GregHowley.com

Schools Ban Recess Games

October 18, 2006 -

This is total bullshit. I just read a USA Today article that discusses schools that ban games such as tag and soccer during recess. Think of the children! Yeah, right. I ran around like a freak during first grade recess, and I received my share of bumps and bruises. No lasting harm done.

Some traditional childhood games are disappearing from school playgrounds because educators say they're dangerous. Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Spokane, Wash., banned tag at recess this year. Others, including a suburban Charleston, S.C., school, dumped contact sports such as soccer and touch football. In other cities, including Wichita; San Jose, Calif.; Beaverton, Ore.; and Rancho Santa Fe., Calif., schools took similar actions earlier.

I love videogames as much as the next guy, but... well I probably love video games more than the next guy, but... physical activity is important. I keep telling that to myself as my 30-something gut edges up on 200 pounds. I need to play more DDR.

Let's just hope that this law falls out of favor soon, because I think it's just plain stupid.

Comments on Schools Ban Recess Games
 
Comment Wed, October 18 - 7:20 PM by KJToo
When my son reaches five years of age, I shall have him permanently encased in cushioned Kevlar body armor fitted with omni-directional proximity detectors that shriek loudly should anyone get within five feet of his person. Perhaps then he will be safe from the dangers of tag and touch football, not to mention hugging his parents, playing with the cats and most any other childhood activity that could be classified as "fun".
 
Comment Thu, October 19 - 8:28 AM by Brandon
Aside from the obvious problem of removing various forms of physical activitiy from kids' days, this will also remove the opportunity for them to get all banged up and see that it's not the end of the world. I'm not saying you should whack your kids just to teach them about pain, but it is important that they learn that they're going to fall down, get bumped around and suffer other slight hurts and end up being perfectly fun. Otherwise you raise a generation of kids who are afraid to get jostled on the bus.

I mean, neither soccer nor touch football need to be heavy with the contact if you have good officiating. Banning tag is just stupid. What's next, banning hide and seek for fear of fostering abandonment issues?
 
Comment Thu, October 19 - 8:29 AM by Brandon
Oops, I meant "be perfectly fine", although kids who suffer slight hurts are, on average, 20% more fun than other kids. ;)
 
Comment Thu, October 19 - 10:01 AM by tagger
As I approach the age of sixty, I have the satisfaction of knowing that:

(1) I was a skinny kid, and remained at a more or less "normal" weight well into my 40s. Though I am a fattie these days, I find it easier to lose weight (70+ pounds over the past three years from my all-time high) than some younger people seem to.

(2) My generation may well outlive newer models. A depressing number of people I work with, all of whom seem to be 10 to 15 years younger than I, have Type II diabetes and are taking all kinds of cholesterol and blood pressure medication. Some of the people I've talked to who are on these drugs are still in their twenties. One woman's husband, barely 50 years of age, weighs 475 pounds, has a plastic hip, diabetes, high blood pressure and still orders pizza twice a week. Her kid is 16, 5' 6" tall and weighs more than I do. He has bad knees, and is "special needs," whateverinhell that means.

(3) Kids seem to be allergic to an awful lot of common stuff these days. I don't mean cat dander and ragweed pollen, I mean food and grass!

Don't dispair--these "educators" tell me that the drugs they're shoveling into our kids are _almost_ as effective in controlling ADD (something we never even heard of!) and agressive behavior as (GASP!) regular exercise and a good swat across the ass when necessary.

Those of you with kids in school have a tough choice to make--let these PhD-toting idiots tell you how to raise your kids, or get rid of them and do what works. It's your money and they're your kids.