Yesterday a friend of mine posted an article on facebook about a school in New York that has banned footballs.
And baseballs.
And lacrosse balls.
And hard soccer balls.
And tag.
And cartwheels.
And “anything that might hurt someone on school grounds.”
Are you kidding?
Isn’t that pretty much anything then?
What is left for them to do at recess?
Rainbow Loom?
Because I’d rather see that garbage banned at recess, to be honest.
I don’t want my kid sitting at a table making a bunch of crap bracelets.
I want him running.
Playing.
I want her doing cartwheels.
And swinging on the monkey bars.
How about we ban sitting at recess?
How about we ban total inactivity?
I can understand the lacrosse balls.
And even the baseballs.
But the tag?
Apparently “Sometimes when they participate in tag they use the opportunity to give an extra push.”
How about you ban giving an extra push in tag?
How about you ban the kid giving the extra push rather than the whole entire activity?
I want my kids to learn how to function in an unstructured group.
How to play fair.
How to play nice.
I want my kid to miss out on playing a game with other kids because he or she can’t follow the rules,
not because if there is the potential for a scrape, or if it doesn’t use spongy balls, then it’s not allowed.
Spongy balls.
That, right there, is the problem.
We are turning into a society of spongy-balled people.
Let’s grow some real ones, and give our children the opportunity to play.
In an unstructured setting.
With,
gasp,
a hard soccer ball.
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Omg thank you for this one, my family and I go crazy over this crap everyday…..the world is so litigious and out to make a quick buck that our kids can’t figure anything out without waivers and organization. Gone are the days or kick the can til dark, run the bases, and tennis baseball in the neighborhood with whoever wanted to play….we have become a society of participation trophies…..which is frightening for when our kids become adults….how ,any of us have bosses that tell us how great we are just for showing up….none that I know of. Recess is supposed to be just that a chance to take a break form school play, shout, run, and jump. Scrapes and bruises, of all kinds are part of growing up and how we figure out the world around us. How unfortunate that some kids won’t have that chance….
The rule was put in place as construction has cut more than 70% of useable space so they are packing kids into a small space and kids were getting whacked by balls and hurt…..that – and that – is the only reason.