Maybe we should just let them watch videos instead... - JP Fitness Forums

Howard_Rourke · 10-18-2006, 10:16 AM

We are raising a nation full of sissified lard-asses:

School bans kids from playing tag

October 18, 2006

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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.

OldGuy · 10-18-2006, 10:34 AM

Ridiculous. Bruises and scrapes are part of being a kid. How else do you learn to pick yourself back up?

ShannonB · 10-18-2006, 10:37 AM

Retire quickly so you don't have to deal with the day these kids hit the workforce!

I. Kay · 10-18-2006, 10:39 AM

Pathetic. I used to get some of my best girl-groping in during tag. *sigh*

jruck37 · 10-18-2006, 10:48 AM

It's about time. Tag is ruining society.

Mountain_marc · 10-18-2006, 10:53 AM

Sad to see that it's coming from my home state. I may have to give them a piece of my mind when I head down in November.

Jean-Paul · 10-18-2006, 12:00 PM

The best thing you could do for the health of this nation is to ban Insurance companies and lawyers! Removing tag? Sheesh! Someone needs to go up there and bop some heads!

Cynic · 10-18-2006, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jruck37

It's about time. Tag is ruining society.

So is dodgeball.

Kaiser · 10-18-2006, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jruck37

It's about time. Tag is ruining society.

I gotta agree. I mean, how is Best Buy supposed to make their quarterly earnings estimates if kids are out playing tag instead of on Xbox 360?? Not only is tag bad for the kids' injury rates, it's bad just plain bad for the American economy.*

*This advertisement was paid for by XBox, Best Buy, and the Coalition of Cardiac Surgeons.

jruck37 · 10-18-2006, 12:14 PM

Excellent point, Kaiser. As usual, the lesson boils down to this: Microsoft rules the world.

Mahler · 10-18-2006, 01:33 PM

I, for one, am happy as hell to see these bans. There is an awful lot of money being spent replacing these kids' cell phones, Blackberrys and MP3 players when they get ruined in one of these foolish games.

BeachHead · 10-18-2006, 01:38 PM

What do you expect from a Principal named Gaylene Heppe? That sounds an awful lot like Gay Hippie to me.

TrainingGirl · 10-18-2006, 01:43 PM

Everyone is so sue-happy these days..I'm surprised they are allowed to do anything in school anymore.

When I was in grade school I ended up with stitches in the back of my head from being pushed on the playground (we were playing..I wasn't in a fight:p ). My parents never thought of suing anyone over it.

Ian..you sure we didn't go to the same school???

Dr. Casey · 10-18-2006, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cynic

So is dodgeball.

Yeah, that anti-dodgeball crusade was bullcrap. Dodgeball was by far the funnest sport we ever did in Gym. I'd take dodgeball over basketball and football any day.

And that ban on tag's pretty silly. I might understand a teacher breaking up a game of, say, Street Ball (a redneck game if there ever was one), but not something with only a small chance of any major injury.

ShannonB · 10-18-2006, 02:37 PM

It is my opinion that playing tag promotes terrorism.

BamaDave · 10-18-2006, 04:12 PM

Our dachshund puppies play tag and chase all of the time and, by God, I'm going to put a stop to that tonight!

Matthew · 10-18-2006, 05:39 PM

What about the effects this will have on the obesity 'epidemic'? Tag is one of the few physically active games kids can participate in at school, since they banned football and (I can only assume) foothockey.

I remember playing games like RED-ASS, where kids are getting tennis balls thrown at them, WITH THE INTENTION OF CAUSING PHYSICAL HARM. Games like tag and manhunt were our peacekeeping games.

Once again it all boils down to money.

Mahler · 10-18-2006, 07:15 PM

Unless and until good parents step forward and face the fucking lawsuit crazy assholes of this world, and take back our schools, things will only get worse. Teachers have been stripped of the ability to discipline and keep order, let alone teach. Principals and administration spend their time being public relations specialists trying to keep the whiners at bay and avoid lawsuits. Many schools are forced to teach to the lowest common denominator or simply to pass an achievement test and the kids who want to learn get short changed. Now, even our children's play time and recreation are under siege in a quest for a perfect world where the prospect of an occasional scratch or bruise causes a run to the nearest attorney.