Colorado Springs school bans playground tag

KennyFlys said:
You can't make this stuff up!

Colorado Springs school bans playground tag
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And then people wonder why our kids are fat! :mad:

Here I was, thinking about how I was going to respond before I read the article, thinking some kid got hurt and the school was concerned about liability. I was gonna say things like how kids get hurt, and they heal quick, and that's how they learn not to hurt themselves in the future. How when I was in elementary school, a broken arm was a badge of honor.

Then, I read the article and was surprised to see it wasn't limbs being hurt, it was FEELINGS! Oh no! Little Jimmy wants to chase little Susie, but Susie doesn't want to be chased! Ban tag! :rolleyes:

Susie's parents need to teach Susie that if she doesn't run, Jimmy will quickly tire of chasing her. (Of course, they'd better teach the opposite when it's time for middle and high school. :D)

I wonder if they bothered considering the consequences of not teaching their kids to handle social situations on their own... :dunno:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Then, I read the article and was surprised to see it wasn't limbs being hurt, it was FEELINGS! Oh no! Little Jimmy wants to chase little Susie, but Susie doesn't want to be chased! Ban tag! :rolleyes:

Susie's parents need to teach Susie that if she doesn't run, Jimmy will quickly tire of chasing her. (Of course, they'd better teach the opposite when it's time for middle and high school. :D)

I wonder if they bothered considering the consequences of not teaching their kids to handle social situations on their own... :dunno:
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Or just teach Susie that it's ok to defend herself and sucker punch Jimmy if after being told she doesn't want to play he persists.
 
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"Running games are still allowed as long as students don’t chase each other, she said...

In 2005, two elementary schools in the nearby Falcon School District did away with tag and similar games in favor of alternatives with less physical contact. School officials said the move encouraged more students to play games and helped reduce playground squabbles..."
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What a bunch of bull___t.

These "experts" in child development would do well to sit and watch a litter of kittens or puppies grow up. All they do is play-fight and chase either other around, and then cuddle each other when they're done.

Physical contact and "squabbles" are so much a part of childhood that I'd venture to say they are essential. Aside from the physical exercise they provide, children need physical contact. That's why they like to be cuddled, and it's also why they like to roughhouse. It's natural and essential.

The "squabbles," as well, are learning experiences that the children almost always resolve by themselves if the adults just stay out of it. I can't tell you how many times my friends and I had fights when we were kids, and our mothers were still feuding about it long after we (the kids) had patched things up and were best friends again.

I think the old priests and brothers had the best idea. When I was a kid, when two of us had a serious fight in the schoolyard (by which I mean that closed fists found their marks), a priest or brother would drag us both by the ears to the gym and have us duke it out in the boxing ring. By the second or third round, we'd usually forgotten what the heck we'd been fighting about.

Imagine if a teacher tried doing that today.

Rich
 
I'm just going to list a few of the shennanigans we got into as a kids, and then I'll list how I and my brother turned out.

1) Mangled right hand in farm equipment at age 5 (it's how I learned to tell right from left);
2) Chased brother into doorknob at age 6;
3) Chased best friend into the Wicomico River in January at age 8;
4) While trying to throw sticks in brother's bicycle wheel, he caught one and brained me with it, requiring hospital visits;
5) Numerous BB gun wars requiring hospital trips;
6) A few fights;
7) Numerous fort battles, rock fights, and other tomfoolery on Boy Scout trips;
8) & c.

I'm not going to list my accomplishments because that would be arrogant, but by most measures I've turned out ok. My brother is working on a Ph.D. on a fellowship and has a national championship ring. Best friend from childhood is in medical school.

I don't really think our childhood experiences hurt us, and I'll go as far as to say that they probably built our characters.
 
Missa said:
Or just teach Susie that it's ok to defend herself and sucker punch Jimmy if after being told she doesn't want to play he persists.
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There ya go. :yes:

There are too many touchy feely hurting feelings types out there nowadays. Curiously the adults making these decisions are the same ones like me that use to play hard core in the playground and in the fields. I wonder what happened to make them all sissybuts now?

As far as girls playing chase games and people having problems with it, what's wrong with kids and adults nowadays? I remember overhearing a conversation in high school by the big hotshot football player about touch football. He said it was supposed to be a tame grab the flag game but the girls were playing it like it was the-teachers-aren't-looking-full-contact. He said they played rough..and that was coming from the guy that often ended up as the base foundation of friday night football player pileups.

Bring back dodgeball while you're at it. There's nothing like a ball in the face to give one a little reality check. Nothing wrong with that. It builds character.

I'm ashamed of kids nowadays. Most of what we did growing up would probably kill the delicate little kids nowadays. Unlike them, we seemed to have turned out ok.
 
RJM62 said:
I think the old priests and brothers had the best idea. When I was a kid, when two of us had a serious fight in the schoolyard (by which I mean that closed fists found their marks), a priest or brother would drag us both by the ears to the gym and have us duke it out in the boxing ring. By the second or third round, we'd usually forgotten what the heck we'd been fighting about.

Imagine if a teacher tried doing that today.

Rich
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I think I went to your school. And a funny thing happened at the end of the fight: a little respect. In one of my cases, my opponent ended up being my family dentist!
 
nddons said:
I think I went to your school. And a funny thing happened at the end of the fight: a little respect. In one of my cases, my opponent ended up being my family dentist!
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What was especially good about it was that they coached the smaller / weaker kid to boost his confidence.

The Irish priests were especially colorful in this regard. "Stop yer foostering about and fight, boy! And guard yer face, bejaysus, lest ya get a right puck in the gob."

Rich
 
fgcason said:
There ya go. :yes:

There are too many touchy feely hurting feelings types out there nowadays. Curiously the adults making these decisions are the same ones like me that use to play hard core in the playground and in the fields. I wonder what happened to make them all sissybuts now?

As far as girls playing chase games and people having problems with it, what's wrong with kids and adults nowadays? I remember overhearing a conversation in high school by the big hotshot football player about touch football. He said it was supposed to be a tame grab the flag game but the girls were playing it like it was the-teachers-aren't-looking-full-contact. He said they played rough..and that was coming from the guy that often ended up as the base foundation of friday night football player pileups.

Bring back dodgeball while you're at it. There's nothing like a ball in the face to give one a little reality check. Nothing wrong with that. It builds character.

I'm ashamed of kids nowadays. Most of what we did growing up would probably kill the delicate little kids nowadays. Unlike them, we seemed to have turned out ok.
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It seems children are much more intentionally abusive of one another than I remember as a child. Girls especially are subjected to name-calling and activity that verges on stalking. From the boys and from one another as well.

Tag was a game where you touched another child, not one where you tackled or shoved them to the ground. If you didn't want to play, then you were able to just decline. It didn't automatically make you a target.

The meanest expletive I remember hearing was, "Dummy!" These days even the littlest girls are called "sluts" at best.
 
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