Kids will NOT be kids - Tree Climbing banned

So, some NZ schools are banning tree climbing due to potential liability fears.

I'm sure this is already a thing in some other countries (looking at you, USA), but it isn't something I expected to see here in NZ.

Very disheartening.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/78238496/primary-schoolkids-banned-from-climbing-trees-because-of-liability-fears

That's too bad. I still love climbing trees, it's great exercise and brachiating is a lot of fun.

Can they still shoot at each other with BB guns? Git gud or lose an eye, the best kind of natural selection

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TheWretch wrote:

Can they still shoot at each other with BB guns? Git gud or lose an eye, the best kind of natural selection

We used to shoot bottle rockets at each other. Until they banned bottle rockets. For some reason.

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Antnee wrote:

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TheWretch wrote:

Can they still shoot at each other with BB guns? Git gud or lose an eye, the best kind of natural selection

We used to shoot bottle rockets at each other. Until they banned bottle rockets. For some reason.

Good times, man! =^[.]^=

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Raycheetah wrote:

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Antnee wrote:

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TheWretch wrote:

Can they still shoot at each other with BB guns? Git gud or lose an eye, the best kind of natural selection

We used to shoot bottle rockets at each other. Until they banned bottle rockets. For some reason.

Good times, man! =^[.]^=

The best

This is what happens when you have a free legal system where you can basically sue for scraped knees. I imagine NZ is as bad as the US for that. Blame the litigious society, NOT the schools. They are just covering their asses. My friends and I used to climb trees during recess all the time. Nobody said anything about it, but then again that was back in the 1980s.

I heard only kids can be prosecuted for climbing trees.
Adults cannot be tried or sentenced as kids.

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MimSiE wrote:

This is what happens when you have a free legal system where you can basically sue for scraped knees. I imagine NZ is as bad as the US for that. Blame the litigious society, NOT the schools. They are just covering their asses. My friends and I used to climb trees during recess all the time. Nobody said anything about it, but then again that was back in the 1980s.

Nah, we don't have a litigation culture in NZ. We have a government department (ish) called the Accident Compensation Corporation which acts as a kind of an insurance agency for injuries. We don't have an automatic right to sue for damages, but in return you get free healthcare, your salary gets paid (80% of it anyways) while you're off work, and you can get lump sum payments (like, if you lost a toe or something).

You can sue for defamation and the like, but its not very common.

The 2010 disaster at Pike River mine is the driving factor behind this. The government has changed the way liability works for employers etc. meaning it is a lot easier for them to be fined if shit goes down. Because the Principal of the school could now be more readily fined in case of injury to students, this kind of reaction (banning tree climbing etc.) is occurring.