Let kids be kids!!!!!!!!!!! Good Lord!!!

[U2democrat]

ATTLEBORO, MA (AP) -- Tag is as much a tradition at recess as the lunch lady is in the cafeteria. But when youngsters at a suburban Boston school go outside, they'll get in trouble if they try to play tag.

The age-old game is now banned by the principal, who says recess is a time "when accidents can happen." Officials are also afraid if someone gets hurt, the school will get sued.

Along with tag, the youngsters can't play touch football or any other game in which they're chasing each other.

Tag bans aren't entirely unheard of across the country. As for the Attleboro, Massachusetts, school, reaction is mixed. One mom says she's seen "enough near collisions" on the playground to justify the ban. But another mom calls it an example of kids' lives being "micromanaged."

Heaven forbid kids should scrape their knees...run into each other or worse...HAVE FUN!!!!! *gasp*

On a side note I'm writing a research paper for my English class on the benefits of recess...and seeing stuff like this...argh...it makes me so angry. We are becoming such an overprotective, sue-happy society.

 

[AussieU2fanman]

With the tendancy for such a evidently litigious natured society of late, stories like this indicates it's only going to get worse

 

[80sU2isBest]

Good grief!

 

[dazzlingamy]

God, how completely stupid!!

I wonder if schools in the states play Brandy? Its like tag but instead of tagging with your hand you actually peg a tennis ball as hard as you can at the person, preferably in the head. ITs even better if you wet the ball first, damn it stings like a bitch <--- such wonderful school memories!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

and here i thought the bans on dodge ball were ridiculous...

 

[Irvine511]

God, how completely stupid!!

I wonder if schools in the states play Brandy? Its like tag but instead of tagging with your hand you actually peg a tennis ball as hard as you can at the person, preferably in the head. ITs even better if you wet the ball first, damn it stings like a bitch <--- such wonderful school memories!

i remember it well.

only it was called either "burnball" or "butt's up."

 

[U2democrat]

Could it be? A topic ALL FYMers can agree on?

 

[yolland]

Wow...I'm an advocate of playground safety to the extent of pea gravel below the monkey bars and that sort of thing, but this definitely sounds ridiculous.

My grade school didn't even have a playground, just a lawn which was too small for ball games, so tag was pretty much the only active game we could play. I can't imagine how they'd have kept us from going berserk if we'd had rules like this...

 

[nathan1977]

My landlord recently told me that my little girl can't run around in the complex. She could hurt herself.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i remember it well.

only it was called either "burnball" or "butt's up."

ahhh... we called it ass's up

we must have dirtier mouths in the rough and tumble streets of long island

 

[randhail]

God, how completely stupid!!

I wonder if schools in the states play Brandy? Its like tag but instead of tagging with your hand you actually peg a tennis ball as hard as you can at the person, preferably in the head. ITs even better if you wet the ball first, damn it stings like a bitch <--- such wonderful school memories!

In Mass, it was known as suicide.

As a side note, I got street hockey banned at my school because I accidently hit my teacher in the side of the head with the ball. Needless to say I wasn't a pro.

It really speaks to how everyone is afraid of getting sued. It's permeating every aspect of life - doctor's office, playground, classroom. It's ridiculous. I realize a lawsuit every now and then is necessary, but doesn't anybody believe in the phrase "shit happens" anymore? Does any body take personal responsibility for their actions or is it easier to blame someone else?

 

[Dreadsox]

I can only say, being the one in charge of a playground, I understand where the school is coming from.

 

[yolland]

Do you agree with the article's implication that it's mostly about lawsuits?

 

[BVS]

It's rap music's fault...

 

[Sue DeNym]

And meanwhile, the youth of the nation is getting fatter and more sedentary...

We played tag as kids. Our school had large grassy fields; if you fell, it didn't hurt much, though it did stain your clothes. Why can't they do that now? Skinned knees and grass-stained clothes are part of childhood. All this mollycoddling is going to turn this generation into a bunch of wimps who freak out at a papercut.

 

[Dreadsox]

Do you agree with the article's implication that it's mostly about lawsuits?

ABSOLUTELY

I cannot get into specifics of cases as much as I would like.

Weekly I am outside with my custodian making sure that the tar where basketball is played, the tar where hopscotch, catch and jumprope is played, is blown off with the leaf blower. If woodchips from the playground area or sand from winter sanding coats these areas students are likely to fall.

The new playground we built has new playthings that require extra supervision to make certain nobodt is using the equiptment improperly. If any student falls down, no matter how minor, we require the student be sent to the nurse to make certain that she has checked out the child.

There have been situations where parents have come to observe the recess activities to see if the students are being observed and to see that they are playing safely.

When you look at the way most recesses are conducted, very often you have three aides who are watching the students. Most recesses that I have been involved in in my twelve year career involve at a minimum 100 students to 150. For three people to monitor them is a task that most people would run away from crying. Making certain that all 100 are playing safely and carefully is a daunting task. And lt's think what these people are paid to do this task. Not much.

 

[Muggsy]

It wouldn't surprise me if Kid's clothes start to come with this:

http://www.hello.nl/photos2/bubblewrap.JPG

 

[anitram]

The fact is a school cannot waive liability if something happens in the schoolyard. Litigation is expensive and timely and I can see why this exists as ridiculous as it seems to the average person.

 

[Golightly Grrl]

Reading this stuff makes me so glad I chose not to have kids.

 

[Dreadsox]

Reading this stuff makes me so glad I chose not to have kids.

recess makes you think this?

 

[MacHat]

When I was a kid bullrush was banned here, kina understandable cos people could get seriously hurt e.g broken limbs.
But banning tag is reidiculous! .

 

[Irvine511]

ahhh... we called it ass's up

we must have dirtier mouths in the rough and tumble streets of long island

neanderthals. we were much more refined in Connecticut.

 

[BluRmGrl]

Pathetic.

Of course, to be on the safe side, schools need to remove all those dangerous books. I shudder to think of those things just lying in wait for the children, ready to give them 3rd degree paper cuts!

And forks! The forks from the cafeteria - nothing but an impalement waiting to happen.

And pencils! Have you seen the points on those things?! My God, they just give me nightmares!




Just pathetic.

 

[Harry Vest]

This is absolutely ridiculous!!!
It would be funny if it wasn't so FUC#IN SAD!!!!!!

 

[Liesje]

It's sad that the things we used to do for fun and exercise on a daily basis have to be banned out of fear of lawsuits. Not that I wouldn't do the same thing if I were the school.

It's getting to be the same way with gymnastics. My husband worked for years at the place I used to train, and even though any kid that steps through the door has to have a waiver on file, I've seen the coaches hold back more and more with their programs. It's gone from being this amazing sport that yes involves some risk to glorified babysitting. Instead of working on skills, the kids are doing little obstacle courses on the mats and playing swordfight with those swimming noodles on the trampolines.

 

[BluRmGrl]

...the kids are ...playing swordfight with those swimming noodles on the trampolines.

LAWSUIT!!!! Lawsuit waiting to happen!!! Some poor child could get styrofoam burn from one of those things grazing his/her skin!!! And trampolines?!?!? My God - the peril these kids are in is mind-boggling!! Somebody's gotta' put a stop to it!

 

[verte76]

This is ridiculous!

 

[Dreadsox]

:And forks! The forks from the cafeteria - nothing but an impalement waiting to happen.

Ummm.....god I have a true story....But I cannot share it....

 

[Dreadsox]

So, I as a school administrator should be free from liability if someone gets hurt?

 

[U2democrat]

Define hurt...there are so many different degrees of hurt.

Scraped knees vs. a broken leg. It's all so vague.