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.
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.
This is crazy! Playing tag is banned? What's next? Playing equipment taken out for fear of breaking an arm? Well, what happens when someone climbs a tree? Oh wait, that's right, if there is no running allowed, no equipment to play on, then I guess we won't have reccess at all, right? That was all I lived for as a kid! I think school officalls need to calm down. And crazy parents need to stop complaining and going sue-crazy. Kids are going to be kids. They are going to hurt themselves but they will have fun doing it. You can't sue every person you see in hopes of earning a quick million. That is how our world is going to go down the hole...and it already has started. Banning things is crazy and it probably won't work anyway. Poor kids.
I totally agree with you on that. Kids get hurt all the time. Playing outside and falling down and getting hurt is all part of being a kid. Parents are way too over pretective these days. That's a shame the ways these kids are sheltered. Let the kids have a little fun. If he/she falls down, scraps a knee just put a bandaid on it and send them back out their.
I totally agree.
Love,
Lauren
I can't believe this! Kids childhood are being taken away and it's wrong. My favorite game in elementary school was tag, dodgeball and kickball.... what do they expect us to play? duck duck goose all day?
Imagination is being ripped away from kids all over again just like when video games became so big. Next thing you know, parents will insist that playing dress-up and pretend is impractical (even for a child) and discourage these imaginitive activities. Such a sad day when tag is banned...
Love,
Lauren
Oh, I remember hearing about this. Yeah, that's totally nuts. If parents really don't want their kids to be hurt, they'll send them outside in a giant plastic bubble or something.
I don't understand what's with all this sheltering. Well, I DO understand that as a parent, you want to protect your child, but it seems like it's been taken way too overboard lately, and I can't think of any reasons to explain it.
I think playing sports during recess is important for children in many ways. One, it allows them to get physical exercise that they might not get otherwise, and two, it allows them to develop important social skills.
Kids are going to be kids no matter what. If tag is banned, they will create a new game that can offer them the same kind of entertainment.
Parents are naturally overprotective of the kids. What these parents aren't remembering is how they were when they were kids. If they would stop to think, they would realize how much they enjoyed playing tag and other games at recess. I hope that they realize what they are depriving their children of.
*~Heidi~*
I'm glad that so many people see the side I saw when I first saw this. I hope that tag gets reinstalled into the school systems because kids will be hurt no matter what they do and they will miss the interaction if it is banned.