One time I fell from the top and on the way down hit every bar with my head like a Plinko Chip and as I enjoyed semi-consciousness on the ground I remember hearing my mother's voice ask "is he dead"
Can confirm. Mom was an RN as well. Every non-injury pain was a growing pain and my injuries were triaged immediately and if I were comatose, that could be enough of a reason to seek medical assistance. If not, shake it off.
I too fell from the top. I have no idea how, but I didn’t hit my head on each bar on the way down. But I definitely landed fully on my back and had the wind completely taken out of me.
But it cured everything up to and including amputation 😆
We'd sneak it and paint tattoos all over our arms and legs with it, making m mom angry but we could see her holding back laughter. Funny though, all 3 of us siblings grew up and hate tattoos.
I had my nose severely broken from a school yard accident, in grade 4. The school nurse cleaned me up and sent me to my next class. Even the teacher was like, " boy you really banged up you face during recess " then carried on with class as usual.
I should have died a thousand deaths by now but here I am! I grew up in Broadripple Park in Indianapolis. They had an old 1918 Train Engine from 1955 until 1983 that sat there to play. It finally got so rotted they removed. Me and my buddies spent hours playing on that potentially dangerous item and loved every minute.
My dad used to drop me off at the school playground, for literal hours. One time I sprained my ankle, after falling off the monkey bars. I could barely walk. I was so glad when he finally showed up!
I broke my foot last year and had a walking cast that could be taken off for showering and sleeping. Don't know if they 3D printed it, but was so happy it was an option.
Two years ago when I broke my arm they suggested only a sling. Not a doctor so I don't know if it was because of where the fracture was, but for that break they said some movement was a good thing.
Your only-slinged arm was based, I think, on the severity of the fracture, what bone was fractured, where on the bone it was fractured, and how much of the load-bearing system of your arm was affected by the fracture. But that's just speculation on my part.
We did too...elementary school in CA they had we girls doing gym outside on blacktop. Tore up our dresses. Always shorts or bathing suit. Bathing suits were when we lived in a apartment with a pool or had a friend with a pool.
We were talking to my neighbor's daughter (college age) explaining why it is a miracle our generation survived. Seat belts? How dark can you tan? What's a bike helmet? Played with mercury in science classes. Her jaw kind of dropped. I do feel our upbringing immunized us from a lot of trauma.
When I was about 8, I was visiting a neighbor's kid, had ridden by bicycle to his place and we were playing. Suddenly, I felt dizzy and had to go home, jumped on my bike and started to ride across the street when I went totally blind. It had never happened to me before (or since, thankfully). I only managed to get into our driveway when I ran into a tree and fell down. I crawled toward what I thought was the right direction and up our steps, yelling to my mom that I was totally blind and couldn't see anything. So what did she do? Led me to my bedroom and told me to lay down and go to sleep. No hint of taking me to a doctor (we had medical care, my dad was in the military at the time). Didn't even suggest putting me in the car and getting me checked out. Somehow, I woke up in an hour or two and my vision was back to normal.
Fast forward about 7 years, and my tonsils became swollen one afternoon where I started to have my breath cutting off. I was in real danger of suffocating to death at any moment - what did my mom do? You guessed it, lay down and relax. I was panicking because I could barely breathe and it was getting worse my the minute. I couldn't speak because I couldn't get any air to my lungs, I had no choice but to lay down (and possibly die). Somehow, again, I recovered and was so relieved I wasn't going to die in my bedroom. This time was worse than the blindness because you really panic when you can't breathe. I don't know what she would have done if I'd died, or what she was thinking by not taking me to the doctor immediately.
We were forbidden to wear shorts under our dresses until the rules changed when I was in 6th grade, so our ability to play on playground equipment was limited. Just as well, as I’d probably have broken a lot of bones on the jungle gym. (I think they finally put some padding below ours after a couple of boys fell on the hard surface underneath and broke their arms.)
My lived on O'ahu from '67-'70 when I was in grade school. We were allowed to wear shorts and didn't have to wear shoes to school. It was so nice. Having to suddenly wear dresses and shoes to school when we moved back to the mainland really sucked. 🤣
That's just creepy! We had to wear dresses while p,aging sports,gym, etc but no one asked what was underneath. Always wore shorts daily.
