My ten-year-old son came home from school the other day and informed me that tag has been banned from the playground.
I asked him why, and he said the new principal made this rule, because he thought tag was too dangerous and worried that some kids would get hurt. After doing some googling on this subject, it's apparent that our school is not alone in banning this "most dangerous game" from the playground.
Now I'm all for playground safety. This same son broke his arm badly two years ago after falling from a brand-new piece of playground equipment that was dangerously high, and landing on a way-too-thin layer of woodchips. And we cared enough about the safety of our son and the other kids to raise a bit of a fuss about it--enough of a fuss so that the very next day, there was a dump truck parked beside the school playground, dropping off a small mountain of protective mulch to add to the meager amount that was already there; enough of a fuss so that this gizmo was declared off-limits to the kids until it got lowered considerably.
But no more tag? Come on! According to my son, the kids are still allowed to play running games (now isn't that nice of them, granting the kids permission to run...at recess...on a playground?), as long as they don't involve chasing anyone. Call me a cynical mother of only boys, but when I suggest "peaceful" games like that to my kids, they call me a "hippie."
Yes, I strongly discourage my kids from being aggressive or violent towards others in their play. But even I would draw the line at tag. Usually it's all about the running, or pursuing friends who want to be chased.
And with so many of our children overweight, don't we want to encourage them to run and move their bodies vigorously during those rare chances they get during their school day? With so much of it devoted to standing obediently and quietly in lines, or sitting obediently and quietly in desks filling out worksheets and being "taught to the tests," with gym time shrinking as their waistlines grow, don't we want to encourage them to make the most of their short recess breaks by running around freely?
Apparently a couple of kids in Colorado complained that they didn't want to play, but were somehow forced to anyway. But isn't forbidding everyone to play tag the easy way out of this little predicament? Wouldn't it be better to use this situation as one of those "teachable moments?" For instance, those students who don't want to play could be encouraged to find ways to speak out and stand up for themselves, and the tag players could be taught consideration and respect for the feelings and personal boundaries of others. Or couldn't they just allocate a certain part of the playground for games of tag?
I loved dodgeball as a kid too, but the banning of that one makes a lot more sense to me. Now that was a game where only the strong survived, where there was always a very real risk of injury. It could be quite terrifying for the timid or non-aggressive student, like facing a firing squad. It was often a way for the bigger, meaner kids to literally attack the weaker kids right under the watchful eyes of the gym teacher.
(But on the other hand, it was also a fun way for a boy to let a girl know he liked her. I can remember finding it kind of thrilling and exhilarating to get singled out, to get plastered repeatedly with that big rubber ball by a boy I thought was cute. It was usually one of those telltale signs that he had a bit of a crush on me too.)
But yes, it was quite an aggressive, forceful game, whose sole purpose was to literally knock others out of play.
Yet I can never remember getting harmed in any way by a game of schoolyard tag. True, whenever a game involves running, there's the risk of someone falling or tripping. But that can happen going down a crowded stairway in the school building, or jostling for a place in the cafeteria lunch line.
I think what's happening is a few of those overprotective, hovering parents who don't want their kids playing are complaining loudly and ruining it for ALL the kids, who will be denied the wonderful memory of playing tag on the playground with friends. Or maybe the schools are trying to protect their butts from lawsuits. Either way, it seems an overreaction to me, another fun childhood pastime falling by the wayside.
Hopefully some day our kids will get sensible again and reclaim tag for their own kids. But like so many of those playground games that just don't seem to get passed down any longer for various reasons--like foursquare or tether ball or red light/green light--they'll first have to look up the rules on some website.
I asked him why, and he said the new principal made this rule, because he thought tag was too dangerous and worried that some kids would get hurt. After doing some googling on this subject, it's apparent that our school is not alone in banning this "most dangerous game" from the playground.
Now I'm all for playground safety. This same son broke his arm badly two years ago after falling from a brand-new piece of playground equipment that was dangerously high, and landing on a way-too-thin layer of woodchips. And we cared enough about the safety of our son and the other kids to raise a bit of a fuss about it--enough of a fuss so that the very next day, there was a dump truck parked beside the school playground, dropping off a small mountain of protective mulch to add to the meager amount that was already there; enough of a fuss so that this gizmo was declared off-limits to the kids until it got lowered considerably.
