I've heard it all...

red · **Joined:** Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:34 am **Posts:** 5009

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061018/ap_on_fe_st/playground_tag_ban

Quote:

Not it! Mass. elementary school bans tag

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.

Radcliffe · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:42 pm

Quote:

Another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.

Yup. Those near-collisions will kill you.

jewels santana · **Joined:** Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:36 pm **Posts:** 10198

lets put kids in bubbles
except the ones that are alergic to bubbles

Kingfish · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:46 pm

Over protective parents and insurance companies are ruining America. People need to learn your kid will probably get hurt growing up and it's okay.

I hate insurance companies with a passion.

thrillhouse · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:46 pm

as a product of ma public schools, i have to say that i am happy to see the barbaric practice of 'tag' will be treated as the blight on the school yard that it has always been. ma leading the way again!

jewels santana · **Joined:** Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:36 pm **Posts:** 10198

tag is a pretty lame game anyway.
i was more upste about bombarment.

seafoam · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:53 pm

There fades out the great sport of Kill The Man with the Ball.

Now introducing the era of the Wussying Down of America.

neuroboy · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:55 pm

makes me wonder how many suits have been filed--i'm guessing the schools that do it have good reason to feel threatened. i'm attaching the original source (a local paper) that has more parent quotes. seems like the majority of parents were against it. the story also has this awesome picture:

that photo has the potentional to be great photoshop fodder.

PopTodd · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 1:07 pm

As a parent, I have to say...

this is stupid.

Damen · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 1:48 pm

We used to play Nation Ball (or Soak 'Em as they called it 1 school over) which is like Dodgeball, but with 1 ball & way more strategy. One time in the 4th grade we challenged the 5th graders who had a ton of Japanese kids fresh over b/c thier parents worked for the automakers. They must've been a bit older than normal cause man could they throw. I got nailed in the ear & it was purple for a couple of days. But it wasn't sore so I wore it like a badge of honor. If it were up to me I would've let it stay purple for a month or two. Parents just don't understand

Senator LooGAR · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 1:51 pm

seafoam Wrote:

There fades out the great sport of Kill The Man with the Ball.

Now introducing the era of the Wussying Down of America.

You mean Smear the Queer?

Fuck, I watched my friend break his wrist so bad once, his hand waswrapped around his forearm. Course, we were out there the next day...fucker just landed wrong.

d · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 1:54 pm

I remember a girl falling off the monkey bars in 1st grade, and she broke her arm. There was no litigation against the school... she just got to wear a cool cast for a few weeks.

Z · **Joined:** Sat Oct 23, 2004 1:38 pm **Posts:** 7979

dnorwood Wrote:

I remember a girl falling off the monkey bars in 1st grade, and she broke her arm. There was no litigation against the school... she just got to wear a cool cast for a few weeks.

and then everyone signed the cast, right? how are we going to let kids practice autographs on cylindrical objects if we don't let them break limbs? am i right, or am i right?

d · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:12 pm

Z Wrote:

dnorwood Wrote:

I remember a girl falling off the monkey bars in 1st grade, and she broke her arm. There was no litigation against the school... she just got to wear a cool cast for a few weeks.

and then everyone signed the cast, right? how are we going to let kids practice autographs on cylindrical objects if we don't let them break limbs? am i right, or am i right?

Exactly! You are correct, sir.

pollysix · **Joined:** Tue Oct 26, 2004 2:56 am **Posts:** 5174

<--- Got in trouble in grade 3 for playing "violent games in the schoolyard".

Heh heh. Some guy was chasing me and pushed me down. I scraped up my knees pretty good. They made me write lines. I was all 'whatevs'. I was badass in elementary school. (What happened?)

Cap'n Squirrgle · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:13 pm

Yeah this is retarded. There should be a "no lawsuits except for PooPooDingDong" clause for elementary schools.

rogneeb · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:07 pm **Posts:** 12618

Sen. LooGAR (D - MEH) Wrote:

seafoam Wrote:

There fades out the great sport of Kill The Man with the Ball.

Now introducing the era of the Wussying Down of America.

You mean Smear the Queer?

Fuck, I watched my friend break his wrist so bad once, his hand waswrapped around his forearm. Course, we were out there the next day...fucker just landed wrong.

we used to play some rough smear the queer games. imagine both the game and the name would be frowned upon now.

we also used to play a game we invented called "all foul basketball" where the point was to try to foul the person with the ball as much as possible - pushing, hitting, etc. and see if they could still make the shot.

Z · **Joined:** Sat Oct 23, 2004 1:38 pm **Posts:** 7979

i remember getting into trouble at recess and having to stand against the wall while everyone else played. that was not fun. (i have no idea what i did that time.)

Senator LooGAR · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:16 pm

rparis74 Wrote:

Sen. LooGAR (D - MEH) Wrote:

seafoam Wrote:

There fades out the great sport of Kill The Man with the Ball.

Now introducing the era of the Wussying Down of America.

You mean Smear the Queer?

Fuck, I watched my friend break his wrist so bad once, his hand waswrapped around his forearm. Course, we were out there the next day...fucker just landed wrong.

we used to play some rough smear the queer games. imagine both the game and the name would be frowned upon now.

we also used to play a game we invented called "all foul basketball" where the point was to try to foul the person with the ball as much as possible - pushing, hitting, etc. and see if they could still make the shot.

Me and my bro used to play this, but we called it "Basketbrawl"

Evil Dr. K · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:51 am **Posts:** 6327

If I have kids will make sure they have a lot of collisions.

They WILL be climbing up Horse Chestnut trees to get conkers. They WILL be going down steep hills on their bike standing on the handlebars. And they WILL be throwing huge clods of soil at each other by throwing sharpened plastic pipes in to the ground and then violently flicking the clod at the end, like a muck catapult, at their friends faces.

Atticus Finch · **Joined:** Sat Jun 03, 2006 2:18 pm **Posts:** 627

Litigious society fallout.

rogneeb · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:07 pm **Posts:** 12618

konstantinl Wrote:

If I have kids will make sure they have a lot of collisions.

They WILL be climbing up Horse Chestnut trees to get conkers. They WILL be going down steep hills on their bike standing on the handlebars. And they WILL be throwing huge clods of soil at each other by throwing sharpened plastic pipes in to the ground and then violently flicking the clod at the end, like a muck catapult, at their friends faces.

dirt clod and pine cone wars were pretty awesome. same with shooting water balloons and other items at people via surgical tubing stretched back like a rubber band.

nick · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:28 pm

what happened to the good old days of making chinese stars with a pair of tin snips and some sheet metal?

red · **Joined:** Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:34 am **Posts:** 5009

We used to whip each other with those plastic jump ropes. If you called truce first, you were made fun of for at least a week.

Our playground had this tire swing which was like 30 tires connected together... sort of a tire pit, I guess. We'd cram about 15 kids in there (it should've fit about six) and have other kids violently push it back and forth. There were bloody noses, twisted limbs and almost every recess, someone ended up crying. But I'll be damned if there weren't 40 kids in line for that thing every day...

Cap'n Squirrgle · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:30 pm

red Wrote:

We used to whip each other with those plastic jump ropes.

...harbinger of things to come?

I've heard it all...

Who is online