Childhood Too Dangerous for Children

Willet Elementary in Attleboro, MA has banned tag, touch football, and other unsupervised games of chase during recess for fear that someone wil get hurt and hold the school responsible. School principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban, stated that recess is "a time when accidents can happen." While there is no official distric rules, many schools have been implementing their own rules. Elementary schools in Cheyenne, WY, and Spokane, WA, also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, SC, school outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.
Parents are split in the decision to reduce childhood fun. Debbie Laferriere who has two children at Willet says, "I think that it's unfortunate that kids' lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they'll never develop on their own. Playing tag is just part of being a kid." Celeste D'Elia said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.
Anything we should teach Celeste D'Elia and friends? For one, she never saw an actual collision, just near collisions. What does this mean? Kids learn to get out of the way. (Sidenote:Someone should teach this concept to Hamel who is not a child. This could be a relative of D'Elia).

This is not the first time that schools have taken the joy out of childhood. A few years ago four kindergarten children were suspended for three days for uttering threats of viloence and intimidation under the school's zero tolerance policy. What are they teaching in New Jersey that kids learn those techniques so quickly? Oh, it was a game of Cops and Robbers. What would be the suspension for playing Cowboys and Indians? That would involve threats of viloence, intimidation, and racism.

An article published on the New Jersey State Bar Foundation webpage states that "Under the most rigid zero tolerance policies, if a student does something that could possibly be looked at as violent, or promoting violence, he is automatically suspended or expelled, without being given an opportunity to defend himself." (Note; The article was written by Cheryl Baisden who omitted "herself' from this statement. We are equal opportunity today. The offender can be a girl.)

Other New Jersey School Disciplinary Actions
A second grader expelled for drawing a picture of a gun
A fourth grader who was questioned by police, suspended and sent for psychological testing because he as overheard saying he was going to "shoot" a girl in his class with a paper wad in a rubber band
A 15 year-old boy who was expelled because he changed the computer screen saver in the library to say, "Turn me off and I will blow up."

FYI
A couple of weeks ago I let my sons, age 5 and 7, play with realisitc light sabers. This week I shot a coworker with a paper wad in an elastic. The 15 year-old boy is funny. That is a good one!