Banning Tag and Other Senseless Acts by Schools
All of this just sounded silly, like the giving every kid a medal for "Good Citizenship" in my daughters' elementary school as a way of boosting self-esteem. (Note to well-meaning administrators: When everyone gets an award, the kids don't come home feeling good about themselves. They just shrug it off, as meaningless.)
But this week, I began to think that the banning of tag is part of a larger, more insidious trend: The fear of legal liability.
My kids' local elementary school has two playgrounds; one is being renovated. But for some reason, my daughter's kindergarten class was being forced to spend their recess in a tiny paved area behind the school.
Now, with all the research about childhood obesity and the need for kids, especially five year olds, to run around in order to be physically and intellectually fit, I thought surely the principal would want to remedy that.
Nope. He told me that the kids couldn't play in the other playground because it was made only for kids aged 8 and up, and he told me he was already dealing with one lawsuit filed by a kid who had fallen off some equipment four years ago. When I checked the sign at the playground, I learned that, in fact, the sign said it was for kids 5 and up. I told the principal.
He then told me, Well, we're only insured for kids age 8 and up.
Whether that's true or not (and I must say I have my doubts), it seemed obvious to me that what was going on was he was more concerned about the risk of being sued by a parent of a kindergartener...than he was about serving these kids' needs.
Pretty sad.
Stumble It!
posted by pam at 10:28 AM
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