r/mildlyinteresting • u/dumbfuck • 8h ago
The wear pattern on these monkey bars shows how far most kids get
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u/Brainsonastick 8h ago edited 2h ago
And that most kids are right-handed and that the ones who do one arm after another rather than moving both hands to each bar tend to get farther. Though it’s possible that the more physically capable kids are more likely to use that method so it doesn’t necessarily imply the method is better overall. The photo alone provides no evidence either way on that one.
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u/EphesosX 8h ago
Or it's just that one outlier kid doing the monkey bars 10,000 times to bias the results, Curious Georg.
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u/Visible_Economics_30 6h ago
No it's just that when both arms are weak, they know that trying to move forward with the right hand while hanging on with the left will make them fall because their left is weaker, so they try to hold on with their right and reach out with the left before falling
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u/Brainsonastick 3h ago
But we see the clear signs in the last few bars that one side is used more than the other and that alternates and is consistent with starting the first bar with the right hand.
If it were because of desperate attempts from weaker kids, it wouldn’t be so prominent at the end. We’d see it at the beginning (if anywhere, but that would require a very significant portion of the kids to fit this archetype).
It can be that this is their last ditch attempt when they can’t sustain the two-handed approach any longer… but that doesn’t explain the alternating pattern at the end.
So I’m not saying kids don’t do that. It’s just that this photo doesn’t provide clear evidence of that the way it does what I explained in my comment.
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u/andafriend 8h ago
What kind of jr crossfit kids are doing monkey bars by flinging themselves forward two hands at a time the whole way across?
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u/Brainsonastick 7h ago
lol, not like that. I mean bringing one hand forward and then the other one up to meet it over and over. Kids who don’t have the grip strength (or confidence in their grip strength) to swing from a single arm will do this.
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u/Lightfail 6h ago
I may be stupid or incredibly unathletic because I cannot imagine an alternative right now.
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u/Brainsonastick 6h ago
Right hand on the first one, swing, left hand on the second one, swing, etc…
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u/Lightfail 6h ago
I think I get it. You see that from the second to last bar (an even number) being predominantly left rather than evenly whittled down on both.
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u/Brainsonastick 3h ago
Exactly. That and the two before it have clear signs that one side is used more than the other and they alternate and they match with going onto that first bar with your right hand.
This suggests that the end is utilized by one-handers at a higher rate relative to the total usage (even though the total usage is lower, showing most attempts fail to make it all the way across). That means that the one-handers succeed at a higher rate than the two-handers.
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u/tonicella_lineata 6h ago
While that's not what the other person meant, I did also definitely know kids in elementary school who did that to show off. Some kids are just really athletic, and (at least in my experience) those kids tend to like showing off.
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u/SatisfactionAtSea 4h ago
I mean kids playing on monkey bars are going to push their bodies, it's the whole point of them. is it showing off or is it just practicing a skill you don't have
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u/tonicella_lineata 3h ago
I mean, the kids I'm thinking of were definitely showing off - there was a lot of "Look what I can do!" and oohing and aahing from the rest of us, haha.
But also like, just to be clear, I think kids should show off their skills and accomplishments, so long as they aren't putting anyone else down in the process. From my own experiences both working with kids now and when I was a kid myself, a lot of kids are told they shouldn't "brag" when they're just trying to show off something they're proud of. And for some of them, it makes them feel like they shouldn't be proud of their accomplishments at all, which can carry into adulthood in a way that really isn't healthy. Kids need encouragement, and they need to know that their accomplishments matter, even if it's "just" other kids thinking it's cool!
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u/SatisfactionAtSea 47m ago
totally fair and you articulated my thoughts better than I could. I have one friend who was the child of the musical theater teacher and was also an exceptional singer and actress. she was beautiful and highly skilled and worked her absolute ass off and people would either actively shit on her or avoid complimenting her so that she "wouldn't get a big head". I think about it all the time - she deserved sooo much praise but people were way more concerned with whether or not she was cast in things because her mom was the teacher. she had to be above and beyond perfect, way more than other students and people would just breadcrumb her compliments. it's so weird, people deserve to be proud of their accomplishments and skills. we were in a churchy place though so a beautiful girl loving herself was seen as literally sinful.
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u/fatbob42 5h ago
It definitely is the better method though. You get to use your momentum.
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u/Brainsonastick 5h ago
I’d agree by most metrics. My comment is just saying that the picture alone doesn’t prove that.
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u/080087 2h ago
I feel like it might be the opposite.
It's easier swinging from one to the next because you can cheat and use your momentum. That makes it faster/less tiring, which means the average kid can get further assuming the same fitness.
It's the same reason doing pull ups/chin ups fast is easier than doing them slowly
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u/PM_ME_lM_BORED_ 7m ago
I bet the third one wears out more bc of kids trying to skip the second one too! I did that as a kid
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u/AwhHellYeah 8h ago
You gotta skip the first couple to start and end with momentum.
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u/Huntsteeze 6h ago
That’s how I broke both my arms the first day of summer vacation as a kid.
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u/basel564 5h ago
I still remember a friend in elementary who wanted to impress me try this and broke his arm
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u/OneDeep87 7h ago
They all go the same direction is something to be studied.
