What has happened to childhood? It's not just parents who are pathologically obsessed with the safety of kids. Liability and insurance costs have made authorities extremely skittish about allowing children to engage in any activity where they might get hurt.
That means fanatical adherence to safety rules that puts a cropper on having fun.
Some parents in New York City, including Reason.com's Liz Wolfe, recently found that out the hard way. On a spring-like day in February, Wolfe and some other parents went to a local playground only to find it shuttered due to "snow and ice." It was 45 degrees outside, and there was little in the way of snow to be seen.
The parents had hopped the fence and begun to have a good time with their children when the authorities showed up. They threatened to fine parents who suggested: "Maybe, just maybe, children deserve just a morsel of red hot freedom." Then, they threatened to arrest their parents if they didn't leave.
NYC hates its child population. Encountered ANOTHER padlocked playground (it was 45 degrees out). Hopped the fence w my friend, liberated my son, and 25 other kids took little boosts from us to hop the fence. Joy.
— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) February 24, 2025
Then the city said they'd fine me & they needed to see my ID. https://t.co/xeWclYMzeM pic.twitter.com/YemzCfpBFY
If the pandemic lockdowns taught us anything, it is that the overabundance of caution when it comes to our children wreaks havoc on their development. What's more, it's largely unnecessary. Finally, shouldn't parents be deciding the kinds of risks that their children are exposed to?
Since 2020, the five-and-under population in the city has fallen by 18 percent, and it shouldn't be shocking why: High cost of living, a culture intolerant toward children, and extreme risk aversion have led to an untenable situation for parents.
If the first half of the 20th century was termed "the golden age of child play," the first quarter of the 21st feels like a death rattle. The mid-'80s brought milk carton kids. Amber Alerts, which send out messages about missing or abducted children in suspected danger via cable news, radio, and text message, were invented a decade later. In the early 2000s, certain prosecutors started cracking down on child truancy. Now, in the 2020s, that icon of American ingenuity—the McDonald's PlayPlace—has started to become replaced by screens, with glorious plastic kingdoms torn down all across America. The culture shifted from one of widespread permissiveness to one of extreme scrutiny and worry. And nothing was exempt from this parenting culture shift, not even the playgrounds.
Trying to ensure child safety is a good thing. Between 1900 and 2000, childhood deaths from accidents declined by two-thirds. Child toys have been made safer. Parents have become more aware of dangers to children, including "stranger danger," which was barely on my parents' radar in the 1950s and '60s.
But since the turn of the 21st century, regulators and lawmakers have embraced a new goal: make childhood absolutely, 100% safe. No accidents, nothing that could possibly lead to serious injury or death of a child.
This is a goal I can't get behind. As Maria Montessori recognized a hundred years ago, we lose something quite important when we crack down on kids' ability to play—and parents' ability to decide for themselves what type of conditions their individual child can handle. Even if the playground had been icy and it had been 30 degrees that day, I would have still allowed my son to play; I would have simply dressed him in more wool layers and maybe watched him more closely (or recognized that that skateboarding child of mine can handle a fall or two). If the trusts that manage these playgrounds (or their insurers) are so afraid of liability, I'd note that the above incidents—the Slope Park swing, the too-hot Mountain—stand out in part because they're relatively rare. Be bold, take heart, and choose to foster a culture of childrearing in which parents accept risk and responsibility.
"Since it is through movement that the will realizes itself, we should assist a child in his attempts to put his will into act," wrote Montessori. Stifling children's natural curiosity, the wide-eyed, overpowering drive to learn about the world around them, eventually turns kids into hesitant, unconfident adults.
What kind of children will those adults raise?
