And another game is banned at school

[roscowgo]

I was bullied for years.

Then one day my fist closed up, the bully folded up. and that "poo poo" quit.

I never needed counseling. Or therapy. I never shot up a school. Tag didn't make me feel like some sort of abused outcast.


The people who do crap like this, protecting us from ourselves. each other. the world, should be taken into a back room and hit repeatedly with a stick.

The world isn't and shouldn't be an easy ultra-safe place. I have a recurring argument with my girlfriend about kids. she wants em...i don't. One of the reasons is crap like this. I'm scared to death that i would wind up with a 40 year old living in my basement. Soft, helpless, dumbed down 40 year old kid, who can't make it on their own.

I want the youth of this nation (hell ALL nations) to be smart, fast, capable, tough individuals. And you just don't get tough when the roughest thing that touches em is 15 ply bathroom tissue. You don't get smart when you have hand held computers that give you instant answers to every question. You don't get capablity, and self reliance when everything is done for you. When you arent allowed to Decide that maybe ballet isnt for you.

CNF is dead on. It's heading that way now. A soft undefended interior, with a few marginally harder bits swirling about the outside feeding on the squishy innards. And a great hue and cry coming from the inside to put on a dang helment.

[camthepyro]

I agree with the above. To tell the truth, I was dangerously close to being the described above. The only diffence is I have a strong will to take care of myself, but now I'm just learning how to, because of all the sheltering.

[oldschoolorange]

banning tag is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard of.

Hey I am suprised no one else touched on this, Ever wonder why so many kids are fat? Yes I know it is not the school systems job of keeping kids in good shape but when you cancel recess because it is too cold, Too hot, High UV index, and then go ahead and ban a game like tag where you run around and burn off energy/fat, gain muscle/endurance and good cardiac health what are you trying to teach kids. Oh it is important to have fun as long there is no way of getting hurt, now go put on your padded suit so we can throw a beach ball around and no one plays rough.

[CNF2002]

Kids aren't just fat because of lack of exercise, thats just the icing on the cake. Kids eat way too many calories and don't get enough nutrition. Which is, sorry, the parent's fault AND the school's fault, when your kid has a regular diet of french fries and cheese burgers. Fast food should be a once-in-a-month thing, not an everyday thing. Many parents work all day while their kid is in school, swing by McD's for dinner and what does the kid get? Breakfast of a candybar (if any at all) or a high-fat high-sugar prepackaged muffin, lunch consisting of grade D "kid happy" food from school (ie pizza, fries, nuggets with a side of fruit they never eat anyway) and come home to a Big Mac and coke for dinner. If this happens any more than once or twice a month, you are not giving your kid the diet you need.

I also blame parents overworking, not having time with their kids or being home to make proper meals. I mean real meals, steamed vegetables, rice and properly cooked main dishes of chicken or red meats or baked fish. Not Hambuger Helper or Mac & Cheese, or any other meal that comes out of a box...heck, anything with a TV ad associated with it is a good idea to avoid. Sure, cost of living is high and insurance is up, but you don't need two parents working full time when you've got 2 SUVs in the driveway and 50 inch TV plugged into $200 of cable/internet service a month. Maybe you wouldn't have to work so much if you didn't have 15k of credit card debt because you just HAD to have that new washer and dryer and full bedroom furniture set, and maybe you wouldn't be forking over $500 a month in payments for junk you dont have anymore and vacations you cant remember going on.

Then while you're at it, you can stop blaming the credit card companies for jacking up their interest rates and raising the minimum limits, or car insurance companies for hiking rates while you ride around in a 30k SUV drinking coffee (that you pay $100 a month for) and talking on the phone (that you pay $150 a month for you, spouse, 2 kids with text messaging and ringtone downloads). Stop running your AC in the summer at 65 degrees and turning every light in the house on along with the TV entertainment system (all 3 of em) and your computer, plus your kids computers, then complain about the high bill and rising energy costs. Stop shopping at Walmart to save a few bucks and then complain about the neighborhood values plummeting because the retail district consists of a Walmart, McDonalds and Home Depot, surrounded by trashy apartment complexes.

