The rules are… there are no rules!
…Or at least this is the way life should be sometimes. I’m referring in particular, to our country’s ridiculous ‘Health & Safety’ rules.
Since when was it not okay to allow a child to play on an indoor play-frame because they were 1 inch ‘too tall’! (And whilst we are on it – who made up the height rules in the first place?!) But this is what happened to us today.
My cousin and I took our kids (6 between us) to a local family oriented pub restaurant, which had an indoor play-frame and soft play area for the kids. Between us, the two mums had placed a lunchtime food and drink order of £50 – a decent amount for one table on a quiet weekday lunchtime, and this doesn’t account for any ‘second drinks’, but food order placed, we unleashed the kids to the soft play room. Five of the kids ran off – one was stopped by the room supervisor for being ‘too tall’! Apparently she couldn’t play because she would be in breach of the ‘Health & Safety’ rules! What crap! It wasn’t like there were any toddlers to consider – we were the ONLY people within the play area!
It drives me bonkers how these days because of a small pocket of society – the money grabbing chancers with a ‘no blame, no claim’ mentality who think that the world owes them a living, because of the threat of these people, companies veer onto the side of extreme caution and make up stupid rules so that not only does no-one get as much as a scratch, they don’t have any fun either!
Because companies are so worried about being sued, you can’t do anything these days. I purchased some shoes for my daughter from a High Street store recently and I asked the cashier for some scissors so I could remove the plastic tag without ruining my teeth as my daughter wanted to wear the shoes right away. But apparently, no stores have scissors behind the tills now – due to HEALTH & SAFETY!
In another shop I was chatting to the cashier who was telling me about her aching feet and how she had taken her shoes off to relieve them, so I suggested she might wear some flip flops as she was on her feet all day – at least they’d be comfier than whole leather shoes. She told me they weren’t allowed due to HEALTH & SAFETY! What – in case a grown woman runs a clothes rail over her foot? For Heaven’s sake! Can’t grown up people actually BE grown ups and think before they do things? Do we all have to be wrapped up in cotton wool – whether we want to be or not?
By the time I’m grinding my gums, going grey haired and losing my marbles, and today’s young kids and the ones who aren’t even born yet are in adulthood and running the country, the nursing homes and everything else, how will they cope if shock- horror! They accidentally fall over in a soft play area and get a graze? How will our young generation learn how to take life’s knocks if they aren’t ever allowed to get any? Isn’t part of growing up and being responsible learning to steer yourself through life? How can you ‘man up’ (whether you are a man or a woman) if you have every possible eventuality pre anticipated and legislated for under the guise of a ‘Health & Safety’ policy?!
Come on mums – tell me I’m not alone in my views? I can’t be the only person in blog land who thinks that whoever sits in their little dusty office and makes up all these ‘Health & Safety’ rules needs to get out more and live a bit?!
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4 Responses to The Rules Are… There Are No Rules!
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I hear you! I couldn't get a straw for my little boys drink the other day (can't remember where I was now) – something to do with Health & Safety? What? Luckily, I had one in my bag so broke all the rules and we somehow managed to all get home without any plastic straw related injuries. Miracle!
What? Couldn't get a straw? They are mad aren't they?!! What is a kid going to do with a plastic straw! I'm glad you were able to sort it without anyone ending up in hospital!! *guffaw*!!
You are certainly not alone! I watched my six year old daughter climb a tree this afternoon at our local English Heritage property. Yes, my heart was in my mouth, but I let her do it because she needs to learn to take risks in order to develop to her full potential. If she had fallen and broken a limb, that would have been horrible, but it would have also been a learning experience! (And I didn't stray far from the tree so probably would have caught her anyway!). I can't imagine what the health and safety 'experts' would have said if they had seen us…
Good for you Helen, in letting her have a bit of fun whilst she was out! What a lot of the 'Health & Safety brigade' fail to realise is that we are Mums. By definition – the very people who would dive underneath our kids falling from a tree to cushion her fall, or run in front of a car to push our children out of the way! We would do anything to protect them, because we are mums, not because of their stupid rules!!
Thanks for sharing!