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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A boy's body has been found buried in the sand of a playground at a public park on the city's northeast side, and police are asking the public for their help as detectives try to find out who the child is. Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said during a news conference late Friday that police have had no reports of missing children. "We have detectives standing by to respond to any information anyone can provide us about this missing juvenile. We believe that he may be missing from the neighborhood," the chief said. The boy — believed...

All work and no play may be a hazard for some U.S. school children. Researchers reported on Monday that a growing trend of curbing free time at school may lead to unruly classrooms and rob youngsters of needed exercise and an important chance to socialize. A look at more than 10,000 children aged 8 and 9 found better classroom behavior among those who had at least a 15-minute break during the school day compared to those who did not, Dr. Romina Barros and colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York reported. The behavior assessments were general...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 30, 2008 – Dover Park, as it is known by Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers, sat abandoned for years. Located in the Qahira neighborhood of Baghdad’s Adhamiyah district, its carnival rides were unusable, and the land was overgrown with weeds. Army 1st Lt. Rosita Rodriguez pushes two Iraqi children on a ride at the Oct. 28, 2008, grand opening of Dover Park in the Qahira neighborhood of Baghdad’s Adhamiyah district. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jerry Saslav  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “As I drove by the Army canal every day, I saw this park, and I...

Teachers have sparked fury by banning pupils from playing in the playground before school - for health and safety reasons. Children have been ordered not to play in the 15 minutes before lessons start - in case parents or their young children get injured at Ashburton Junior School in Croydon, south London. Adam Bates, 31, whose 10-year-old son Shane had a tennis ball confiscated last week, said today: "It's ridiculous, the kids are deprived of valuable play time in the morning. "Everyone's always going on about exercise but this school is clamping down on it. "My kids really look forward...

ScienceDaily (Aug. 5, 2008) — A growing number of the world's children are mildly to severely nearsighted (myopic), with rates especially high among urbanized East Asians. In addition to coping with poor distance vision, children with severe myopia are more prone to visual impairment and blindness later in life. Although genetic inheritance plays a role, the rapid rise of myopia suggests that environmental factors are driving the trend. Myopia usually begins and progresses during children's school years, but research on the role of intensive reading or other "near work" has determined that this is a minor factor. A new study...

These city playgrounds aren't for child's play. Black rubber mats designed to break a child's fall turn blistering hot in the summer, soaring to higher than 165 degrees, a Daily News investigation found. Doctors at two city hospital burn units reported seeing 16 to 18 young children with playground burns a year, mostly from the mats under junglegyms and sliding boards. "I have nightmares," said Anne Casson, whose toddler son, Will, ditched his shoes at Carl Schurz Park on the upper East Side one day last May.

Ali Abu Nebid, the Saydiyah Support Council Chairman, rides a merry-go-round with children after the opening of a playground on June 23 in the Saydiyah neighborhood of Baghdad's Rashid District. "I think the children will really enjoy this, and I am honored to be here at the official opening," said Maj. Peter Sicoli, the executive officer for the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad. Photo by Capt. Mark Miller. BAGHDAD — As daylights last remaining hours set over the horizon, and the summertime heat of Baghdad’s Rashid...

The Kent Gardens Elementary School in McLean, Virginia has placed a ban on the school yard game of tag—alleging that it “sends the wrong message.” “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to comfort a weeping child who didn’t want to be ‘it,’” said Vice-Principal Pat Keister. “The game is too stressful and competitive. This contradicts the message of love and affection we are trying to convey through the free condom distribution program for our fifth-graders.”

A playground pastime is getting a timeout this spring at a McLean elementary school. Robyn Hooker, principal of Kent Gardens Elementary School, has told students they may no longer play tag during recess after determining that the game of chasing, dodging and yelling "You're it!" had gotten out of hand. Hooker explained to parents in a letter this month that tag had become a game "of intense aggression." The principal said that her goal is to keep students safe and that she hopes to restore tag (as well as touch football, also now on hold) after teachers and administrators review...

ERIE, Pa. - Two young girls accused of brutally attacking another girl on a playground are too emotionally immature to understand the criminal charges against them and the charges should be dismissed, their attorneys said. The girls, ages 10 and 11, face aggravated assault and other charges for the attack on another 10-year-old girl at an elementary school playground the evening of April 3. The girls are accused of stomping on the victim and breaking her hip, police said. Erie County Public Defender Tony Logue says he will ask a Juvenile Court judge to dismiss criminal charges against the 10-year-old...

