OK, yeah, I agree, it seems really stupid to outlaw a game like Tag. Seems, at least on the surface, analagous to the way we're promoting allergies in kids by keeping them in such clean & sterile environtments (not MY house, though, heh heh heh...). Kids, like adults, grow with adversity (though, of course, we should protect them from overwhelming amounts of diversity).
ON THE OTHER HAND.... Hell. I've been up at the school yard. Kids are cruel to each other, they really are. And something which can seem as innocent as a game of tag can become, easily, a lightening rod for problems. And sometimes, harsh as it may seem, a ban on a particular activity -- even for a short period of time -- may be just the redirection the kids need. I mean, can you imagine Tag becoming an excuse for the strong/bullies/whatever to pick on the relentlessly-picked-upon? I sure can. Easily. Look at "Smear the Queer". Look at the way dodge ball was used as an excuse to pound on the weak.
Hell -- just the other day I threw away a pair of perfectly good swimming goggles. Why? Because we only had the one pair left, and it became a battle ground amoung my kids -- "Who gets the goggles" was the most hotly contested pool game -- leading to pouting, crying, name-calling, and near-violence. Mommy solution? Toss the damned things. Immediately puts a stop to the problem. Kids learn the lesson that they'd better play nice or they might not get to play. Was it the fault of the goggles? Of course not. Fault of the kids? Nah -- they're just being kids. It's just one of those things, ya know?
Same thing here -- while I don't know the particular school yard. My guess is it *HAD* gotten out of hand, folks WERE going over the top, using tag as the vehicle for bullying, etc. And the school put a stop to it by putting a stop to the game. Then the newspapers pick it up with a whiney "Oh, gee, I remember that game from when I was a kid, that was fun, what's the world coming to when we steal the fun from our kids?"
Yeah, I grew up in an era of no seat-belts/bike helmets/etc. I also grew up in a household of abuse. Mebbe we go over the top the other way sometimes, but hell, we're just trying to protect kids. It's not easy, but it's worth it, I think. :)
Lisa da opinionated
Re: You just knew I'd have to kick in an opinion here, didn't ya?
You may be right that the kids were being really nasty. I don't know either way. You're definitely right that kids can be cruel. I think the underlying problem there isn't a game, but poor supervision.
So maybe the school is banning tag temporarily, and using that as a way of supervising/disciplining the kids: "you better play nice or you can't play at all". That's certainly not the slant given by the article, but hey, shame on me for "believing" the slant given by the press anyhow.
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You just knew I'd have to kick in an opinion here, didn't ya?
ON THE OTHER HAND.... Hell. I've been up at the school yard. Kids are cruel to each other, they really are. And something which can seem as innocent as a game of tag can become, easily, a lightening rod for problems. And sometimes, harsh as it may seem, a ban on a particular activity -- even for a short period of time -- may be just the redirection the kids need. I mean, can you imagine Tag becoming an excuse for the strong/bullies/whatever to pick on the relentlessly-picked-upon? I sure can. Easily. Look at "Smear the Queer". Look at the way dodge ball was used as an excuse to pound on the weak.
Hell -- just the other day I threw away a pair of perfectly good swimming goggles. Why? Because we only had the one pair left, and it became a battle ground amoung my kids -- "Who gets the goggles" was the most hotly contested pool game -- leading to pouting, crying, name-calling, and near-violence. Mommy solution? Toss the damned things. Immediately puts a stop to the problem. Kids learn the lesson that they'd better play nice or they might not get to play. Was it the fault of the goggles? Of course not. Fault of the kids? Nah -- they're just being kids. It's just one of those things, ya know?
Same thing here -- while I don't know the particular school yard. My guess is it *HAD* gotten out of hand, folks WERE going over the top, using tag as the vehicle for bullying, etc. And the school put a stop to it by putting a stop to the game. Then the newspapers pick it up with a whiney "Oh, gee, I remember that game from when I was a kid, that was fun, what's the world coming to when we steal the fun from our kids?"
Yeah, I grew up in an era of no seat-belts/bike helmets/etc. I also grew up in a household of abuse. Mebbe we go over the top the other way sometimes, but hell, we're just trying to protect kids. It's not easy, but it's worth it, I think. :)
Lisa
da opinionated
Re: You just knew I'd have to kick in an opinion here, didn't ya?
So maybe the school is banning tag temporarily, and using that as a way of supervising/disciplining the kids: "you better play nice or you can't play at all". That's certainly not the slant given by the article, but hey, shame on me for "believing" the slant given by the press anyhow.