Did the game of "tag" ruin your life?

[BAW]

SANTA MONICA ? A Santa Monica elementary school has banned the game of tag, once synonymous with youth and innocence, because they say it creates self-esteem issues among weaker and slower children.

"We had some children who were not playing 'it' appropriately. How do you differentiate between those that are playing correctly and those that aren't?" asked Franklin Elementary School Principal Pat Samarge.

In the school's weekly newsletter, Samarge told parents that without adult supervision, the game would be banned. The principal said children playing tag suffered both physical and emotional injuries.

"Little kids were coming in and saying 'I don't like it.' [The] children weren't feeling good about it," Samarge said.

Dr. Judy Young, executive director of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, disagreed with Samarge, saying that games like tag "are organized to have a winner and a loser," which is simply a part of life.

"Self-esteem should not be imbedded in whether you win or lose a game," Young said.

Tamara Silver, a parent of a fifth-grader at Franklin Elementary School, said the school sent her two letters informing her of the new rules. The second letter cited safety concerns, not issues of self-image, to justify the tag ban.

"I want my child to know that he can have some freedom," Silver said. "I want my child to know he can play. I want my child to know that he can fall down and skin his knee."

This has been all over the local news in the LA area and I have to say that with this, I've just about heard it all. Tag, a game that has been played by generations of kids, is now "damaging to a child's self-esteem"??? What kind of wimpy, wussy children are we going to send out in this big, ugly, competitive world if they aren't allowed to experience losing a game once in a while? We already have no score soccer games and this year, my son's high school yearbook removed the "best looking" and "best personality" categories because "someone might get their feelings hurt"!

I just remember such a different way of growing up in the 70's. It seemed like I always had a skinned knee or a splinter in my finger and now we want to wrap our kids in a plastic bubble and insulate them from everything, including hurt feelings. I know its a completely different world today but I really feel sorry for todays small kids.

Competition is not always a bad thing.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

Yeah, I read about this the other day too. Well that's all well and good....coddle and protect your children and when they are 40 and still living at home and unable to function in a society that isn't going to protect them from every little buffet and blow, ask yourself if you did them (or you) a favor.

Actually, tag was one game I was actually decent at.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I'd heard about a similar thing with 'dodge ball' (where the objective is to hit someone with a ball), a game I hated, but...tag? Really, even the unathletic kids like myself had a few winning moments with tag. Take away tag and there's hardly any games left for the unathletic kids to succeed at. I don't get it.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

yes, that was my situation too, joyfulgirl. Being not so athletic, it was nice to have a game that didn't require you to be humiliated in the "last to be picked for a team" scenario.

 

[BAW]

I agree with joyfulgirl about dodge ball...the object of the game is to slam someone with a ball, not something I was really fond of either! And like joyful girl and sula, I was not the most athletic kid and to play tag, all you had to know how to do is run, which I could manage!

If we get anymore PC in this country, our kids will end up playing solitaire for recess.

 

[U2002revolution!]

er, not particularly

 

[Lilly]

group:

me: well, someone has to provide the bubble these kids are going to live in.

group: :idea:

 

[Lemonite]

If we get anymore PC in this country...

People are catching on.

L.Unplugged

 

[Lemonite]

Where did 'Lucas's Ignore this Thread thread go?..

It was just getting good?

Deleted?.. Ah well..

L.Unplugged

 

[Screaming Flower]

Where did 'Lucas's Ignore this Thread thread go?..

It was just getting good?

Deleted?.. Ah well..

L.Unplugged

i replied to you in about sdh and random dining hall workers and when i checked back later it was gone. too bad.

 

[Lemonite]

I know.. anything that mentions Howard and passing out at a party is pure gold!!

L.Unplugged

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

shit like this makes me not want to have children. i mean, i'd raise my kids the same way i was raised. that it's okay to lose sometimes, it's a part of life. but you can try to work your ass off to win. but these people just want to raise a bunch of pansy-assed kids who bawl anytime they are tagged it.

 

[Screaming Flower]

l.u. - i think the howard story is true. it's one of my favorite sdh stories.

and to stay somewhat on topic - no, tag did not ruin my life. these kids are going to grow up to be lame wusses.

