Michael Taube: Toronto's anti-sledding Karen brigade should remember the joys of childhood

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The City of Toronto recently decided in its (ahem) infinite wisdom to ban tobogganing at 45 hills in public parks because they feel they’re “unsafe.” This led to two opposing reactions. The cadre of (mostly) left-leaning Karens, with parental tears in their eyes and wearing permanent boo-boo faces, breathed heavy sighs of relief. The more sensible-thinking Torontonians, a number that’s getting smaller each year, either laughed or were outraged. As city councillor Brad Bradford nicely put it, “frankly, it’s embarrassing.”

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When people call Toronto the “no fun city,” they ain’t Whistlin’ Dixie. Fun packed its bags and stormed out of Hogtown long ago. It won’t be returning anytime soon.

Now, Mayor Olivia Chow, along with city council, could attempt to work with city officials to modify the tobogganing ban and dramatically lower the number of affected hills. They could even vote to reverse the ban altogether.

They won’t, of course. Most of them are card-carrying members of the left-leaning Karen, permanent boo-boo face crowd.

If that wasn’t bad enough, there’s another significant issue at play. Chow, along with many city councillors, have clearly forgotten their childhood. They don’t remember what it was like to enjoy the winter months with their families and friends. While there hasn’t been much snow in the city this year, those who either grew up in Toronto or another cold-weather city in Canada and beyond know how magical this season is.

Looking at the fresh coat of snow on the ground always made me think of one of my favourite children’s books, Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day. Much like Peter, the young boy who enjoyed making snow tracks with his boots, throwing snowballs and making snow angels, I also couldn’t wait to go out into the “deep, deep snow.”

We went skiing, skating, snowshoeing and sledding. We had snowball fights and built snow forts. We tried to find two identical snowflakes without any luck.

And, for God’s sake, almost all of us went tobogganing on any hill we could find!

I went with my family and friends every winter. I still remember my hard plastic blue toboggan with fondness. It was always freezing cold, even when I wore snow pants as a young lad. I didn’t care about the hill’s conditions, a typical combination of snow and hard ice (among other things) that could make you go at a fairly high speed and occasionally launch you into the air. If I fell, I had a good laugh, dusted myself off and went back up the hill for another adventure.

I also took my son tobogganing at a park near our home for many years. Seeing the joy on his face as he zoomed up and down the hill in an air-filled toboggan that was far more comfortable than my wintery vehicle gave me enormous pleasure. When I occasionally went with him, it was a shared experience that we could both enjoy without a care in the world.

These early years are supposed to be a time of exhilaration, exploration and imagination. Placing rules and regulations on fun, enjoyment and a carefree environment for young children is bloody offensive.

Sure, you can get hurt going down a hill in a toboggan. You can also get hurt in a variety of other ways, including skiing, skating — or being hit by a car walking down the street at any given moment. There’s no real way to prevent these types of accidents from happening. The world can be (and is) an unsafe place, but you shouldn’t put the fear of God in young, developing minds to make them scared of tobogganing in a park like their parents and grandparents used to do.

That’s what city officials, the mayor and councillors have either largely forgotten, or choose to forget.

Some would argue the City of Toronto was simply trying to protect itself from any potential legal action. If someone gets injured tobogganing on a hill in a city park, they could start a lawsuit and possibly win a large settlement. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, there were “170 tobogganing-related hospitalizations recorded in Canada” between 2020-2021, many involving young children. That’s far less than ice skating hospitalizations (522) falls on the ice (6,590) or even playground injuries (1,446) during this same time period, but a number that has to be considered.

Yet, there were more realistic ways to prevent this from happening. Put up signs clearly absolving the city from responsibility for tobogganing accidents on these hills, for instance. Have city workers come out to thoroughly check the conditions of every park hill more frequently. Install snow fencing, hay bales and the like, as Bradford suggested. The easiest solution of all? Let parents decide for their children whether the hill is safe for tobogganing rather than more state — or, in this case, city — interference in our lives.

Meanwhile, are Toronto police really going to go from park to park to issue fines for breaking a preposterous tobogganing ban? If so, what an enormous waste of time, money and resources.

Perhaps Ontario Premier Doug Ford should step in and bring this matter to an end. Otherwise, maybe Chow and city councillors should buy or borrow a toboggan, go down one of these oh-so-scary hills and remember what it was like to be a child and enjoy winter.

National Post