Another installment of "The Ongoing Wussification of America" See below the article for a commentary that I think holds more truth than most people are comfortable with.
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"][font style="font-weight: bold;" size="5"] School bans tag, other chase games[/font]
ATTLEBORO, Massachusetts (AP) -- Tag, you're out![/p]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.[/p]Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.[/p]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. ([a href="jvascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/education/2006/10/18/bookman.ma.tag.ban.wfxt','2006/11/01');"]Watch how second-grader Kelsey interpreted the rule -- 1:30[/a])[/p]Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Spokane, Washington, also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, South Carolina, school outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.[/p]"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."[/p]Another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.[/p][hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"]Commentary......
"Khomar" writes:
A couple points here: First, I am so tired of hearing parents saying what their children feel. Does her son really feel safer, or does he just say he does because it makes mom happy?[/p] Also, note that the concern comes from the mother. Now I will probably be labelled sexist here, but this just brings up the differences between the sexes (yes, to all of you college professors and students lost in the realm of theory and academia, there is a difference between men and women). Women are inherently protective because security is very important to them. It is called nuturing. It gives them the incredible gift of motherhood which helps children feel safe and protected. Men, on the other hand, tend to be harder and push their children. They are the ones who encourage their sons to make a solid tackle next time instead of just a glancing blow. They are also the ones that encourage their children to take chances. For men, it is all about status and fulfillment. The fact is that both the mother and father are necessary to the proper upbringing of children. All children need to feel safe, but they also need to learn that taking risks is okay. They need both in order to grow up to be well-adjusted adults.[/p] Unfortunately, over the past thirty or forty years, our society has demeaned fathers and promoted mothers. Fathers are portrayed in the media as stupid, aloof, or cruel. Men are looked down upon for being who they are as our whole society loses the ability to take chances. Women, in trying to make men into images of themselves, are now finding that they can no longer find "real men". I wonder why. This instance is a case in point. Notice that it is the mother who is concerned about the issue. It is the mother who has pushed this agenda until the school backed down. The father has been rendered powerless -- or has allowed himself to become powerless.[/p] Two things need to happen here if things are to turn around. First, men need to involve themselves in their children's lives. Their role is just as important as the mother's in raising children. Teach your sons to be men, and teach your daughters what kind of men that she be attracted to. Second, women need to allow men to take the role they were meant to play as a true partner in the relationship. No more cheap potshots at men, and no demeaning them infront of their children. Couples need to come together and support each other, and we as a society need to recognize the differences and strengths of both mothers and fathers and support them.[/p]
