Reply to THIS thread
Start a NEW Talkback Thread
Talkback Home

An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - A Man (27th Jan 2013 - 12:22:34) Firstly I would like to apologise to the 2 teenage girls who made me angry @ their unwillingness to move on from the 12 year olds and under playground next to the Liphook football pitch. The story... I was in the playground with 2 of my children (both under 7 years) when these 2 older children came into the playground and sat down on the swings. After making sure my 2 little children were playing safely, I approached the 2 girls and quietly asked them how old they were. They replied they were 13 & 14. So I asked them if they could both read, to which they both replied yes. So I asked them what the signs said on the fences next to the gates. They agreed it said 12 Year Olds and under. So I asked them why they were in the playground. They stated they came in here regularly and no-one had ever previously complained about it, and anyway they were only sat on the swings and would not be swinging on them. I explained to them that the equipment & playground was designed for smaller children to be able to play in a safe & secure environment. If older children played on the equipment then they would be putting a strain on the equipment that they were not designed to take. Even if the equipment did not break there and then, they would have damaged it so it was likely to break in the nearer future with someone else using it, and it could well be a small child that would get hurt. The 2 girls said they did not care about anyone else. I asked how they would feel if when they were older they took their children to the playground and whilst their children were playing the equipment broke and their children were hurt. They both agreed that they would not like that and would be angry. So again I asked them to leave the playground and not to come back. They refused to saying all they were doing was sitting on the swings and they were not swinging on them. I knew that if they did not leave the playground before me, then they would start swinging on the swings and therefore put the equipment under stresses that they were not designed for. I admit I got very angry at this stage and raised my voice quite considerably. At this stage a lady with a 2 year old came over. She agreed that older children should not be using the equipment, but also pointed out that I should not be shouting at the teenagers. She said she was a teacher of teenagers and it was their right as teenagers not to do as they were asked and to push back at the system. I agreed with her that I should not have become angry with the 2 girls and apologised to them for getting angry. However, the point still stood about the abuse of the equipment by older children. The teacher said she had no problems with them just sitting on the swings, but swinging on them was a different point and should not happen. I then left the playground with my 2 younger children, after once again apologising to the 2 girls and the teacher for getting as angry as I did. As I crossed the football pitch, to go back to our car, I looked back to see the teacher still in the playground with her 2 year old child and the 2 teenage girls swinging hard on the swings such that they were going level and even above the top horizontal beam, just as I knew they would. Once again I apologise to the 2 girls for getting as angry as I did. I should NOT have got as angry as I did.

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - lily (27th Jan 2013 - 16:57:25) Sounds to me as the girls were probably just hanging out as teens do, and minding their own business, which apparently, you couldnt mind your own business. You say you left your kids playing safely while you went and had a rant at a pair of teenage girls. Shouldnt you be minding your kids and enjoying quality time with them? Seems like ranting at the teens was a much more appealing option. Whilst your point is valid about the equipment not holding excess weight etc, dont you think thats a little petty? Even if they were swinging on the swings, i doubt they were 20 stones. As for them using the rec, where else is there for them to go? When your kids reach their age, I wonder if you would apprecite some nosey parker laying into your kids. It does seem that life must be very dull if you find it necessary to moan about something so trivial. It doesnt sound like they were creating havoc, smoking and drinking. Just a couple of girls having a chat on a swing. Come on, get a grip!

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - Jay W (27th Jan 2013 - 19:21:13) So the point of your story is? Hopefully the lovely new playground for the younger children of Liphook has been built to such a standard that it can withstand the weight of teenage children using the playground in a normal way - as they have done for as long as I can remember despite signs to the contrary. I've seen parents using the swings with toddlers on their laps, parents following their children up slides - would you also have words with them? I've seen children (probably younger than the magical 12 years) abusing the equipment and I've seen older children just using it as a place to sit and hang out. I'm sure the girls behaved as they did after you had left, as a simple act of rebellion. To me, your story simply highlights even more the need for our community to do something for the older children. Even tarting up the skatepark and making proper use of the grassed area alongside would be a start. Would save us parents having to take our children to Haslemere and Petersfield to make use of the far superior skateparks there.

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - Neil (28th Jan 2013 - 04:10:10) Those swings are made to last, I lived in liphook for over 35 years and swung on them as a kid and adult with my children. I don't think you should have any concerns and leave the teenagers alone. Maybe next time you can have a go and see what your missing. The swings in question were only installed in the last year or so. The major risk is a teenager on a piece of apparatus knocking a younger child over.

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - Jay W (28th Jan 2013 - 20:50:46) Anyone on a swing has the potential to knock a person over - not just teenagers.

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - tony (29th Jan 2013 - 16:21:59) Even though your reaction sounds a bit OTT, and to be fair you have come on here and apologised, I agree that the play area is clearly age limited for good reason and teenagers often crowd around there hogging the equipment that wasn't built for them. It isn't really fair on the little kids who are toddling around often just having learnt to walk, it's right that parents should point this out to the older kids.

