Tag and other unsupervised 'chasing' games increasingly banned at nations' schools

[Woodmonkey]

Tagged out


Tag is now out during recess at Willett Elementary School in Attleboro.

So is touch football and any other unsupervised "chasing" games that are deemed to pose the risk of injury as well as liability to the school.

"It's a time when accidents can happen," said Principal Gaylene Heppe, in her second year at the helm of Willett.

Heppe included the new rule as part of a standardized set of playground rules that were not in play upon her arrival.

In doing so, she joined in a growing movement against traditional games played by young children in school gymnasiums and playgrounds. A few years ago, school administrators in the area, as well as around the country, took aim at dodgeball, saying it was an exclusionary and dangerous game. Modified versions now include softer balls and ways for children to re-enter the action.

While no district-wide policies banning contact sports at recess appear to have been put in place locally, many principals are making up new rules in an atmosphere reflecting society's increasingly cautious and litigious nature.

Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyo. and Spokane, Wash. banned tag at recess this year. So, too, did a suburban Charleston, S.C. school, outlawing all unsupervised contact sports.

Reasons cited by school administrators largely focused on safety; kids would get too rough or run into each other, giving rise to parent complaints and threats of lawsuits. Another reason cited was that in a free-for-all activity at recess, such as tag, some children would become unsuspecting, and unwilling, participants in the game.

A number of those same schools, however, allowed those activities with supervision during gym classes.

Some Willett School parents interviewed for this story said the new recess rules are misguided, especially with the serious issue of childhood obesity. Others said they work against children developing skills to negotiate rules and resolve disputes.

"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.

"Playing tag is just part of being a kid," she said. "Now, for children not to be able to make those decisions by themselves without interference from adults doesn't give them the opportunity to make their own choices."

Games like tag give children "social skills that transfer to later in life," she said.

Parent Christine McAndrews agreed.

"I think it's a little bit silly," she said, adding that she was not aware the rule was in place. "The kids love to play pick-up football games that they organize themselves. It's great for their social skills and they resolve things on their own. It's good for them."

"It's part of being a kid," she said.

Willett parent Celeste D'Elia, on the other hand, backed Heppe's decision. Her son, she said, feels safer and enjoys the alternatives to throwing a football around.

"I've witnessed enough near collisions" in the playground area, D'Elia said. "I support anything that makes the playground safer and helps teacher to keep track of them."

Calls to a handful of elementary schools in this area revealed that principals are dictating the rules of play at recess, but the rules differ.

David Barner, principal of Thacher Elementary School in Attleboro, said there is no outright ban on tag, touch football or other such games during recess at the school.

"We do have discussions at the beginning and throughout the school year about rules so that students play appropriately," he said.

The physical education teacher plays a large role in instructing children on how to play games, he said.

Matthew Joseph, new principal of Hyman Fine Elementary School, also said there's no prohibition of contact sports at recess. Teachers and others, however, are trying to redirect children from physical games to those that involve teamwork. There is also an effort to get children using the new playground the PTO installed and a new field. Team games, like kickball, are encouraged, he said.

Mary Brown, principal of the Solmonese Elementary School in Norton, on the other hand, doesn't consider tag a contact sport.

"We play two-hand tag on the shoulder" which is supervised, she said. "No pushing is allowed."

Tag football is also allowed for third-graders, if supervised, Brown said.

Of course, she noted, "you have to have someone out there young enough to run around with them."

George Gagnon, principal of Falls Elementary School in North Attleboro, said playground rules have swung a different direction since he started there four years ago.

Tag, touch football, soccer, "they can play all that," he said. That wasn't the case before he arrived.

Gagnon's philosophy is, "I'd rather see them running around, getting fresh air and coming back in refreshed."

He feels children are "trapped" in organized sports like football, hockey and baseball. Running around outside at recess, kids make up their own games with their own rules and resolutions, Gagnon said.

Accidents occur "every couple of days," he said. "But kids run and fall --- that's kids."

The Source

[BrianK]

Safety & fear of lawsuits. Great CYA for one step closer to schools as a penal colony for children within a community.

[las47032]

Throughout the years children played tag. They ran into each other and they ended up getting bruised and injured. Getting hurt is the part of growing up.

Justification is a ruse is controlling all aspects of children’s lives. The educators are taking away one of the games children enjoy most, and tag is a fun game.

Not only tag is a fun game, chasing after other kids develop skills that will better their coordination as well as a way for excellent exercise.

Playing tag, there are no winners and losers, and the game doesn’t shut out or segregate gender, being able to perform, and acceptance.

[Scrappy]

This is stupid. The district can't see the world for all the **** in it's eyes because their watching their own backs from their head up their ass.

If the kids don't get hurt they don't learn. If the kids don't get their way, so what. dumb ass zoombies, Let the kids get hurt and figure out their own games. It's only going to get worse than a bruise, a cut or something broken for the kids, let them learn to deal with it.

Sorry if that's overboard, but these who are children now cannot be protected forever from others nor from themselves... life hurts.

I like it when I hurt, lets me know I'm not dead. Let the post partum feelings go away.

[Harian]

Wow, i cant believfe people actually did this & aggree on reasons why it should be done.

Where did the US go soft?? I remember we used to be told go out & play do whatever you felt like doing just get out the house. Playing tag was just about the best game ever when iw as a kid.

There were so many contact sports i used to play when i was a kid i was banged up bruised up & was happy about it. I never cried to my parents.
I remember playing full contact football before school in the winter when tere was 6in of snow on the groud teachers never cared that we was playing they was just ahppy to see us actually doing something besides sitting around.

What we need to do is stop letting the pople who care to much about everything & just get the people who know what it meant to be a kid & what it was like to actually play start making rules.

[EdNigma]

Seems like the world is raising a generation of law suit happy people. "You rubbed my shoulder on a crowded subway, I am sueing for assault."

Scrapped knees, and such are a right of passage into the realization that life is not always 'fair' and painfree. It also gives a referrance of pain. i.e. "Man alive!! That hurt when that tree branch fell on me, but not as much as when Fat Freddy fell on me in grade 3."