EVERETT, Wash. — A 10-year-old Everett area boy is listed in critical condition at Children's Hospital in Seattle after being buried in a sandbox by his playmates. The boy has been identified by his family as Cody Porter. His half brother, 30-year-old Joshua Quantrille, says Cody was playing with Quantrille's three sons and several other children on Saturday in the back yard of a home belonging to a family friend. There is a sandbox in the back yard, and Quantrille says his children told him Cody came up with the idea that they should bury him, head first, in the...

EVERETT, Wash. -- A 10-year-old Everett boy has died in a Seattle hospital after an accident in a sandbox. A spokeswoman for Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center confirms that Codey Porter died Monday. In a statement, the boy's relatives say they appreciate "all the support and prayers" they have received and have decided to honor his memory by donating his organs. Codey's family said earlier that the TV cartoon "Narutu" gave him and his friends the idea of burying him head first in a sandbox. They thought he was joking Saturday when he struggled. Sheriff's deputies questioned the five...

Children at Oakdale School here in southeastern Connecticut returned this fall to learn that their traditional recess had gone the way of the peanut butter sandwich and the Gumby lunchbox. No longer could they let off youthful energy — pent up from hours of long division — by cavorting outside for 22 minutes of unstructured play, or perhaps a vigorous game of tag or dodgeball. Such games had been virtually banned by the principal, Mark S. Johnson, along with kickball, soccer and other “body-banging” activities, as he put it, where knees — and feelings — might get bruised. Instead, children...

Springs elementary gives tag a timeout By BRIAN NEWSOME THE GAZETTE On the playground of a northern Colorado Springs elementary school, tag is not “it.” The touch-and-run game and any other form of chasing was banned this year at Discovery Canyon Campus’ elementary school by administrators who say it fuels schoolyard disputes. “It causes a lot of conflict on the playground,” said Assistant Principal Cindy Fesgen. In the first days of school, before tag was banned, she said students would complain to her about being chased or harassed. Fesgen said she would hear: “Well, I don’t want to be chased,...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A Colorado Springs elementary school is banning the game of tag on its playground -- after some children complained that they'd been chased or harassed against their will.Assistant Principal Cindy Fesgen of the Discovery Canyon Campus school said running games will be allowed, as long as students don't chase each other.Fesgen said two parents complained to her about the ban, but most parents and children didn't object. Two elementary schools in the nearby Falcon School District did away with tag and similar games in 2005 in favor of alternatives with less physical contact. Officials at Evans...

JOSEPH GALLO, 10, of Santa Cruz, Calif., is well armed in the battle against childhood boredom, with a bedroom arsenal that includes a computer hooked to the Internet, a DVD player, two Game Boys, as well as an Xbox and GameCube. But in recent weeks, the hum of that war room of machinery has quieted because Joseph has acquired a new playtime obsession that would have seemed quaint even in his parents’ day: marbles. But lately, a number of educators like Mr. Cohill, as well as parents and child-development specialists are trying to spur a revival of traditional outdoor pastimes,...

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...

SADDAM HUSSEIN'S REGIME PROVIDED FINANCIAL support to Abu Sayyaf, the al Qaeda-linked jihadist group founded by Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law in the Philippines in the late 1990s, according to documents captured in postwar Iraq. An eight-page fax dated June 6, 2001, and sent from the Iraqi ambassador in Manila to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, provides an update on Abu Sayyaf kidnappings and indicates that the Iraqi regime was providing the group with money to purchase weapons. The Iraqi regime suspended its support--temporarily, it seems--after high-profile kidnappings, including of Americans, focused international attention on the terrorist group. The...

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2006 – Community members welcomed a new playground for the children of the Al Shrooq primary and secondary school in Taji, Iraq, April 19. Iraqi children from the Al Shrooq primary and secondary school, in Taji, Iraq, help disperse gravel April 19 at the new playground donated by Iraqi and U.S. companies. Iraqi army and Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers, along with children at the school, pitched in to help make the school a better place. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Hunt, USA   The playground was a result of hard work and determination by a combined...