I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s noticed the urban council’s collective effort to eradicate the scourge of the city – namely the humble tyre swinging from trees in quiet, leafy suburbs.
Somewhere in the last 10 years or so it seems there’s been a decision from nameless, faceless bureaucratic types to eradicate anything that might promote a sense of neighbourhood and community. In years gone by kids would get endless enjoyment out of swinging back and forth and pushing each other higher and higher, and doing exactly what today’s government wants our (apparently obese) kids to do – get outside and be active.
So sterilised have the parks and streets become that there’s ever less for these same kids to do that might distract them from the PlayStations, Wii’s and Facebook.
I assume they’re worried about a child with litigious parents grazing their knee or scratching their arm, yet the same wise heads in Government have seen fit in this same period to install dozens of “skateparks” across the city, which are not only physically dangerous and intimidating to all but a select “in” crowd, but attract exactly the type of groups you don’t want to expose your kids to. Do I have facts, statistics? Of course not – never let facts get in the way of a good yarn – but I would be willing to wager that the number of kids seriously injured swinging from an old tyre in the last 20 years would be miniscule when compared to the number injured whilst carving, grinding or kickflipping their way to the emergency ward.
It’s not that I am against the theory of providing kids a legitimate space to skate, which in itself can be good exercise, I just can’t ignore the irony of another loopy council decision.