Is it possible that, in this day and age, we have gone too far in regards to the health and safety of our children? Gone are the days when your parents would go grocery shopping and leave you in the car with the window cracked. Also gone are the days where children walked to and from school/the bus stop alone or even played outside by themselves or with their friends unsupervised. Last spring, there was a story about a child who was walking home from camp and got picked up by police and brought home because they thought he was too young to be walking alone. The thing is he was 12, which means he would be going to high school in a year, but apparently he was too young to walk home. Obviously, these broad general statements don’t always hold true, especially since the term ‘child’ covers a broad age range, which includes ages where those statements simply are not applicable. However, I like to think they at least have a ring of truth to them. One place to examine this child coddling and overprotectiveness would be the place where these children spend most of their childhood: at school.
Elementary school is meant to be a place for kids to learn and develop their skills and personalities, but it is also a place for kids to have fun. However, it seems that today schools are becoming stricter about safety, and consequently are implementing rules and bans that take a out a lot of the fun and development. Some of these bans are as little as banning a bracelet to as much as banning balls and even hugs. Various different schools around the world have banned some ridiculous things which include: balls, tag, Father’s Day cards (Mother’s Day cards were not banned), lunch brought from home, lunch made at school, physical contact (including hugs, high fives and handshakes), dancing, the dictionary, and even the word “meep” (made famous by Beeker from the Muppets).
Putting aside the fact that recess would suck if you can’t play soccer or tag, there are other repercussions to be had here for the children. One thing children gain from playing sports is the development of their skills. They develop better coordination as well as teamwork skills by playing sports, which would complement the classroom environment quite nicely. All of these recess bans have been a result of an injured child but that’s what growing up is all about. Kids scrape their knees and break their arms all the time, but they bounce back just fine, and learn from it too. What’s the big deal if Wendy gets hit in the face with a soccer ball and gets a nose bleed? It’s all a part of growing up. Kids are going to get hurt, and there’s nothing any teacher or parent can do to stop that short of putting them in a bubble, so why not let them have some fun while they are at it?
Schools are trying to combat the rising rate of childhood obesity with physical activity, yet when they do something like banning balls and other schoolyard games they give kids very few options for what to do at recess and probably results in them just standing around and talking.
Parents and schools have to realize that there has to be some balance between fun and safety. Everything fun has some danger involved, the trick is to mitigate as much danger as possible while maintaining the fun instead of just outright banning it. Something like not allowing head shots in dodge ball would be a good compromise. It seems that some schools and parents are taking child safety too far, and it is most likely doing more harm than good for the child’s health and development. Let the kids make the most of their childhood and be free to play with balls in the schoolyard. For the kids who are banned from saying the word “meep,” I would refer the episode of Recess: “The Story of Whomps” to find out how to change that ridiculous ban.
Guest
This is terrible