by I am never at a loss for amazement when it comes to the stupidity of inane parents. It has been hot in New York City this week. The streets are hot. Sand on the beach is hot. Black rubber playground mats are hot. Those basic facts of living still do not appear to scare some parents into proactively protecting their children from running around barefoot and getting burned when that danger to life and limb is completely avoidable by invoking common sense and human decency.
Why do so many parents turn the finger of blame for their lack of common sense care for their children — like requiring them to wear shoes on a hot day — and try to blame the city for the consequences of their own bad behavior?
Parents in New York City said their children are getting their feet burned while playing on blistering hot playgrounds.
The parents and their supporters said more than a dozen children are scorched each year by hot playground equipment, particularly by black mats under jungle gyms and sliding boards. They said the city is ignoring a public health and safety issue.
Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said signs have been posted in playgrounds warning against going barefoot. He said his department was not going to remove the mats, calling the city’s playgrounds “the safest in the world.”
Everyone knows the urban core is hotter than the suburbs.
Everyone knows asphalt, dark cars and black rubber mats heat up faster in the sun than lighter-colored materials.
So do we blame the mat makers? The City of New York? Or do we rightfully blame the parents of these children that are getting burned under the non-watchful eye of their uninvested protectors?
Dr. Kate Cronan, a pediatric emergency physician at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., and a senior editor at KidsHealth.org, said in a phone interview that she had not encountered many examples of foot burns from safety surfaces, and she agreed that shoes are essential for children.
“It’s not just the mats,” said Dr. Cronan, who has no involvement with New York City playground design. “I recommend to parents that their kids need to keep those shoes on. They’ll be climbing up rungs, monkey bars, jungle gyms. To take shoes off creates a slippery situation. And I always advise that children must wear shoes, not flip-flops: they’re cute and fun, but can slip off your feet easily. That’s a recipe for a fall.”
Dr. Cronan said she had seen cases of children with red or irritated feet from walking across hot asphalt on streets, in parking lots and in driveways, but added: “You have to have more contact than just like grabbing a handle to see a burn injury from a piece of equipment. On the hottest days of the year, when those pieces of equipment are too hot, the kids tend to not even want to be on the playground for a long period. Momentary grabbing of something that’s hot shouldn’t be enough time for exposure. It’s not like touching a flame, or something that would burn more quickly.”
When will common sensibility return to parenting?
Or are we already too far down the slippery slope with a second lost generation of parents that repeatedly fail to begin to step up and own their actions and their children’s welfare while simultaneously expecting the government to protect them from every bad decision and prevent them from achieving their negligent wants and whimsies?
Can’t ever be parents fault or the state takes their kids.
Funny, Karvain! So we blame the black rubber mats for the burns and not the people in charge of the kids so the kids can stay at home and out of a deconstructing social welfare system. Ha!
The foster system burns more kids than bare feet on a black mat.
I’m sure there’s more than a fair bit of truth to that, Karvain.
As the saying goes, “Don’t Drink Bleach 🙂 It’s amazing that people with complete lack of any sort of common sense can just go ahead and procreate the way they do. It’s also a wonder that more children don’t get viciously wounded or worse at the hands of their incompetent parents. Frightening, really.
The URL in the above comment no longer works and is now :
http://goinside.com/2007/03/15/dont-drink-bleach/
Gordon —
Love that bleach article!
This “burning feet” condition is absolutely stunning! And the stupidity of these “parents” is enhanced by the media as they are breathlessly interviewed on camera about “Dangers on the Playground!” and the “melted feet” of infants are videotaped for shock and awe effect.
I just wish one of these interviewers would ask those phony parents, “Why do you ever let your kids go shoeless on a public playground in any weather?” These people want to be protected 24/7 — but they don’t want to do any of the work to get there… like bending down and putting shoes on your kids!
These people should not be allowed to have children – full stop !
I agree, Nicola! There is something very wrong with them.
Hi David,
This is really surprising when an article has to be written to warn the “parents” not to let their children out barefoot when the temperaute is 119 F.
How come??? and Why???
Is this is supposed to be the “Batman generation” parents, absorbed in fantasies…?
I am so frustrated that I could curse…so I better take off for now.
Katha —
The strange thing about these “parents” is that they appear to be at least middle class, they’re educated, they have access to healthcare, they can afford the luxury of taking their kids to a public playground… yet they seem to be severely lacking in the principles of Basic Common Sense! How did they get so lost?
I am clueless David, I just don’t know.
To top it all, blaming the city for their own ignorance?
“Shoot to kill”….
Yes, Katha, blaming the city for their own incompetence is really the ultimate galling. I’m glad NYU is standing up to them and asking the right questions.
Do this classic category parents understand how much it hurts the kid?
Can we make them realize by putting some boiling substance on their feet?
That might work faster than NYU standing up and all.
That’s a good idea, Katha! Give them a taste of their own disgrace!
David!
that photograph is just terrible! I can’t imagine what that would feel like for an infant!
It is a terrible image, Dananjay, and it makes one sit and wonder what’s wrong with these people. The father of that baby was interviewed on TV and he said when he picked his baby up from the black mat, “The flesh was dripping from her feet.” What a dad!
Nicola and I have been discussing this topic in email and I forgot to make it clear this is not a new phenomenon. Here’s what I told her:
“The burned feet thing is so fascinating because it started LAST YEAR and is now happening all over again! People have no memory or concern for the past.”
Question…Why don’t these kids have on shoes…I just thought I was missing something here.
Kayla —
The kids aren’t wearing shoes because the parents don’t think they need shoes.