and respectful of their elders?

[yungatart]

Tree climbing was banned at all schools I attended since way back in 1992. If not to keep the trees in condition, then definitely to stop things like this from happening.

While you are quite open minded Frosty other parents will want to drop an A-bomb on the school for their kid not being supervised while tree climbing and subsequently cracking their poor little head open, or worse. Would you still be so ok with it if he'd landed just a little bit more vertical and paralysed himself or worse yet crossed himself out of the great human race?

Seems like a smart move to me. If they were to ban tree climbing full stop (as in on private property) then there is a problem. What your kid does at home under your supervision is a whole different ball park compared to what a teacher is prepared to be responsible for, and fair enough too.

With respect, that is just a big crock!
When I was a lass at primary school, tree climbing and all sorts of physical activities were encouraged. We even played bullrush for PE, along with our teacher (in full nun regalia....she was tough!)

How many kids are injured playing rugby and other 'recognised' team sports? I have yet to see a ban on them because little Johnny hurt himself.

I was a parent help on a year 8 camp a few years ago...there were many little darlings who lacked the strength, co ordination and mental toughness to complete lots of the activities available to them.
We are breeding a whole generation of wimps! Tree climbing should be compulsory!

[James Deuce]

Really? Where did you get that stat from?

In the 2 'above D5' schools that I have chaired on the BOT, the split has been 50/50, with male principals at both.

Depends where you live I guess.

Most schools around here, except Secondary schools (Public seem to be male, Private Female), have Female Principals.

One Catholic School went so far as to import a Brazilian Headmaster. They only got female applicants for a boys school.

BOTs for my kid's school has 3 blokes on it. They're all house husbands. The rest are female.

[Number One]

Damn right. The teachers need a break, away from the "little darlings" that are placed before them in a classroom in groups of thirty or more.

I should clarify my position. I don't mean to imply that I don't blame them for taking a huge deep exhale when it's lunchtime and as such wanting to relax away from said "little darlings" - FECK I couldn't do what they do.

Surely the parental guidance that has been instilled in them by the parents will mean that they are well behaved and respectful of their elders?

I concur in principle but (insert TUI ad here) there are two problems with this....

Firstly not ALL "parental guidance" is particularly useful...and second...they are just KIDS and when given an hour of free time some will use that time unwisely without sensible guidance being known to be around and about.