Massachusetts Bans Tag
Sigh…
Tag is now out during recess at Willett Elementary School in Attleboro.
So is touch football and any other unsupervised “chasing” games that are deemed to pose the risk of injury as well as liability to the school.
“It’s a time when accidents can happen,” said Principal Gaylene Heppe, in her second year at the helm of Willett.
Heppe included the new rule as part of a standardized set of playground rules that were not in play upon her arrival.
In doing so, she joined in a growing movement against traditional games played by young children in school gymnasiums and playgrounds. A few years ago, school administrators in the area, as well as around the country, took aim at dodgeball, saying it was an exclusionary and dangerous game. Modified versions now include softer balls and ways for children to re-enter the action.
Right. Because goodness knows we wouldn’t want any of the little darlings to learn what it feels like to lose or get hurt at a young age. Nope, better to let them go through their young lives into adulthood having been sheltered from even mild periods of pain and/or failure.
/sarcasm
Personally, though, I don’t really blame the schools for this. At least not entirely. Rather, I blame idiot, lawsuit-happy parents and their lawyers who have sued the public schools every time one their kids falls of the slide and gets a skinned knee or a broken arm.
