Latest news with #playground
News.com.au
2 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
‘Shouldn't play': Mum's controversial playground opinion sparks debate
A mum has shared a controversial take on parenting etiquette, and it might just cut you some slack next time you're at the park with your children. Amanda, a mum-of-three and therapist, took to her Instagram to share her theory on why parents should simply sit on the bench at the park rather than play with their kids. 'I saw a reel that said parents at the park should get off the bench and play with their kids,' she said in the clip. 'No,' Amanda, who goes by @ added abruptly. Expanding on her thoughts in the caption, she noted, 'God forbid, we, I don't know, let the playground be for kids? 'A space where they get to experience some freedom, explore, interact and engage with other children without their parent breathing down their neck?' She then assured parents, 'it's okay' if you don't want to be the adult scaling the playground. 'On social media, parents who take their children outside and out of the house are called lazy for sitting on a park bench while their kids play at the playground,' she concluded. Her video quickly amassed thousands of views and countless supportive comments. 'I play every day all day. The park is the ONE TIME they are there to play independently and with others their age lol,' one fellow parent wrote. 'Independent play is soo important! Plus, mama needs her chill time,' a second agreed. 'OMG the purpose of the playground is for them to socialise with other children. They don't need helicopter parents breathing down their necks,' a third echoed. 'As a former preschool teacher, thank you. If you can see them from where you're sitting, you're close enough,' said someone else. However, others weren't convinced. 'Uhhhh, I respectfully decline,' said one user. 'So sad you wouldn't want to play with your kids,' another Instagrammer wrote. Others agreed that they liked the concept, but believed playgrounds weren't safe enough for children to play alone. 'Maybe when they stop making playgrounds with random drop-offs I can be chill enough to sit down. I wanna sit,' one parent explained. Others also shared their 'you do you' approaches, with one stating: 'If the park is your place to bond with your child, that's cool. If the park is where you encourage independent exploration, that's perfectly okay too. Neither is bad!'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Weston Park celebrates new playground
ELKHART — Weston Park Neighborhood is marking a new chapter in its history with the celebration of a new playground. The park had a playground for 30 years before the new one was put in, said Jamison Czarnecki, superintendent of the parks and recreation department. It has been a long time coming, he said. 'This one's a pretty fun one because I've seen this neighborhood evolve over the last few weeks,' Czarnecki said to a large crowd of people at the celebration Thursday. 'I've come by here and we see some kids every now and then and we see some people hanging out, but the last few weeks you guys have showed up in numbers. Every day there's more than 10 kids on this playground.' A park is only as good as the people who are using it, Czarnecki said. The parks and recreation department saved $330,000 by using a gametime grant, he said. Located at the corner of Cedar and North Michigan streets, the park was the former site of Weston School. The celebration included a ribbon-cutting ceremony, tree planting, free Kona Ice and hot dogs for the first 100 attendees. It's part of a larger city-wide effort to upgrade half a dozen parks across the city. This neighborhood is one of the most dense in the city, Mayor Rod Roberson said. Having strong parks close to home is important for the growth, stability and relationship between neighbors and the city, he said. 'We want to continue to build relationships in our parks because that's how I grew up,' Roberson said. 'I grew up with parks being in my back yard and my front yard and making sure the friends I had in my neighborhood were my friends because of the things we did inside of our parks. This was a park we had a plan for during our Aspire plan.'
