Hence the rise in the more questionable “ADD/HD” diagnoses all over the world? (That’s not to say that all ADD/ADHD diagnoses are false, but there’s a damned sight more than there ever used to be even allowing for the fact that it used to be underdiagnosed)
I remember my schoolyard games, and this was in the mid-late '90s in Australia. We had the usuals like dodgeball, red rover, tackle and flag football. Those were the school-sanctioned games. Then there were the games that we made up, or imported from other places. There was brandy, like dodgeball but played in the middle of the oval with wet tennis balls. I remember one friend who ended up with a black eye/split eyebrow from that, as well as the assorted bruises. There was crack the whip, which has been mentioned before. We had old-style steel bar playsets, and every kid I knew in my primary school fell off of them at least three or four times a year. But our favourite game was “Hat Wars”. Our primary school had a mandatory hat rule during the summer months. You weren’t allowed on the oval/playground without a hat. So the hats became part of our games, they were allowed as extensions of your arm to tag someone in rover or touch footy. But some people took exception to being tagged with a hat, and hit back with their hats. Soon the football/tag games were forgotten, and we were belting around smacking each other with hats. Then someone got the bright idea that you could hit harder with a hat if you soaked it in water first, then slapped someone across the face with the now waterlogged hat. I busted a guy’s nose with my hat, had bloodstains on it for weeks.
Simple, my friend. We bemoan the obesity epidemic, and put lots of kids on ADD meds.
My district has banned balls and running on asphalt games (and then prompty forbids the kids to go on the wet grass), but at least they get outside. I know of 1 nearby districts that (and I am serious here) has the kids walk, single file, no talking around the building for recess. :eek:
We were allowed to play tag or touch, but not tackle football. And games only got banned if they got out of hand-we eventually weren’t allowed to play Red Rover because too many kids were getting seriously hurt, and some people got too rough.
The only thing I can see in this decision is that the kids were getting far too rough, and it was a case of, “Hey, you can’t behave, you don’t get to play.” I can see an argument for no tackle football, but no TAG? WTF?
And America wonders why it’s fucking kids are fat. This kind of thing gives me a headache.
By the way, I finished elementary school (leaving recess behind) in 1994. We still played touch football and dodgeball was regularly part of gym class, although I think they started putting restrictions on that around the time I moved on to junior high.
Yeah, we did that. On 8 foot tall steel slides. (When’s the last time you saw one of those? We also iced them in winter (with smuggled out containers of water.)
Actually, those slides were more deadly in summer. Shit, did those things get hot in the sun!
We had this…thing…on the playground when I was a kid. i have no idea what it was called. It was a pole with these chain link swings on it. I guess the idea was to hold the chain and swing aronud the ploe. But there was a 90% chance of getting hit with one othe other chains. I know I sure did, plenty of times. Didn’t stop me from playing on the damn thing though.
There was this huge dirt mound by a constructtion site we used to play king of the mountain on…and have dirtball fights. Dirtball fights were fun. I’m a bit
surprised none of us ever really got hurt though.
Once my friends and I built a ramp to see who could jump their bike over a bunch of trashcans we had lined up. This was before peoplewore helmets, too. Well, only one kid, Rodney was brave enough to try it. He had to get stitches, but he was alright. Heck, we thought he had the biggest balls for doing that jump for a month. Safe or not, I don’t think kids have fun like that anymore.
Because exercise isn’t doing useful or fun things, it’s renting expensive equipment at a gym in a safe matted environment four times a week for 30 minutes?
That’s probably why we have stuff like Jackass and “extreme” sports, life is too safe and predictable for a lot of kids, no element of danger. Plus kids don’t play outside nearly as much, outside is where you can really get into trouble.
This was brought up at my last PTA meeting: url code (USA Today article regarding banning recess).
The link is from June, but I remember at the PTA meeting we set up some online information (I’m reluctant to point the big neon arrow to my child’s elementary school here).
So yes, there are people that want to ban recess. Everyone at the PTA meeting was morally outraged so I don’t think it will catch on. I recently was part of an online poll (click yes or no to get to the next screen type of thing) where banning recess was an option. I believe 94% or 96% were against it.
One thing that gives me hope though, no matter how safe you try to make playground equipment and childplay, the kids will ALWAYS find a way to make it dangerous again. Always.
Why the hell should kids get recess? They need to be prepared for the real world. 8 hour school days with 2 weeks off every year. 30 minutes for lunch and 2 15 minute breaks. Damn loafing kids.
My daughter’s special ed. class would go to a local park every Friday, to play on the equipment, run around, etc. This year, her teacher was told that they can’t go anymore. The reason? It’s not exercise. Stupid school district.
We have this exact same game in Korea. The game name literally translates to “hammering the stake.”
I remember being appalled when I first witnessed it (this was in 7th grade, when I first moved to Korea). I must confess to playing it a couple times during my 6 years of middle/high school. Let me tell you, having someone’s head up your ass tickles like a bitch.
Damn! :eek: At least let the kids go to the library or play in the classroom (what my elementary school did if it the weather was to bad to go outside.