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - David (30th Jan 2013 - 17:49:21) If the use of playground apparatus is restricted based on age, then I agree there is a good reason for this based on risk analysis etc. If the age is set, legislative rules are rules and if followed would stop this point ever reaching talkback. The same applies to having bikes and sometimes dogs in the fenced off playground area - it's not permitted so why do it? It's up to the parish council to monitor this and do their own ad hoc patrols. We know the playground usage is abused and if nothing is done then all that will happen is that the playground will end up the same way it did before - damaged beyond repair

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - Finchie (1st Feb 2013 - 07:31:51) Just showed this to Finchess. And she made exactly the same assumption as me. The apology was from a mother. So unless this is Anna Man or Andrea Man (sorry if you actually have that name in Liphook) it is from a bloke. I think that alone is more interesting than the original post (sorry Anna or Andrea). Wondered if anyone else made that initial assumption ? Does that make us bad people - assuming it is only Mums that take the kids to the playground ! Probably. And widening the debate even more. Is Social Media a good or a bad thing ? Danger is that it is permanent record of a "funny five minutes" for anyone in the world to see until the end of time (or until we run out of disk space because 99.9 percent or the worlds conversations are stored on a computer, mostly garbage apart from talkback). I have a big sign on my computer reminding me that when I come in after a couple of looseneers at 2am on Saturday morning, I should probably avoid talkback, Facebook etc. You may have noticed my massive drop in post count !!! @Editor - if this debate takes off, I suggest you start another thread to avoid 'Anna or Andreas' eternal embarrassment !! Happy Weekend, Cheery cheers, Finchie (c'mon England you can beat the sweaties) !

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - S (1st Feb 2013 - 13:54:38) Hi Finchie.. I showed this post to 3 other people in my house (curious whether they would have the same reaction as me, which was "wow, poor girls!"). And all made the assumption that this post was written by a woman. I don't think the assumption was made because we would assume only mothers take their kids to the park, but because it was two 13 & 14 year olds girls who were the target of a (in my opinion) very unreasonable and unprovoked, rude outburst... And that most men would probably have the common sense not to approach two young girls and behave in a way which could be percieved as actually quite agressive (since 'A MAN' himself admits he was shouting at the girls!), whereas a similar level of 'ranting' would maybe not be quite as intimidating to the girls from a woman. Personally I found this post quite shocking, and felt as though the 'apology' had only been posted here because the poster was looking for people to agree with him. I used to play at the park when I was small, there have always been teenagers there, and there has always been that unwritten rule that when small kids look like they want to play on the swings, the bigger kids would get up and go somewhere else, same thing when I was a teenager - if you see a little kid wanting to use the equipment you would move. The girls in question weren't drinking / smoking or swearing - they weren't even swinging! So massively inappropriate reaction in my opinion.

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - Eneida (1st Feb 2013 - 15:31:35) I won't comment on the content of the post...but I assumed the poster was exactly what 'it said on the tin'!! Why did some people think it came from a woman ?

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - Finchie (2nd Feb 2013 - 00:09:39) S, I think you\'ve nailed it. In hindsight, I shouldn\'t have trivialised/diverted from the actual incident. Sadly, if it was me as a teenager being spoken to like that, I certainly would have carried on swinging and flicked a few V\'s on his departure for good measure just to get another reaction, that would pass a few more hours. And I had a reputation for being a polite, engaging, rule-abiding teenager (allegedly) ! Points to the fact there\'s not much for the elder kids to do (but doesn\'t excuse anything). I guess with under 7\'s, a long time to go in the village, and teacher involvement, clearly very troubled about the incident, an apology is good and a different approach used next time ? I hope anonymity is guaranteed. Just all very odd. Cheers, Finchie

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - jo herridge (2nd Feb 2013 - 00:30:46) I assumed it was a man, dont know why i had that impression though. Also, I as a mum have often been on the swing with my son seeing if he could swing higher than me. Isnt part of the park experience interacting with them where possible not just sitting and watching them. Far more fun to have a go too :-)

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - councillor Barbara Easton (6th Feb 2013 - 16:14:34) You will be pleased to hear that Bramshott and Liphook Parish Council secured enough funding last night to enable refurbishment of the older childrens play facility at the recreation ground, the new equipment will include a zipwire.

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - Jay W (6th Feb 2013 - 20:48:04) Hurrah - at last! And will there be an age limit on that playground? I hope not - apart from hanging around the pubs (and who wants to actively encourage that?) there isn't much else for the older teens to do in Liphook after a day at school/college. Admittedly a zip wire isn't going to float the boat of all teenagers but to exclude them from this as well would be so unfair.

Re: An Apology @ Liphook Under 12 Playground - Susie (6th Feb 2013 - 22:38:29) I hope there wont be an ge limit on the zip wire. I love zip wires!

Reply to THIS thread
Talkback Home