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Mom's controversial take about parent etiquette at playgrounds sparks heated debate
A mom's bold take about parent etiquette at playgrounds has sparked a heated debate online. The woman, named Amanda, explained in a now-viral Instagram video shared earlier this month that she believes moms and dads shouldn't play with their children when they're at the park. Instead, she said parents should remain on the bench so that youngsters can experience 'freedom' and 'engage with other children without their parent breathing down their neck.' But her stance left viewers fiercely divided, and it launched a massive argument about whether or not parents should take a step back or be hands-on at playgrounds. The video showed mom-of-three Amanda sitting on a bench at a playground with a text overlay that read, 'I saw a Reel that said, "Parents at the park should get off the bench and play with their kids."' 'No,' Amanda added, with a hand heart emoji. In the caption, she explained, God forbid we, I don't know, let the playground be for kids? 'A space where they get to experience some freedom, explore, interact and engage with other children without their parent breathing down their neck?' Amanda, a therapist and mother to three boys, added that while she 'didn't think it was a controversial take' at first, she spoke about it before online and received immense backlash over it. 'I didn't think this was a controversial take but I've said it before on here and have been called lazy,' she continued. Amanda went on to explain that her youngest son, who is two-and-a-half, sometimes needs her help when they're at the playground since he's still pretty young, and that she's totally for parents helping youngsters when they need it. 'I'm not saying to never intervene, play with, or support your kiddo,' she concluded. 'I'm just highlighting here that IT'S OK if you don't want to be the adult scaling the playground.' Amanda's video got immense attention, and thousands of other parents rushed to the comment section to discuss the topic. And while some agreed with her and praised her for being outspoken about it, others were quick to slam her. 'I play everyday all day. The park is the ONE TIME they are there to play independently and with others their age lol,' one mom wrote. But her stance left viewers fiercely divided, and it launched a massive argument about whether or not parents should take a step back or be hands-on at playgrounds 'I'm fine with folks sitting as long as they're paying attention and not on their phone. The park is not the place to zone out,' another added. 'As a former preschool teacher THANK YOU! If you can see them from where you're sitting you're close enough,' someone else penned. 'Uhhhh I respectfully decline. Thanks,' a fourth comment read. 'Absolutely not,' said a fifth. 'Omg the purpose of the playground is for them to socialize with other children. They don't need helicopter parents breathing down their necks. SMH,' a different user commented. 'So sad that you wouldn't want to play with your kids,' another person wrote.
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Spondon play area opened with 'fastest zip wire in Derby'
A new play area designed with the help of residents has thrown open its gates at a Derby open day was held to celebrate the new facility for youngsters at Brunswood Park in Spondon on include a climbing frame and slide, roundabout, swings, and "the fastest zip wire in Derby", according to Derby City Council.A spokesperson for the council thanked "everyone who shared ideas and helped shape" the new "wonderful space". More than £72,000 was given to Spondon from a developer to improve parks in the area, after homes were built on the former Technograv factory site in Nottingham Road, while Friends of Spondon Parks raised a further £20,000 to redevelop the park.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Should the maker of Ozempic be funding children's playgrounds in Ireland?
Last Monday Taoiseach Micheál Martin posted on social media about his delight at attending the unveiling of a primary school's new playground equipment that is 'part of Novo Nordisk Ireland's ongoing Play at Primary School Initiative'. The initiative by the manufacturer of Ozempic and Wegovy involved providing nine Deis schools with equipment, with plans to expand to more schools during 2025. On the face of it, new playground equipment seems a commendable and worthwhile initiative. But the question has to be asked: what's in it for Novo Nordisk, which has a track record in sophisticated public relations campaigning? Fundamentally, there are potential ethical considerations with any company or industry paying for children's playground equipment. But Novo Nordisk deserves additional scrutiny given its marketing practices. READ MORE In 2023, the Danish drug manufacturer was suspended by its own industry body in the UK for two years over its sponsorship of weight management courses for health professionals. This is the most severe punishment that the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry has issued and was only the eighth occasion in the past 40 years the ABPI board has issued such a significant sanction. It led to the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of General Practitioners ending their partnerships with Novo Nordisk. The suspension occurred because Novo Nordisk paid for a 'large scale Saxenda [a weight-loss drug] promotional campaign […] which was disguised' and included 'heavily biased' information. The ruling outlined 'serious concerns about Novo Nordisk's culture' and raised further concerns about Novo Nordisk at the global level. In March 2025, the ABPI voted to readmit Novo Nordisk as a full member on