Tag, You’re Out!
Apparently an Elementary school in Attleboro, MA has banned playing tag at recess. Basic motivation is that there is a possibility some kid could get injured and then the school would be held accountable.
Here’s more of the story…
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.
Wow, I am not sure how to personally react to this. Why are we banning kids in fear of getting hurt? What’s the next step? Do we now ban after school sports in fear that a child could get a bruise? Are we pampering our children? Maybe the laws are such that schools have no choice. What are your thoughts on this? I would love to hear how others perceive this. Is this a step in the wrong direction?
Thanks to Tom from Not in Kansas Anymore for the tip.
Tags: attleboro, ban, ban-kids, children, elementary-school, kids, recess, school, tagRelated Stories
POSTED IN: News
6 opinions for Tag, You’re Out!
Kailani
Oct 19, 2006 at 2:43 pm
Of course, as a parent I feel like we should try to protect our children from harm. But banning tag? I think that’s going a little overboard. We all survived the dangerous game, right?
steve
Oct 19, 2006 at 2:54 pm
How about for those kids who are too rough, just have them stand on the wall during recess. Whatever…
It’s like people freak out these days because kids are climbing trees. I used to climb trees all the time when I was a kid. And honestly how many times do you hear about a kid falling out of a tree and getting killed. Not very often.
Maybe people are too worried we’ll damage the poor tree… heck who cares about the kids lol
Dadstayshome
Oct 20, 2006 at 12:07 am
Unfortunately in our sue happy society you have to learn to cover yourself or institution from potential lawsuits. Just did a quick search and indeed this is the case, many schools in Britain are canceling similar activities in fear of lawsuits.
steve
Oct 20, 2006 at 9:40 am
Yea, I don’t necessarily blame the schools. The fear of lawsuits is increasing all around us.
Mike
Oct 23, 2006 at 10:51 am
When my kids officially enter grade school, I’m going to send them in a little bubble and whenever anybody touches the bubble, I’m going to sue the school.
No wonder everybody hates school these days. You don’t get to do anything fun. We used to play some of the greatest, made up, violent, sexist games as kids. We actually used to play a game called Boys Chase Girls where the guys chased the girls all over the school yard in a modified team tag type game. And, then we would switch to the girls chasing the boys. And, there were lots of cooties involved.
When we were older we played a football game where one person had the ball and everybody else tried to tackly him. I can’t even say the name of the game anymore because even the name was bad. I remember hitting a friend so hard he ran home crying. Later that week he did the same to me. No lawsuits needed and we are still friends today.
Play Library » Banning Tag and Other Rough Games at School
Feb 19, 2007 at 5:43 am
[…] Update: Steve at Inside Fatherhood has more on another elementary school in Massachusetts that has also banned tag. […]
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