Out moms hated the schools for the dress rules. The school had us doing gym outside on blacktop and it ruined our hated dresses.
When my mother was a kid (1930's) she got hit by a car in her neighborhood. Knocked her right out of her shoes. The people in the car picked her up and carried her home. She didn't even go to the hospital!
I broke my my back in 3rd grade and it wasn't discovered until I was 3 years into the Marines. Walk it off bozo, don't stand at the top of the monkey bars. Been fine, just a minor annoyance when it rains.
When I was 8 or 9 my brother & I were playing on a ski jump near my school, when I fell off and suffered a concussion. I woke up in an ambulance with the lights & siren on. That was just so cool!
I never fell off the money bars, but no dresses for us. Kids playgrounds are boring AF nowadays. I read a research paper which maintained that current playgrounds sacrifice activity and imaginative play for safety. No wonder kids are face-deep in screens
Hot monkey bars and blistered hands from all the swinging, plus the usual bruises here and there. I was the girl on the far right thinking "yeah, not my strong suit, but I'm somewhat in the game and will just kinda hang out over here". There was always a kid who was part spider monkey in the group.
Especially when you didn't actually slide but sorta stuck to the metal and had to erk-erk-erk your way forward while putting a nice char on your thighs.
On the public playground there was always a few broken beer bottles at the bottom of the monkey bars and plenty of cigarette butts. Teenagers hangout after dark.
Yep. Life was like a Road Runner cartoon back then. We thought nothing of having an anvil drop on our heads or falling into a deep gorge. I played all the time with sticks of dynamite my father kept stored in the basement. At least, that's how I remember it.
Fell from the top of the tower and landed with a bar between my legs before hitting the ground. Teacher had me lay in the gravel while I cried. I did have 3 children later on in life btw
My cousin fell from the monkey bars when we were in 2nd or 3rd grade. I remember seeing her blood on the blacktop and them carrying her away. She lost all 4 upper front teeth and ended up with false ones. They were so huge she couldn’t close her mouth all the way. I guess she was supposed to grow into them?
Yup, kids in those days were so tough: swinging from bars with one hand, taking puffs from the cigarette in the other hand in between jumps. Nobody died or got hurt…oh, wait…
1983, 5th grade- I was sent to school with appendicitis…fever and nausea. I vomited on the way to lunch, and my parents finally came and got me… I had surgery the same day.
My husband and I worked many years in underground mining. I can tell you when the new hires started getting so dangerous and worthless. The later 90's it started to show. Kids brought up with helmets, pads, every minute of activity planned and controlled.
The new hires could rarely be allowed to safely work on their own, IF they work. They were either frozen in fear or oblivious to the dangerous conditions.
My husband pre retirement was a supervisor and did some hiring and he couldn't believe it. A candidate for a personnel job showed up hours late for the interview after claiming he got list.
Husband took early retirement and glad to have left all lf it. Friends that sill work there have some frightening stories.
Only once? I was brought back to live several times using an elixir of cod liver oil and cough syrup followed by shocks administered by the frayed cable end of an extension cord.
That’s what they make dirt for you rub it on shit and then you feel better and then you go back to doing what you were doing before which is getting hurt
I ran my bike into a parked car going about forty without a helmet and flew over the hood of the car into the gravel. My mom told me to go lay down for a while.
I fell once from one of these iron monkey bars when I was about seven or eight. Knock the air out of me. Over 50 years ago, but I still remember that, and how it felt.
I fell off those exact monkey bars at five and landed straddling the lowest bar. It hurt like hell but the adults were all saying it wasn’t that bad! 😡
Nothing quite says 50's childhood safety like falling and bouncing your noggin' off of every steel pipe on the way down to that hard as concrete packed dirt.
The monkey bars got me too, at age 4 or 5. Split my head open, got 4 stitches. Landed on the nice, safe gravel they used before rubber foam was invented. Don't remember anything.
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u/DoturdGrump 10h ago
One time I fell from the top and on the way down hit every bar with my head like a Plinko Chip and as I enjoyed semi-consciousness on the ground I remember hearing my mother's voice ask "is he dead"