Now what the hell is this????

[per_solo]

ATTLEBORO, Massachusetts (AP) -- 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, Wyoming, and Spokane, Washington, also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, South Carolina, 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.

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So, what do YOU think of this?

Comments

[cassandramorgan.livejournal.com]

On one hand, I think it's stupid.

On the other hand, those kids are lucky to have recess. There are public schools that, thanks to Bush's No Child Left Behind, aren't getting recess time because they have to study for tests.

But the main point: they're kids, they'll get hurt. That's what happens when you are a kid.

[toxico.livejournal.com]

Shall we lock our kids in a fucking perfectly round neutral-colored padded bubble at ground level for eternity?

What the fuck. Just WHAT. THE. FUCK.

And that one person? The "I've witnessed enough near collisions" bitch? Gratz2u on being a near parent.

Fuck this school. What the hell are they going to do, Tai Chi?

[echoweaver.livejournal.com]

Primarily, I think it's another sign of how paranoid and ligitious our culture has become, particularly about children.

OTOH, it's hard to argue with "exclusionary." I don't think there's a way to keep children from being exclusionary.

[per_solo]

On the one hand, I agree. :-)

I hadn't even thought of that fact, that kids might not be having recess.

Yeah, my annoyance is that I have plenty of scars from when I was a kid. Kids take risks, that's part of living to become an adult. Kids SHOULD be safe, but have we taken the extra steps toward making sure that children come out of school as automatons? I don't know.

[duelingrose.livejournal.com]

I'm part of the Cartoon Network Taking Back Recess campaign.

Chasing is part of recess. RUNNING is healthy. And when you add fun like tag, dodgeball, etc, you make kids want to run and stay healthy.

Now what are they supposed to do?

And the nation wonders why it has fat kids.

KIDS CAN'T LOSE WEIGHT IF THEY AREN'T ALLOWED OUTSIDE TO RUN!

You want kids to read more, and become smarter... Lower the price of books. 15$ for a work of classic literature is retarded. Movies are cheaper, and that's depressing.

[per_solo]

See, I've seen the people who are all paranoid that crap will happen to their kids. I've also seen the people who project their own insecurities, phobias, and psychoses onto their children. I'm not sure that 75% of the people who are called parents anymore are worthy of that title.

There are exceptions I've known and seen, but the majority are "Oh god, I wasn't meant to be a parent". Suck it up! You enjoy sex, kids are a side effect of that, quit whining, and actually see if you can raise this brat into something worthy of being called Human.

No,it's not obvious I'm NOT a parent, is it? I'll go back to the bill hicks school of thought on that one.

So, there's an interesting idea for a post..what all do schools have to outlaw now? Kids can't walk too near the fountains, as they might slip in some water? No more of those door that open partway (can't think of the type), as the kid could crack their head on the top part

Hell, imagine the savings in Gym equipment alone. :-P

[per_solo]

Yeah, I don't know either, on the exclusionary part. but, Hell, at what point do you stop worrying? T-Ball, kid can get hit with a ball, basketball, slip on sweat on the court, same with Football, let alone just what kind of friendly sport Football is. :-)

Track? You trip, and skin your leg up all to hell on the hard concrete.

I can play this game for a long time, if they really want me to. :-P

[ankita-1.livejournal.com]

Dodgeball should never have been a child recess / gym game from the beginning. They hit each other hard with balls, get patted on the back and congratulated, yet when they try to do the same thing with other objects in other settings, they get yelled at for being bad. I've never thought dodgeball sends a good message to kids.

However, the best way for kids to play sports is unsupervised where they can use their imaginations, change the rules to suit them, and play for the fun of it. Kids get in fights, they get hurt, they'll mend.

See my post down below.

[royalcrow.livejournal.com]

Bravo Fucking 'O'

[goldstep.livejournal.com]

From a torts sense, I would agree that you can sue someone lets your kid get hurt under their watch. And with the glass skull rule, someone who gets hurt because they are frail is still hurt. So I can understand the legal arguement.
But I would argue this is a reason to change the law -- as long as there is a school nurse or something, the school is taking reasonable steps and I wish that counted for more. Not just for elementary school kids, but also for all of us.

Re: See my post down below.

[per_solo]

Yes. One of the reasons I have Toxico friended. :-)

[per_solo]

Calvinball started for a reason. I have many scars, many of them have interesting stories behind them. I WISH i now had the recuperative abilities of my younger self (in all sense, physical, mental, and others).

See, I'm mostly anti-sport, particularly football. but, several of them DO have a place it seems.

I'm still waiting to see "Sex" as an olympic level sport. Just imagine the fun and chaos that would ensue. :-P

[per_solo]

You bring a few good points to this. With as Sue Happy as society is, but yes, that's the perfect reason to change the law, as opposed to making kids miss out on growing up. The school nurse idea is an Excellent point in why the school should already be covered.

[rowa17.livejournal.com]

I added you back. I'm sorry it took so long. :-) I'm glad you think my posts are uplifting!! Sometimes they are boring, though. Hahaha.

[per_solo]

*heh* I'll go add you back, but yeah, uplifting, since the first one I read, a friend had pointed me to.