Maybe your kids wouldn't want to eat at mcdonalds everyday if they didnt watch 3 hours of TV every day. Maybe if you didnt expose them to commercials at every opportunity, they wouldnt beg for junk and products that caused a big chunk of your debt. Stop being your kid's friend, entertaining their idea to get a new SUV and shop at the Gap and buy an ipod + all the accessories.

And last of all, quit complaining that your kids are fat and lazy and living at home when they're 25 because guess what, kids become who they emulate and they emulate us...adults. We're the problem, the kids are just our hapless victims who will be left to clean up our mess.

Kids aren't suing schools. Kids dont want to be fat. Adults want to make kids fat because a fat kid means profit for them. Adults are suing schools because its a quick buck. Kids dont want to ban recess. A kids can fall off the playground, crack his head open, and as soon as he regains consciousness will want to be off playing again. Its the adults. The adults who overprotect kids one way but neglect and abuse them in others. The adults who ignore common sense and spend more than they earn, who give into child nagging, who create those ads to urge kids to nag in the first place.

The first step to making our kids well adjusted and healthy is to fix ourselves. Manage money wisely, conserve, save, take responsibility for our own actions, don't fill the courts with ridiculous lawsuits, eat healthy, exercise, treat each other with respect, don't bully other adults. We need a serious social and behavioral adjustment for OURSELVES, not the kids. Once we fix US, the kids will follow right along.

[Loonette]

People in our society have caught on to the fact that they can get away with just about any sort of ridiculous lawsuit. Schools MUST cover their butts in today's world, or they will be slapped with a lawsuit. I had my first kiss as a first-grader in one of those concrete tunnels at my school (I was reminded of it last weekend while painting a concrete tunnel for a PTO beautification day at my kids' school). So I'm sitting inside this tunnel, painting away, remembering back to that crazy kiss more than 30 years ago with Jay Wojak. And then I realized... if that kiss had taken place today, either one or the other of us, along with our respective parents and the school, could have been slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit. It's so sad...

About two years ago, when my son was 9, I was tossing him around the kitchen - like fun wrestling stuff. He looked shocked! And then I realized that he and his friends aren't allowed to play like that at school. So I make it a point to rough him up every once in awhile - he loves it... thinks it's hysterical good fun. And I know that the parents of his friends let them all play rough when they're together. Just not at school.

The best we can do as parents is respect what the schools must do (they are public schools afterall...), and teach our kids good strong values at home, including respect towards others ("no" means NO always), a proper diet for themselves and the family, and participation in an active lifestyle. It is up to parents to teach those lessons - not the schools. And kids need to understand what is considered appropriate behavior in the public world, whether we agree with the "rules" or not. Kids can still have fun at home romping around, having safe rough play if they enjoy it. I don't rely on the school for much anyway - I consider them a supplemental resource to our kids' lives - not the main resource.

Cheers,
Loonette

[deedee1]

+1 Loonette

Have a great one and ride safe
Deedee

[camthepyro]

+1 to CNF and Loonette.

Parents are too busy for their kids, kids all just do what they see, and everyone is trying to cover their own "O Ring".

[Wrider]

I was always the "fat kid" in school, and I was always teased, all the way up til I was a Sophomore in HS. I eventually learned to let it roll off of my back and just deal with it. I have had access to guns since I was 10 or 11 (I now own 5 personally) and have NEVER, EVER even CONSIDERED bringing a gun to school. I once brought a knife, purely by accident, handed it over to the teacher, got it back at the end of the day, and went home happy as a clam. I honestly just don't understand those idiots that think that shooting up a school will bring them happiness...
Wrider

[flynrider]

I don't rely on the school for much anyway - I consider them a supplemental resource to our kids' lives - not the main resource.

Bravo, Loonette! Relying on a public school to take care of your kids education is a crapshoot at best.

When I was growing up in the late 60s and 70s, schools were experimenting with things like "new math" and bizarre ways to teach basic reading and writing skills. My parents took one look at that and promptly signed me up for tutoring with the old retired teacher down the street. Twice a week I spent 3 hrs. at her house after school learning how to read, write, multiply and divide "the right way".

[jstark47]

+1 to Loonette, CNF, and Roscowgo. Best thread on here in a long time.