Some might consider fighting for your life to be crowned King of the Hill a Canadian childhood rite of passage.
The bell rings for recess. You and your classmates race each other to the giant snow mound left behind by the plow. You are snowsuit-clad warriors scrambling to the top, rolling down the sides, carving icy slides guaranteed to soak right through your snow pants.
But now some Quebec schools are being encouraged to follow a long list of rules for children playing on snow mounds, including the possibility of requiring kids to wear helmets, sparking a debate about whether child safety fears have gone too far.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Quebec Premier François Legault told Radio-Canada Tuesday.
Legault told the radio show Tout Un Matin that he has fond memories of playing King of the Hill himself, “and when we were king, we’d get knocked off the top of the mountain by the others.”
“I understand that it has to be safe, but starting to put helmets in the schoolyard, I find that a bit excessive,” he said.
Guidelines for school snow hills in Quebec criticized
His comments come amid guidelines that were issued to dozens of Quebec school districts by group insurance association Union réciproque d’assurance scolaire du Québec (Quebec Reciprocal School Insurance Union, or URASQ).
The guidelines “for safe sliding” for the 2026-2026 school year include a maximum mound height between 1.8 and three metres, a “moderate” 25 per cent slope, clearly identified zones for both climbing up and a waiting area, a layout plan, a supervision plan and a daily inspection log.
“Wearing a helmet is not mandatory if the sledding hill meets the characteristics mentioned above,” note the guidelines, which are written in French.
“By following these few tips, the risk of injury will be minimized and the sledding will be enjoyable for everyone.”
Some people who spoke to CBC’s The National Tuesday called the guidelines “ridiculous,” and said it’s the parents, not kids, who are fearful. Online, the guidelines were mocked in forums like Reddit, where some people boasted about their snow hill injuries like badges of honour.
“If they played how we did in the snow in my grade school, I would understand. It was war, gentlemen. War,” one person wrote.
“Playing in the snow is integral to being a kid in Quebec,” wrote another.
“Ten years ago, the only rule with mountains was not to stay on the ground too long lest someone fall on you; it’s become boring now,” someone commented in French on a Montreal news Instagram post.
Yet other people have pointed out that children have been seriously injured and even killed playing in snow mounds and snowbanks. Children have died when snow tunnels have collapsed or suffocated in the snow and been hit by snowplows.
Police and municipalities have issued warnings about playing in snowbanks for years.
Of course, we all want to make sure children are safe when they play in their schoolyards, said Dr. Émilie Beaulieu, a Quebec City pediatrician and lead author on the Canadian Paediatric Society’s position on risky play.
“The problem is that there needs to be a balance between allowing children to take some risk and being able to play freely and have some fun and making sure that there are no hazards or dangers in the schoolyard,” Beaulieu told CBC’s Let’s Go.
“And I’m not sure that we got this balance quite right.”
There are a number of considerations when it comes to assessing risk with outdoor play, such as the age of the child, their abilities and the weather conditions, Beaulieu said.
“Sometimes, minor injuries will happen because it’s part of children’s development and that’s how they learn.”
Normand Page, communications director at the Centre de services scolaire des Chênes, the school service centre in Drummondville, emphasized that the guidelines from the insurance association should be thought of as advice and suggestions — not rules. It’s the insurer’s job to to establish guidelines, recommendations and advice to minimize the risk of injury, Page told Radio-Canada’s Tout Un Matin.
“The school administration isn’t going to go out with a measuring tape to check if the slope is a certain gradient all the way to Mascouche. That’s not the point,” he said.
“It’s simply a matter of checking and making sure that the students can slide safely.”
Sonia LeBel, Quebec’s minister of education, urged school administrators to use their judgment.
“The important thing is that students can play outside and enjoy winter in a suitable environment. It’s a matter of common sense,” she wrote on X.
Still, the guidelines, and the mixed reactions to them, have reignited the debate over safetyism.
In parenting literature, the term “safetyism” has been used to describe the modern culture of overprotecting children through methods like softer, lower playgrounds and constant hovering, which has also been called “helicopter parenting.”
The key to healthy kids is risky outdoor play, researchers say
Last January, the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) released new guidelines emphasizing the importance of risky play for children’s development and physical and mental health. They argued that kids today have fewer opportunities to engage in risky outdoor play, and that’s in part because of safety measures that “have sought to prevent all play-related injuries.”
Safety is of course important, Éric Pronovost, president of the Fédération du personnel de soutien scolaire (federation of school support staff), said in a statement posted online Tuesday. But children also have the right to play and learn their limits, he said.
And then there’s the matter of enforcing the suggested guidelines, which would fall on educators, student supervisors and personnel who are already overworked and understaffed, Pronovost said.
“We’re adding responsibilities, risks and pressure, without any additional resources, to manage … a snow mound,” Pronovost said.
“Turning a simple winter game enjoyed by children into a bureaucratic exercise is absurd.”