But no more tag? Come on! According to my son, the kids are still allowed to play running games (now isn't that nice of them, granting the kids permission to run...at recess...on a playground?), as long as they don't involve chasing anyone. Call me a cynical mother of only boys, but when I suggest "peaceful" games like that to my kids, they call me a "hippie."
Yes, I strongly discourage my kids from being aggressive or violent towards others in their play. But even I would draw the line at tag. Usually it's all about the running, or pursuing friends who want to be chased.
And with so many of our children overweight, don't we want to encourage them to run and move their bodies vigorously during those rare chances they get during their school day? With so much of it devoted to standing obediently and quietly in lines, or sitting obediently and quietly in desks filling out worksheets and being "taught to the tests," with gym time shrinking as their waistlines grow, don't we want to encourage them to make the most of their short recess breaks by running around freely?
Apparently a couple of kids in Colorado complained that they didn't want to play, but were somehow forced to anyway. But isn't forbidding everyone to play tag the easy way out of this little predicament? Wouldn't it be better to use this situation as one of those "teachable moments?" For instance, those students who don't want to play could be encouraged to find ways to speak out and stand up for themselves, and the tag players could be taught consideration and respect for the feelings and personal boundaries of others. Or couldn't they just allocate a certain part of the playground for games of tag?
I loved dodgeball as a kid too, but the banning of that one makes a lot more sense to me. Now that was a game where only the strong survived, where there was always a very real risk of injury. It could be quite terrifying for the timid or non-aggressive student, like facing a firing squad. It was often a way for the bigger, meaner kids to literally attack the weaker kids right under the watchful eyes of the gym teacher.
(But on the other hand, it was also a fun way for a boy to let a girl know he liked her. I can remember finding it kind of thrilling and exhilarating to get singled out, to get plastered repeatedly with that big rubber ball by a boy I thought was cute. It was usually one of those telltale signs that he had a bit of a crush on me too.)
But yes, it was quite an aggressive, forceful game, whose sole purpose was to literally knock others out of play.
Yet I can never remember getting harmed in any way by a game of schoolyard tag. True, whenever a game involves running, there's the risk of someone falling or tripping. But that can happen going down a crowded stairway in the school building, or jostling for a place in the cafeteria lunch line.
I think what's happening is a few of those overprotective, hovering parents who don't want their kids playing are complaining loudly and ruining it for ALL the kids, who will be denied the wonderful memory of playing tag on the playground with friends. Or maybe the schools are trying to protect their butts from lawsuits. Either way, it seems an overreaction to me, another fun childhood pastime falling by the wayside.
Hopefully some day our kids will get sensible again and reclaim tag for their own kids. But like so many of those playground games that just don't seem to get passed down any longer for various reasons--like foursquare or tether ball or red light/green light--they'll first have to look up the rules on some website.
3 comments:
Kids, especially boys though, need to burn off their excess energy. I wonder if rising ADD diagnoses are tied in with the reduction of play time? I can't think of anyone diagnosed as even "hyper" in my childhood, but then again, we had time to run around in free, unstructed play.
You're absolutely right, Kirsten. Not to downplay the fact that there ARE some kids who really, truly have it and truly require and deserve full treatment for it....
Still, over the past decade or so, ADD seems to have become the latest trendy "disease." It's almost alarming how many kids (especially boys, as you pointed out) are diagnosed with varying degrees of it.
Yet it's been my experience as the mother of three boys (one of them with Down syndrome whose teachers recommended that HE be tested for ADD!, and whom I was pressured to give Ritalin to, but discontinued it after two days, seeing what it was doing to my sweet boy)...anyway, it seems to me that a lot of what many people now define as ADD or ADHD is actually what used to be referred to as just "boys being boys" (i.e. learning best in many cases through very hands-on activities, being "hyper" and unable to sit in any one place for too long, or restless and unable to pay attention to any one thing for too long, etc.)
I think that with the serious overcrowding of so many classrooms though, and the demands to meet these sometimes unrealistic federal standards related to No Child Left Behind, teachers just don't have the time, patience or resources to deal with typical elementary-school-age behaviors. And once a kid gets this diagnosis, the parents don't have to feel guilty about putting their child on Ritalin or other drugs, and the teachers get to reduce these kids' workloads--sometimes drastically--along with their expectations of them, sadly. Makes it easier on everyone, except the poor drugged-out kids who truly are "left behind."
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