Austria: Where Children Do Not Yet Wear Helmets

by Stephanie Anderson

A Viennese park is a strange thing to "safety conscious" American eyes. Not only do child-propelled, metal merry-go-rounds still spin proudly, but they are sometimes set at a tilt. Children flip on Jacob's ladders and climb on precarious, brightly painted, metal structures that serve as pirate ships or horses depending on the day.

The aforementioned toys were removed from American parks in the name of safety even before the now-extinct Teeter-Totters. It was never considered that a child hanging from a spinning disc by his feet, head on the cement ground, and asking another child to push, might not be a problem with the park equipment, but rather a lack of supervision, or even Darwinism in action. European parks are not without safety nets of their own. They have plentiful benches where parents and guardians chatter amongst themselves, while keeping one eye on their charges.

Another astonishing difference between parks on opposite sides of the ocean is that dogs play freely amongst the humans, often unhindered by leashes. Every so often there is some butt-sniffing, or even barking, but a dog attacking a person is yet to be heard of. Is there a chemical compound in Austrian water that makes their dogs better natured than American dogs, or do Austrians just take the time to train their dogs as members of the family? This riddle may never be answered. There are a few fenced in areas for the very smallest of children where dogs are "Verboten." This speaks not of dogs' behavior, but of the simple childhood fact that things furry, salivating, and four-legged that are bigger than you are things of which to be wary.

Parents keep a watchful eye, but everyone who chooses, enjoys the highest and fastest of play structures. Small falls, bumps and scrapes are ignored, tears being saved for more authentic struggles, and play is resumed. From this evidence, it seems dangerously probable that Europeans may still run and dive at swimming pools.

Please enjoy your parks, but don't forget your fluorescent bike helmet.