Oh Please!!!!!! What are we coming to?

[rosered32]

Not it! Mass. elementary school bans tag

1 hour, 24 minutes ago

Tag, you're out! Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.

Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.

While there is no districtwide ban on contact sports during recess, local rules have been cropping up. Several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball a few years ago, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous.

Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Spokane, Wash., also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, S.C., school outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.

"I think that it's unfortunate that kids' lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they'll never develop on their own," said Debbie Laferriere, who has two children at Willett, about 40 miles south of Boston. "Playing tag is just part of being a kid."

Another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.

Comments

[starcannibal.livejournal.com]

And we wonder why American kids are all slothful, uncoordinated, and over-weight.

[snoopyh42.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that "Butt's Up" is out, as well?

Dude, where's my childhood?

ARGH!

[kathrynmills.livejournal.com]

I was just reading the article - and was horrified!

We really don't want our kids to learn anything. We don't want them to get hurt. Gods forbid they should learn social interaction and EXERCISE!!!

Is there something in the water that makes all parents crazy? Is there some new force at work in the cosmos that is making us stupid?

Kids play, they are not always nice to each other, they get hurt, they learn.

Can I go back and sue my school for letting me play tag and therefore encouraging this strange propensity I have for being physically active?

Ignore my horrible use of conjunctions

[antoniotyler.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree that these are all cool games and such. And taking them away is a bad idea. These games promote team work, social interaction, and physical activity.

But, at the same time, how many times, after a collision or injury, parents went to the school and said "Why weren't you watching my kids?" The school is liable.

Or, how many times bullies would take advantage of such games. I remember as a kid (vaguely), the larger kids pelting the smaller, meeker ones at dodge-ball. Like the one nerdy kid who wanted to play but lacked the physical abilities would be the only one the bullies would throw at until he was hit, and they probably hit him on his way out too.

And, don't forget, all the places named are conservative places.

But, it only said unsupervised chase games. If they had some sort of supervision (not a referee, but just someone watching) they should be ok. Or the parents could all sign liability forms, removing liability from the schools.

And nothing is stopping these kids from playing the games outside of recess.

Just playing devil's advocate here.

[jazzbird.livejournal.com]

God forbid children run around and get exercise AND like it.

Oy.

[sami406.livejournal.com]

This has been going on for awhile now in many schools, including as local as Vacaville. The schools worry about liabilities. It is lame! Kids need to learn certain social skills and to have an outlet. I think it is more lazy administration that doesn’t want to work with the kids and the parents on playing safe. It is much easier to just ban things all together.

This same school has banned dodge ball.

Oh and don’t get me started on all the school that have removed swings from the playgrounds because kids were getting hurt walking in front of them. You know some life lessons need to be learned. Why are we coddling the kids so much? I fear for the feature.

school fun

[caradoc01.livejournal.com]

the only two fond memories I have of school are of disecting things and playing dodge ball.

I was one of those people that was always chosen late in the picking but I was also always one of the last kids out and oft times the last one.

the fact that schools have gotten so fearful of being held liable for what the kids do that I am beginning to see schools much as they are protrayed in Pink Floyds "The Wall" or in the game "Cyberpunk" where kids sit and stare at the teach as they have facts recited to them are then piled on with 7 hours of homework and expected to remember it all.

People wonder why kids hate school, it is because they are forced to sit in uncomfortable desks, have teachers who's only (legal) interaction with them is to spout off facts, formulas and information at them just before they are given a homework assignment, for that class alone, that will take between 50 and 90 minutes to complete.

Multiply that by 6 or 7 classes and the kids have 5 to 10.5 hours of homework, all of which is expected to be turned in the next day, kids don't have time to play.