Bring Back Dangerous Playgrounds!
Back in my day, playgrounds weren’t just places for kids to play; they were arenas of survival. They were gladiator pits disguised as family-friendly fun zones. And now, in a shocking twist, the Netherlands is trying to bring that back.

That’s right. Dutch officials have decided that kids are getting too soft, so they’re making playgrounds less safe—but, you know, in a fun way. No, they’re not greasing up the monkey bars with bacon fat or replacing swings with trebuchets (although, let’s be honest, that would be amazing). Instead, they want to give kids the chance to experience the true joys of childhood: climbing, playing with fire, sword-fighting with sticks, and building with hammers, rope, and—because this is Europe—knives.
Are we getting soft? Playgrounds were our fire
And honestly, good for them. Because today’s kids have no idea what it was like growing up when playgrounds were forged in the fires of chaos. We played on rust-covered metal structures that would heat to a smooth 600 degrees in the summer sun. We launched ourselves off merry-go-rounds that spun at Mach 3, held on only by the sheer will to impress our friends. We survived monkey bars that, if you slipped, guaranteed you’d land tailbone-first on a patch of concrete because safety padding hadn’t been invented yet.
And that was just the playground. Our entire childhoods were a beautifully reckless adventure. We rode bikes off rickety homemade ramps, sometimes straight into bushes—or worse, traffic. We played Red Rover like we were linebackers trying to make the playoffs. Duck, Duck, Goose? If your tap wasn’t hard enough to leave a mark, you weren’t playing right. We had action figures with weapons so small they were practically made to be choked on. Our slides were slick metal sheets that doubled as branding irons in the summer. And let’s not forget the lawn darts, a game that literally involved hurling sharp projectiles into the air and hoping no one in your family needed stitches.

And now, modern parents are worried about too much screen time? Please. We had literal death traps in our backyards. Who needs video games when you have a seesaw capable of launching you into low orbit? And let’s not forget riding in the back of pick-up trucks going 60 mph down the highway, because, apparently, seatbelts were for the weak.
One mother in the Netherlands says “risk-taking play” is important because it teaches kids about boundaries. And she’s right. We learned boundaries the hard way—by touching an electric fence, by going down a slide so fast it stripped the skin off our thighs, by discovering—too late—that trampolines don’t have brakes.

Another expert says rough playing might lead to bumps and bruises, but it helps kids learn social skills. Absolutely. Nothing builds character like taking a dodgeball to the face at 60 mph.
So maybe the Dutch are onto something. Maybe kids today do need a little more danger in their lives. Maybe they need to know the thrill of dodging an airborne lawn dart. Maybe they need to feel the terror of realizing they’re stuck at the top of an ancient jungle gym with no safe way down. Maybe, just maybe, they need to taste the raw, unfiltered chaos of real childhood.

Or, you know, they could just keep playing Minecraft. That’s fine too.