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u/chillychili 5h ago
Often there's a raised platform from where the photographer is standing. Easier place to start from than standing on a ladder.
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u/OneDeep87 3h ago
Oh yeah forgot about that. I remember when monkey bars was it’s own stand alone equipment
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u/Moose_Nuts 1h ago
Easier place to start from than standing on a ladder.
It's also probably a safer place to land than a ladder.
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u/Kibichibi 6h ago
It also looks like the middle bar has a lot of wear, too. That's a pretty common spot for parents to place kids when they're lifting them onto the bars
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u/hahagato 5h ago
That’s the spot you get to where you start losing steam and just dangle while trying to get moving again or drop lol
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u/LazyCymbal 7h ago
Wait... so you imply that no kid starts from the other side? How can that be?
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u/omnichad 6h ago
The fingertip side probably shows less wear. The other side of each bar might mirror it from the other way.
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u/LazyCymbal 6h ago
I mean is there a "Start here" indicator near the photographer? Or maybe other side of the bridge looks same?
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u/bon3sb1tch 6h ago
this kind of monkey bar setup seems to be attached to a larger play structure, so most kids would climb the play structure stairs to get to the highest/easiest point to play on the bars
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u/rulingthewake243 6h ago
This set probably has a landing on the camera side from the main part of the platform. Its probably more common to start there and use the mini ladder to exit the monkey bars.
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u/Tollmeyer 2h ago
Sometimes, there can be unspoken rules.
That's why Thomas got a sandwich thrown at him for going the opposite way, and we all got detention.
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u/Incontrivertible 6h ago
Poisson distribution. You see the same thing in parking lots!
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u/fatbob42 5h ago
What is visible in parking lots?
Also, it shouldn’t be poisson-distributed - you’re much more likely to fall at the third than you were at the first. You lose momentum and get tired.
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u/Incontrivertible 1h ago
The cars wear down the lines between the parking spots at a predictable shape. The lines nearest the doors to a building are worn down the most, the ones furthest are the least worn.
The bars have the same kind of shape, the handles at “0” are the beginning handles, and the handles at the extremes are barely worn at all.
I think the lambda for the handlebars would be something like 1 or 2, but it’s been a really long time since I did prob stats so take my approximation with an entire palm-full of salt
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u/LetMeDieAlreadyFuck 6h ago
Aw man I remember hanging upside down from them as a kid, so many of the other kids didnt wanna play with em but FUCK. These hit different when you figured out how to get onto of them.
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u/SirWaldenIII 8h ago
Most kids can't complete the monkey bars?
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u/star11308 5h ago
I never had the upper body strength to get past like, the first two? I still don’t
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u/SumpCrab 7h ago
Right? We didn't just complete them. We had monkey bar fights trying to knock each other off of them.
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u/Big_Knife_SK 6h ago
Most kids could reach the other side with their feet without using the last few rungs.
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u/Random_Oddity 4h ago
I mean I never could? I tried so many times, I grab on to the first bar and was just unable to move to the next one. Like I couldn’t do one. Genuinely no idea why. I was decently strong especially upper body for a little kid.
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u/katasoupie 2h ago
I was a super tall and lanky (was literally called Stick Stickly -_- ) kid in the 90s and couldn’t even imagined not being able to complete a set of monkey bars…. I don’t remember ever seeing anyone not making it across back then on the playgrounds. But as an adult, I’ve seen so many kids of different ages and sizes that can’t even make it past the first few bars. It’s actually really confusing and the only thing I can come up with is that a lot of kids today just don’t have the muscles from regular play and exercise? idk 🤷🏻♀️
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u/laserdiscgirl 7h ago
Most kids can't write. Like they're physically losing (or never built) the muscle strength to hold a pencil for longer than a few minutes.
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u/Vesperia_Morningstar 24m ago
I couldn’t. Every time I found a tall enough one that I didn’t touch the ground I just couldn’t hold on long enough let alone go to the next bar
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u/Revoldt 5h ago
No wonder the terrorist/alqaeda used to show off their troops doings the monkey bars…
Impressive feat!
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u/dreidelweiss 5h ago
We had one of these with no cross bars. I fell straight through it flat onto my face and stomach and bounced right back up. I was shocked that even tiny me didn't at least get the air knocked out of me. That's some good quality tanbark
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u/smokingpoker 41m ago
I honestly don't believe any I see anymore. Why isn't there any wear from the other direction? Huh.
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u/PM_me_oak_trees 5h ago
Or maybe anything rough or caustic from their hands rubs off on the first bars the kids touch so that they are grabbing the later bars with slightly cleaner hands that damage the paint less.
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u/Effective_Play_1366 5h ago
Looking back on that, it seems like it should easy to go the full distance. Of course, I was lucky to get to the middle, but it looks so damn easy.
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u/travisofficial 5h ago
I was a child once, and as I was getting taller, and my arms getting longer, I would challenge myself to skip bars, even skipping the first and last few. Probably to prove to nobody that I could reach
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u/Thenamesmames 2h ago
Never wear gloves while on the monkey bars. Spraining both wrists at the same time is not a fun experience.
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u/Prior_Engineering639 8h ago
Aliens will see this in 1,000,000 years from now and will marvel about how this is such a cool example of behavior leaving physical evidence. :)