We've all had the experience of being at a pal's house and thinking, "Well... that doesn't seem safe." We steer our kids away from the trampoline/glass coffee table/sheer cliff, and proceed on home.
But what if we took another tack? What if we called the county and demanded someone change their home to suit our comfort levels?
This is exactly the kind of thing going on right now -- with backyard tree-houses. They’re a classic bit of American life, the kind of thing childhood dreams are made of – and often, for the lucky among us, where kids really do go to run their imaginations, or just read comics in the lazy summer heat.
But one family’s annoying experience shows how today’s world seems to be sacrificing too much in a quest for a bubble-wrapped childhood. The question is: Don't I get to make the safety rules in my own home?
Look, I’m not into the whole “kids today are too coddled” argument. I am fine with coddling my children, in fact, and think those of us who are more hyper about our kids’ safety are probably reacting sensibly to things that happened to us and our friends.
But this story just makes me mad: a landscape-architect dad in Washington State engineered a spectacular treehouse for his 10-year-old twin boys, and an anonymous complaint from a neighbor may lead to their having to tear it down.
The tree house is a marvel of engineering. It’s built to be part of the tree, with no damage to the natural world around it. Take a gander at the video if you don’t believe me.
Really, people? In an age when video games and 1,000 channels of cable TV make it nearly impossible to say “kids, go play outside,” you’re going to punish kids for climbing trees? Not only that – you’re going to do so on their own property, where it’s their parents’ job to supervise them?
This is their property, their home, and from what the article says, you can't even see the tree-house easily if you're not standing right under it. So someone's sticking their nose way, way into their business.
The Free-Range Kids website lists at least two other cases where treehouses have been torn down. As she puts it, “I get that it’s a liability. All treehouses are. I just wonder when and how society will ever get back to accepting SOME risk, now that even the tiniest risk (and this is a little bigger than tiny) is seen as abominable.”
The Treehouse Guide, a website devoted to helping people plan and build their own treehouses, has a page dedicated to treehouse safety. Included on that page is a guide to keeping the law off your back when building a leafy getaway – that’s how common it is for people to get in trouble for their treehouses.
“My impression of a treehouse is that it is a fun exercise - something that takes hard work to build but which will give you a huge sense of achievement and a lasting, useful addition to your garden,” says Patrick Fulton, the site’s founder.
What's more important: private property, or public safety? Certainly, more safety is better, and the Center for Injury Research is on the case. But is it really a better use of a town’s resources to track down one well-cared-for structure on a family’s private property … or should those tax dollars be going to, say, a shelter for kids that are actually homeless, or hungry, or mistreated?
Because when it comes to treehouses -- they really are the stuff that dreams are made on.
Do you think this tree house should come down? Do you make the safety rules on your property? Tell us in the comments!
Image via emdot/Flickr
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Comments 73
gack.. people need to mind their own business
Honesty!?! It's a freaking tree house for crying out loud! Some day when our trees are big enough we plan to build one ourselves. I love that this father was able to build the tree house around the tree's natural branches. What's next? Are they going to ban birds from building nests in trees because it's unsafe or unsightly? Come on people! It's private property and I hope they fight to the death (and win) for their tree house. I know I would!
yeah, because a 2 wheel bike, a swing set, and a pool are SOOO much safer!!! Oh wait--i broke bones with those 3, but NEVER came to harm in my treehouse. MY land, MY way.
Shelly said what I was thinking. What's in MY backyard is NOT a public safety issue. If someone doesn't want their kids playing in my kids' treehouse they shouldn't let 'em! I'd keep my kids from THEIR house if I thought safety was an issue, too, but luckily I wouldn't have to make that decision since those people wouldn't be fun enough for my kids to WANT to spend time there. Sounds like whoever filed a complaint about the treehouse had a stick lodged in their derriere. (Perhaps it got there in a treehouse-related incident... hmm... Might explain a lot...)
if tree houses are banned, then so must horseback riding, four wheeling, bike riding, skating, oh heck, anything that has ever hurt a child...
I'm all for saftey, but all active play has some danger to it. To ban tree houses is to ban being active and create a bunch of fat lumps sitting on the couch going brain dead.
This is just wrong. Here in Ohio, in Erie county, you have to have a PERMIT to even think about building a treehouse, let alone go through with it. This is getting rediculous people. America is supposed to be a "By the people FOR the people" Not "Let's rule our people with an iron fist" next we turn around and we'll have to check with the government before leaving our driveways.