Mass. grade school bans tag, other chase games
Category: Life
ATTLEBORO, Mass. - 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. Modified versions now include softer balls and ways for children to re-enter the action.
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.
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Comments: 9
The US military has put up one new military base, in Washington state, and will build two more along the border with Canada next year. Blackhawk helicopters are patrolling what used to be the world's longest undefended border today. The military (more correctly the administration) seems to fear that Canadians will sneak across the border without getting a visa. Canadians are the world's most peace loving people (we invented peacekeeping during the Suez crisis) and we have more job available here than we can fill.
Your administration now wants you to fear Canadians. Just how stupid does your president think he can make you? Well, if schools want to ban playing tag, then apparently he believes he can make you stupider than you could imagine.
Canadians aren't insulted by this, by the way. The US is our biggest trading partner. We're just watching the US and trying to figure out which is the big dog and which is the tail.
But back to the article....this country is way to lawsuit happy. Kids will be kids. You get scrapes. You get bruises. You break bones. Stuff happens during childhood play. When I was still competing gymnastics and I broke my collar bone when I slipped on the balance beam, you didn't see my parents running to sue my coach or the school or the equipment company. Nowadays, who knows. A parent probably would sue the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) or USA Gymnastics. My point....banning tag? :That's just out of control!
As an educator and sociologist I must say that banning tag is totally insane. Never mind thinking outside the box, these nitwits can't see the edges of their tiny boxes.