Banning Tag! Overprotecting Our Kids?

Millennium Radio Group ^ | 7/10/06 | Martin Di Caro

[Millee]

Only in America in 2006 would a game of tag be considered dangerous. In the name of safety, a number of schools are prohibiting their students at recess from playing traditional games like tag or soccer, claiming that too many children were getting hurt by aggressive play.

The New Jersey School Boards Association doesn't keep statistics on school recess games. Anecdotally, the trend exists. Dodge ball has been out at some schools for years, but banning games such as tag and soccer is a newer development. And some experts say such bans are bad for children.

"We're really overprotecting our kids," says Dr. Steven Tobias, the director of Center for Child and Family Development in Morristown. "Banning games that help kids learn get along, to negotiate rules, to problem solve together, is really to the detriment of the kids overall. There is a danger in trying to cushion the world to our children, rather than helping them learn how to deal with it effectively."

Some schools that have banned tag said the game easily regressed into slapping, then hitting and pushing, instead of just touching.

"If kids are getting hurt, I would tend to look to the supervision or the lack of supervision on the playground," says Tobias. "We have to let kids play in an open-ended way and learn to put limits on themselves and deal with any kids of problems that arise as a result." If things get out of hand, adults who are supervising the children can step in, says Tobias. But he says it is counter-productive to ban certain games altogether.

[LongElegantLegs]

It must SUCK to be a kid these days...

[Theoden]

I guess some were bigger targets than others. I would always pick on the fat kids, lol. Most of the girls would just go out to the sideline and talk anyway, so only the athletic ones were left to get hit, and some of them were pretty good. It was always a lot of fun.

I hate NJ and all of its stupid laws, but I don't want to live anywhere else. It's a paradox that only NJ people would understand, as strange as it must sound to others.

[Zeppelin]

don't underestimate the fat kids in dodgeball...some could catch, and when they got their hands on it and hugged it, it was NOT bouncing out...

I totally understand. I have one more semester in Austin, and I absolutely love the town, regardless of how liberal it is. Not too fond of the traffic though...

[Mazda3Fan]

Now wait a minute, I'm a little bit Metrosexual, nothing wrong with that.

[Mazda3Fan]

We played the same game except it was called, Kill the man with the ball.