the basis that it 'now had the systems and culture in place' to resume self-regulation. But Novo Nordisk was since found to be in breach of UK marketing regulations on several more occasions . In Ireland, issues have also emerged. Through a freedom of information request, I obtained an inspection report by the medicines watchdog, the HPRA, of Novo Nordisk's advertising-related activities for the period January 2021 to May 2023. My findings that the pharma company broke rules around the advertising and marketing of its medication to healthcare workers over three years were reported in The Irish Times on Friday. The HPRA found 'a significant number of non-compliances' with Novo Nordisk's advertising and 'educational' activities. [ Maker of Ozempic and Wegovy broke advertising rules, regulator finds Opens in new window ] They outlined that the 'level of control and governance that was in place for educational activities, promotional and non-promotional meetings with healthcare professionals, advisory boards and medicinal product advertising were deficient'. Issues outlined included presentations to healthcare professionals that were 'unbalanced' in nature. It also found the omission of important and legally required drug information relating to adverse reactions, precautions and contraindications in materials intended for use with patients and in a promotion to healthcare professionals. A teaching guide intended for use with patients included advertising for a prescription-only product, which is not legally permitted. The HPRA also observed compliances with requirements. In response to the HPRA review, Novo Nordisk outlined a range of procedural changes. This includes extensive reviews of slides presented by third parties for work affiliated to Novo Nordisk; the removal of materials in breach of regulations; updates to internal guidance; and the introduction of relevant training processes. A spokeswoman told The Irish Times that the company 'addressed the findings to ensure compliance with industry regulation and this was completed to the HPRA's satisfaction immediately following the inspection' and that its focus 'remains on meeting the needs of patients, healthcare professionals and partners'. Between 2016 and 2023, Novo Nordisk has reported making payments valued at over €6.6 million to healthcare organisations, a patient organisation and healthcare professionals, based on my analysis of Novo Nordisk's disclosures on – the pharmaceutical industry's record of direct or indirect financial support or 'transfers of value' to healthcare professionals – and the disclosures of patient organisation payments Novo Nordisk makes on its website. It's not clear whether this is the full picture: research I was involved with has highlighted significant shortcomings with the Irish payment declaration system. In the UK, Novo Nordisk has been found to be underreporting payments to the value of almost £8 million (€9.5 million) to 150 doctors, patients, journalists and healthcare organisations. One might ask why €6.6 million in payments to individuals and organisations in our health system would be problematic? The pharmaceutical industry describes these payments as being for education, research and healthcare. But payments such as these have well-recorded effects on prescribing practices, and are linked to recipient organisations favouring the positions of the funder. Novo Nordisk has made payments to help set up patient organisations, to pay senior decision makers in the Irish health system consultancy fees, and to help fund clinical guidelines on obesity in Ireland. Guidelines and patient organisations are important endeavours, but there are valid concerns about industry funding, as international evidence shows that it can influence important organisations and initiatives. When it comes to Novo Nordisk paying senior health system decision makers as consultants, significant scrutiny is necessary given the influence they have over our health system. Nothing here is intended to question the benefits of Novo Nordisk's approved medicines – if a medicine is approved for use in Ireland then the evidence shows that it meets the required standards for benefits and risk. What we should question is whether the drug maker's marketing efforts are affecting the decision making of our politicians, policymakers, prescribers and healthcare organisations. These decisions should be based on evidence only, not who has paid for our playgrounds, our conferences or our lunches. Novo Nordisk is applying to the State to reimburse its weight loss drugs for a much larger group of people. This decision has the potential to put unprecedented pressure on the State's health budget, potentially more than doubling state expenditure on medicines to €10 billion. The drugs are so expensive that US researchers have suggested it would be less expensive for the United States to just buy Novo Nordisk than to reimburse its weight loss drugs. There's a reason that the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland ended pharmaceutical industry partnerships in 2010 and the Irish College of General Practitioners last year voted to phase out pharmaceutical industry partnerships. It's because, as the College of Psychiatrists put it, the college's aims do not always align with the industry's aims and there is a need for the college to be able to provide 'independent appraisal of the value of specific drugs'. Our health and education systems struggle for funding for important initiatives. Pharmaceutical companies and other industries sometimes step into this void. But we need to ask if there are hidden costs to this funding, costs that may not be worth paying for. James Larkin is a senior postdoctoral fellow in the department of General Practice at RCSI