 

[martha]

We've not allowed tag at my school at recess for a while, but it's because the kids fall and get hurt or end up tackling each other and getting hurt.

 

[Stories for Boys]

tag was fun...we also had boys chase girls...i see no harm in it...some kids aren't good at reading...should they take reading out of the curriculem in school so as to not harm the kid's self esteem? honestly...where do you draw the line???

 

[Klodomir]

Great! Kids are getting fatter and more clumsy all the time, and now they're no longer allowed to play a game that might cause them to scrape their chubby little knees or learn to deal with defeat? I'm beginning to think it's time to get more men involved in bringing up children.

 

[Skeksis]

Scrubby

How about instead of insulating and protecting our children from the realities of life, we instead teach them to psychologically deal with them properly? Tag is sort of an extension to darwinism, in that the slower and weaker get eliminated to the faster and more powerful. And I don't think the world is going to breaking any more fundamentals of biology anytime soon, so really lets just teach them to handle defeat, recognize personal strengths and weaknesses and build self-esteem from inside.

 

[joyfulgirl]

How about instead of insulating and protecting our children from the realities of life, we instead teach them to psychologically deal with them properly? Tag is sort of an extension to darwinism, in that the slower and weaker get eliminated to the faster and more powerful. And I don't think the world is going to breaking any more fundamentals of biology anytime soon, so really lets just teach them to handle defeat, recognize personal strengths and weaknesses and build self-esteem from inside.

I'm just going to follow you around over here and agree with everything--lol.

 

[meriphew]

This could be the basis for an episode of Sienfeld.

 

[Angela Harlem]

What a crock of shit.
Hasn't this woman ever heard of brandings? We even had a brick wall built for this game with a large target painted on it. I grew up ok. We had 8 foot high monkey bars. Did anyone break their arms? No. When you are 4 feet high, you know to be careful. Most of our brick buildings had stairs about 12 steps high. How many kids fell down them and sued the school because they were dangerous? None. Kids are clumsy. Kids will always scrape their knees. Kids will always break bones. Kids will always play games. Kids love the winning and losing in games. We need it for when we are all grown up.

Stupid woman.

Kinda helps the home school argument doesn't it.

What a crock.

[Insert Lemonite laugh here]

 

[adamswildhoney]

What as the world come to! Tag never "ruined" my life, I didnt really play it that often when I was younger because I just didnt want to. Kids no matter how much you protect them are going to fall and get hurt, unless you put your child in a bubble!

 

[speedracer]

Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated once wrote a column in response to tag being banned at some other school. He wrote that soon the only games allowed at school would be games like

-duck, duck, duck. Teacher goes around patting each kid on the head.

-musical chairs, with 25 chairs for 10 kids.

 

[Stories for Boys]

 

[sharky]

we've been passing this story around work and all of us agree-- kids not playing tag are wimps. They have it too easy.

Of course, I knew it was bad a few months ago when I saw a story about kids jumping rope with imaginary jump ropes so they wouldn't feel bad about themselves if they ever tripped on the rope. No I am not kidding.

I got hit in the face with dodge balls, was tagged out in tag and got screwed over in screw ball but at least I'm a well adjusted adult. Sort of....

 

[Diemen]

Disallowing tag???

Might as well take away the tricycles in kindergarten, someone might fall and skin their knee, or they might collide with another person and the parents could sue.

Oops, do away with sports as well. The less athletically-inclined kids might feel bad that they're not as good as the star players - can't create any opportunity for personal growth, ya know. And it requires practice, persistence and the ability to overcome defeat to become good at - that's just asking too much from kids.

Speaking of practice and persistence, lets do away with all arts and music programs, the less talented students would get discouraged.

Bye bye to gifted and talented education programs as well, that's discriminating against the less talented students.

No more report cards either, Billy might feel bad that Bobby got an A while he got an A-. From now on teachers will just tell everybody they're doing a great job for who they are.

------

It's sick how annoyingly soft this country has gotten when it comes to raising and educating kids. It's OKAY to fail every once in a while, as long as you keep trying and learn from your mistakes. A big part of life is learning from your mistakes, not avoiding all opportunities that might possibly, ever-so-slightly have the chance of creating failures or mistakes. The way this PC trend is going, we're going to have a nation full of completely spineless cowards that simply fall apart at the first sign of adversity.