COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - An elementary school has banned tag on its playground after some children complained they were harassed or chased against their will.
“It causes a lot of conflict on the playground,” said Cindy Fesgen, assistant principal of the Discovery Canyon Campus school.
Running games are still allowed as long as students don’t chase each other, she said.
Fesgen said two parents complained to her about the ban but most parents and children didn’t object.
In 2005, two elementary schools in the nearby Falcon School District did away with tag and similar games in favor of alternatives with less physical contact. School officials said the move encouraged more students to play games and helped reduce playground squabbles.
Of course you’re not supposed to smack kids, but you know it happens. Smacking/pushing, etc. You guys don’t seem to realize there is a serious problem with kids being bullied. Tag is way that bullies can get away with intimidation “we were just playing tag”. There are plenty of no contact games that include running around.
“It causes a lot of conflict on the playground,”
You may think its an over reaction, but taking no action at all has far greater consequences. Better safe than sorry.
I know that at my kids’ school, they sometimes have to ban things that at the outset appear benign because of the extreme misbehavior of a few kids. There are probably some facts in this case that suggest banning was the only way to keep kids from being hurt. There are some rough, rough kids out there, even at the elementary level.
Of course you’re not supposed to smack kids, but you know it happens. Smacking/pushing, etc. You guys don’t seem to realize there is a serious problem with kids being bullied. Tag is way that bullies can get away with intimidation “we were just playing tag”. There are plenty of no contact games that include running around.
You may think its an over reaction, but taking no action at all has far greater consequences. Better safe than sorry.
Please don’t make bullying out to be some sort of epidemic that is scarring the lives of children everywhere. Letting kids figure out how to deal with a bully on their own is a better approach than trying to shelter them from one by banning a playground game.
Please don’t make bullying out to be some sort of epidemic that is scarring the lives of children everywhere. Letting kids figure out how to deal with a bully on their own is a better approach than trying to shelter them from one by banning a playground game.
Right, and where did you say you got your degree in child psychology? I’m sorry, but HTFU is often not the best approach to rearing healthy, happy kids.
Maybe I’m a bit more sensitive than you are as a) I have a kid in elementary school (don’t know your stats) and b) I was horrified by Columbine (I lived in CO at the time). That may be an extreme case, but kids growing up unhappy is, to me, unacceptable. I don’t coddle or shelter my daughter, but I’m not in favor of sink or swim parenting either.
No, bullies are nothing new. Doesn’t mean we should let it continue.
Other things that have changes since we were kids:
smoking/drinking during pregnancy a no-no car seats asbestos lined walls bike helmets
Yeah, we should go back to the good old days…
The damage from bullying doesn’t stop after graduation. According to Dr. William Coleman, professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, bullies are four times as likely as the average child to have engaged in criminal behavior by age 24; they also grow up deficient in social, coping and negotiating skills and are more likely to engage in substance abuse. Victims have similar problems; they also have fewer friends and are more likely to be depressed.
**
From mentalhelp.net, article by Mark Dombeck, Ph.D.
http://mentalhelp.net/...ype=doc&id=13057
** The experience of being bullied can end up causing lasting damage to victims. This is both self-evident, and also supported by an increasing body of research.
**
*The following list, culled from my reading on this subject, summarizes some of the effects bullying victims may experience: *
*In the short term: * *Anger * *Depression * *Anxious avoidance of settings in which bullying may occur. * *Greater incidence of illness * *Lower grades than non-bullied peers * *Suicidal thoughts and feelings (In one British retrospective bullying experiences survey I came across (of unknown scientific value), 20% of the sample attempted suicide secondary to having been bullied, whereas only 3% of participants who were not bullied attempted suicide). *
*In the long term: * *Reduced occupational opportunities * *Lingering feelings of anger and bitterness, desire for revenge. * *Difficulty trusting people * *Interpersonal difficulties, including fear and avoidance of new social situations * *Increased tendency to be a loner * *Perception of self as easy to victimize, overly sensitive, and thin-skinned * *Self-esteem problems (don’t think well of self) * Increased incidence of continued bullying and victimization
**bullies are nothing new. Doesn’t mean we should let it continue. **
Where did you grow up, an island with a conch shell as a symbol of power?
Of course bullying should not be allowed to continue. That’s what adults are for. Adults are supposed to be grown up enough to supervise a bunch of kids without making them all sit on their hands all recess long so nobody get hurt.
Solutions like this are introduced by lazy and/or incompetent adults. Period.
Without games like tag, he/she won’t ever learn HOW to deal with bullies and will cry anytime someone bothers them.
b) I was horrified by Columbine (I lived in CO at the time).
We all were, but it’s obvious those kids didn’t learn how to deal with bullies either. They were bullied and made fun of their whole lives, and finally had enough and took it WAY too far. Maybe if they had tag, they would have learned how it works (dealing with bullies)
If kids are bullying during tag, eliminate the bullies, not tag. Like I said - maybe CRAP thinking like this is one of the many reasons our kids are FAT and have no self esteem.
maybe CRAP thinking like this is one of the many reasons our kids are FAT and have no self esteem
My kid is not fat and she thinks quite highly of herself.
Maybe your CRAP thinking like yours is why kids have so many emotional problems.
Bullying is a huge problem and this is one way adults are trying to deal with it. You like tag so much, run around and play it at home. Not everybody wants to.
So Katy, are you one of those parents that thinks that the honor roll shouldn’t be printed in the local newspaper because it offends the kids that didn’t make the honor roll?
Different topic I know, but the dynamic is the same–shelter the kids instead of teaching them how to deal with the inevitabilities of the real world.