Sledding in the Snow is Still a Simple Joy

The jokes and the outrage across the United States abound due to many cities invoking sledding bans on public property.  I read an article from the BBC news covering the topic as well so the trend has garnered international attention. Commenters had a field day laughing at the over precautious Americans, living in a nanny state.    However, despite the blame on the bans by litigious happy lawyers, injuries are real, and failure to assess or outright ignore probable dangers should have been the focus.  In one several million dollar lawsuit, the city knowingly, and despite public discourse, planted trees in the park, in direct line of a known sledding hill. It isn't so cut and dry about where to put the blame for the horrible injury to a child, but widespread banning, in my humble opinion was an over reach.  This writer, Melinda Wenner Moyer in her post Let them sled!, does a strong job of outlining why there should be precautions and foresight yes, but outright banning no.

Living in the world of snow my whole life, the thought of kids no longer sledding is a sad one. My best childhood memories in the winter months, and those with my own children involved finding the best hills, and tramping back up for just one more ride. I grew up in rural Minnesota, in an area that was very hilly due to the proximity to the Mississippi River bluffs.  We had some incredible hills in back yards and country fields.  There was nothing better than sledding all day, until your toes were near frozen, your body a mix of sweat and frost.  I don't recall ever having the snowsuit sets my kids always wore, but we layered pants over pants, over pajama bottoms, over tights or long johns.  Our boots weren't the ones suitable for the polar vortex as we have now, so multiple socks, a great use for all the mismatched socks without partners, and a bread bag worn over the top layer of socks to create a water proof barrier. You get the idea.  The kids with head to toe snowmobile suits had it the best. Once home, the layers would get peeled off, and laid out somewhere to dry for the next time.  Nothing tasted better after a day of sledding than a mug of hot chocolate and a slice of toast with peanut butter.

Sledding is multigenerational too. The best sledding hills in my community are loaded with families with older infants to grand parents on any given Saturday or Sunday. As I hit closer to 50, my sled of choice is the tube type that cushion my rear on the way down.   DD#2 still prefers her long traditional purple sled, with the gray steering string.  On a hill groomed by sledders before, she shoots like a rocket from the top.  Plus, her sled has ample room to add a second or even third body for taking on other sledders in races.  Our family has had our shares of bumps and bruises, spills that have landed the rider face buried in icy snow, and sore butts from hard landings off a little jump.  My worst injury actually occurred as a 24 year old teacher, going down hill with two of my students.  I was the sled caboose, and right before being steered over a child made jump, my driver and middle rider bailed, and I sailed into the air, landing hard. Nothing broken, but I had a massive bruise across my lower back and was moving slow for weeks-unfortunate with a teaching job and 14 month old toddler at home to care for.

I hope the cities that banned all sledding on public property will rethink the fear, and move more to just educating on precaution or warnings on unsafe hills.  Hopefully the silly attention will yield more people just understanding better about the inherent risks, and better planning on where and how to sled. For those of us watching our pennies, and a day on the ski slopes is out of the question, or only an occasional treat, sledding is great exercise and totally frugal. Plastic sleds can be picked up used for a pittance and even if buying new, they are not that expensive and last for years. I'm sure we have no less than 6 in our garage, at least one  of which was purchased 25 years ago for pulling my DS around in as a toddler. All still get the job done with satisfaction.

I bemoan the bitter cold as much as my fellow Minnesotan's. Despite the cold, there are abundant joys in living in areas with four true seasons.  Sledding is one of those simple joys in the winter I hope to experience every year of my life.  Two years ago  we had a snow storm on May 1. I don't think I want to experience it for quite so long a duration this year, though.  Happy Sledding.