‘Accidents can happen,’ principal says to mixed reviews by parents
ATTLEBORO, Mass. - Tag, you're out!
Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.
Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.
While there is no districtwide ban on contact sports during recess, local rules have been cropping up. Several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball a few years ago, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous. Modified versions now include softer balls and ways for children to re-enter the action.
Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Spokane, Wash., also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, S.C., school outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.
"I think that it's unfortunate that kids' lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they'll never develop on their own," said Debbie Laferriere, who has two children at Willett, about 40 miles south of Boston. "Playing tag is just part of being a kid."
Another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.
I would like to quote Patty Cummings, mom of one of my friends, while supervising children playing a game (may have been tag even) at a cookout this past summer:
"Pain is good for ya!"
Give me a break. Children fall and get cuts and scrapes and bruises. Skinned knees are part of being a kid. I can recall plenty of times when I fell and scraped my knee, but didn't go get washed up because I wanted to keep playing. It teaches resilience.
Next we'll see school uniforms that are made with layered bubblewrap and cover 90% of the body.
