14 August 2013

Giulia wants better playgrounds with "a mother's touch"

14 August 2013 | johnboy

The Liberals’ Giulia Jones is banging the drum on playgrounds:

Playgrounds are vital to the life and development of communities across

Canberra, according to Member for Molonglo Giulia Jones. Today Mrs Jones said some playgrounds are in urgent need of an upgrade and many need fences so that mums, dads and child carers can have a chance to relax whilst watching their children play.

“What these playgrounds need is a mother’s touch,” said Mrs Jones.

“Canberra has some wonderful playgrounds but not many that are fenced enough to give parents a real break.

“There are two playgrounds in Rivett that both suffer from neglect, aged equipment and peeling paint.

“The new ‘nappy valley’ of Canberra, Gungahlin, has only one small children’s park, which is situated between two busy roads with no fence and very little equipment.

“Canberra has many good children’s parks, but even the wonderful new playground at the Arboretum has no gates on the two openings of the perimeter fence which means carers are stressed about their children’s safety the whole time.

“It seems that parents have not been asked what is really needed. I think the Government is focussing on the city to the lake lifestyle pictures, but not on the lives of kids and parents in the suburbs. I think the Government could do better,” concluded Mrs Jones.

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wildturkeycanoe2:41 pm 16 Aug 13

sepi said :

A couple of calm kids 3 years apart sounds pretty easy to manage. At those ages you can get the older one to watch the younger one, or just let the older one look after themself and focus on the littlie.

Lots of people have 3 kids under 4. Some kids are well behaved, but just run like crazy. Other kids have no fear and try to surf down the slide when they can barely walk. Others like to terrorise other people’s kids.

You can’t run in two directions at once, let alone 3.

Guilia’s ‘mother’s touch’ is a bit off, but she is onto something with the fence idea. It is common in other states, why not here? Just build one, and see how popular it will be.

It isn’t so you can ignore your kids, it is so you can actually climb the slide with one of them, or lift up to the monkey bars, without the other two disappearing into the distance.

Is it up to the taxpayer to make the world “kidsafe” to suit the few people out there who are crazy enough to have multiple children at once? How on earth do these parents do the shopping? How do they even get the kids to the playground safely from the car, or from their house if they walk? Having difficulty controlling so many children at once is a lesson sorely learned, but shouldn’t be society’s problem.

sepi8:48 am 16 Aug 13

A couple of calm kids 3 years apart sounds pretty easy to manage. At those ages you can get the older one to watch the younger one, or just let the older one look after themself and focus on the littlie.

Lots of people have 3 kids under 4. Some kids are well behaved, but just run like crazy. Other kids have no fear and try to surf down the slide when they can barely walk. Others like to terrorise other people’s kids.

You can’t run in two directions at once, let alone 3.

Guilia’s ‘mother’s touch’ is a bit off, but she is onto something with the fence idea. It is common in other states, why not here? Just build one, and see how popular it will be.

It isn’t so you can ignore your kids, it is so you can actually climb the slide with one of them, or lift up to the monkey bars, without the other two disappearing into the distance.

beedlebum8:57 pm 15 Aug 13

It’s ok folks, they’ve been steadily removing the fun – I mean dangerous bits – from parks for years: the Weston Park Mouse House and tree houses; the ‘highwire’ and swing at the Kambah ‘Adventure’ Playground; the big slide at Wanniassa Shops…in my local park they even removed the low-hanging branches so you can’t even climb the trees.
You could probably leave your kids there all day and be reasonably confident that they wouldn’t hurt themselves…

wildturkeycanoe8:34 pm 15 Aug 13

peebus said :

miz said :

Looks like wild turkey has never had the experience/responsibility of taking several children of differing ages to the park at once, on his own.

Actually I think his comment was incredibly well justified. If your children are too much to handle out in public together, maybe teach them how to be.
My mother coped just fine with 2 young children at the park when I was a wee-chap. Why’s that you ask? Its because I was disciplined as a child – I knew right from wrong, and as a result she was able to take me out in public without having a breakdown like many of the parents on RiotAct seem to have.

Soooo wrong you are. 3 children, approx. 3 years apart in age. I have enjoyed and still delight in taking them to the park, from when they were in strollers until now when they can almost go to the park without supervision. I’ve been to parks all over Canberra and elsewhere in rural N.S.W. I have never had to run after any of them because they decided the road was a more interesting place than the slippery dip, statue or maze of rope netting. Even though they went different directions sometimes, they were insecure enough not to leave sight of me or each other, probably because they were told not to leave my sight. No, I didn’t crack a whip or smash skulls to imprint this. I just told them the realities of what might happen should a stranger snatch them or what a moving car could do if they ran out in front. If you can’t handle two unrestrained children under 4 years of age in a public space without the need for safety barricades, then you have a serious issue that shouldn’t be the responsibility of the taxpayer to rectify. Positive parenting [whatever that is] and a bit of discipline, combined with actually spending quality time with your kids at the park instead of sending emails on your i-phone, is what children really need. Fences aren’t the answer.
Perhaps Giulia shouldn’t worry so much about the lack of fences, rather, to make a bold assumption [as seems so popular on Riotact] with her own and husband’s full time jobs taking up so much of that “quality time”, should we be concerned at who IS looking after the runaway kids?

justin heywood8:17 pm 15 Aug 13

poetix said :

What annoys me about the OP is the idea that a mother can automatically design playgrounds. What?

Crude populism.

What annoys me is the idea that parents can design/train their kids to be ‘well behaved’. Some kids are wilder than others despite their parent’s best efforts – it doesn’t necessarily mean that the parents are lazy or don’t care. Conversely, a well behaved child is not necessarily a ‘beaten’ one. You get the child that comes out, and there’s only so much you can do to change their nature.

Parenting is a tough job. I was the complete expert on it until I had my own.

Henry828:05 pm 15 Aug 13

“a mothers touch” seriously?

Someone buy Giulia a can of paint if it means so much to her.

poetix7:42 pm 15 Aug 13

What annoys me about the OP is the idea that a mother can automatically design playgrounds. What?

Crude populism.

peebus7:41 pm 15 Aug 13

miz said :

Looks like wild turkey has never had the experience/responsibility of taking several children of differing ages to the park at once, on his own.

Actually I think his comment was incredibly well justified. If your children are too much to handle out in public together, maybe teach them how to be.
My mother coped just fine with 2 young children at the park when I was a wee-chap. Why’s that you ask? Its because I was disciplined as a child – I knew right from wrong, and as a result she was able to take me out in public without having a breakdown like many of the parents on RiotAct seem to have.

magiccar97:34 pm 15 Aug 13

sepi said :

Wait til your 10 month old is 2 and can run, and your 3.5 yr old is hanging off the edge of the slide by one fingernail, while the 2 yr old is running for the road as fast as they can, and then tell me a fence wouldn’t be helpful.

If you have 2 or 3 little kids then you really can’t take them anywhere close to a road and let go of them.

If you can’t handle your kiddies… don’t have them! I’d suggest buying a turtle… much cheaper, better behaved, and much much easier to catch if heading for the road!

miz7:00 pm 15 Aug 13

Looks like wild turkey has never had the experience/responsibility of taking several children of differing ages to the park at once, on his own.

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