this is why kids are fat

[tim_mcf]

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2...d004743867.txt

Worse yet, we are raising our kids in a world of "no". You can't do this. You can't do that. What a great way to stifle creativity and initiative.

[sooner_ed]

How about if teachers just go into the kids' homes and teach to maximize the student's safety??

How stupid for that one mother to say her child feels safer because of the rule. No one said the kid had to play to begin with.

This world is just getting more stupid by the minute.

[CF-OC_gal]

I have to laugh at the memories that conjures up. My son was in a co-op nursery school that of course did not allow gun toys or play. At snack time when the bananas came out, guess what the boys' natural instints told them to do with them....

We had to ask them not to runaround pretending they were shooting each other with banana guns.

[dandjdad]

This whole tag issue at this particular school has been blown way, way, WAAAAYY out of proportion. It has wrongfully become the cause celebre for any person or group who needs evidence as to why they believe this country is becoming too politically correct, or that this country's kids are getting too fat, or whatever. Unfortunately, the truth is not quite so simplistic.

I used to live about 75 yards from the Willett school, and currently live in the next town over. The administrators at Willett didn't ban tag for any reason other than kids were injuring themselves at recess. The playground area has insufficient grass, which lead to these schoolkids playing tag on the blacktop. Naturally, all that uncontrolled running around lead to multiple falls, which lead to area parents getting fed up with their kids coming home with multiple cuts, contusions and injuries. The school became afraid of a lawsuit and, as a result, banned tag at recess.

Now, you might argue that this is a reflection of a a society that has become overly litigious, in which case I'd be forced to agree with you. But that's really ALL this ban represents. I'm sure if Willett had a play area that consisted of more grass, the banning of tag would have never been an issue. Unfortunately, the Willett school is what it is--mostly blacktop--and thus, this whole story is pretty much a non-issue.

So, in my humblest of opinions, I'd suggest that if you want a REAL example as to how whiny/PC/coddled this country has become, you can talk about little league games in which scores aren't kept so that "everybody comes out a winner" or jump roping classes for adolescents in which a pretend jump rope is used so that nobody feels inferior because they're not coordinated. Once that thread opens up, I'll support that stance wholeheartedly!

[etothepii]

I remember a story about a district banning tag because being "it" was bad for a kid's self esteem. That was ridiculous.

This story, being about safety, points to probably the #1 diving force in education today: Law Suits. Sad but true. Many of any given school's policies are derived from the administrations efforts to avoid being sued. Whenever you here of one of these ludicrous rules implemented by a school district, you can be assured that someone is fearing a law suit.

[dandjdad]

That's exactly right, etothepii. I think what really "stifles creativity and initiative" (to paraphrase IronMan) is the fear of being sued. Thankfully, I don't think the frivilous lawsuit problem is quite as bad in the US as it was a decade ago--but it's still pretty bad.

[CF-OC_gal]

Here's a controversial remark:

It's the fault of having 2 working parent families. If women (or men in some cases) would go back to staying at home to raise the children and instill responsible behaviour and or volunteer to be on duty at school grounds our children would have a lot more freedoms in play and self expression.

[dandjdad]

Brat, I don't think that's a controversial remark at all--in fact, I think it's a very obvious statement. I agree with you 100%,...unfortunately, for many, if not most, it's a necessary evil of living in the US. The cost of living here (and especially the Northeast, where I am situated) is out of control. On top of that, this country does very little to incentivize being a parent. My wife is from the UK...do you know what they get for maternity leave there? Six months, with the option for a year. Do you know what we get here? Twelve WEEKS! That's it.

My wife and I both work because we have to. If it was fiscally attainable that we could continue our lifestyle on one salary--well, believe me, we'd argue over who was going to quit their job first and stay home with the kids! We both make a decent living and are not extravagant, but still, between diapers, day care, food, car payments, mortgage et al, the money goes really, really quickly!

[gymgirl]

Originally Posted by dandjdad

about little league games in which scores aren't kept so that "everybody comes out a winner" or jump roping classes for adolescents in which a pretend jump rope is used so that nobody feels inferior because they're not coordinated. Once that thread opens up, I'll support that stance wholeheartedly!

i had heard about the little league games where they don't keep score, which is very stupid in my opinion...however i had never heard about the jump rope class thing. please tell me i am being gullable on that one, and no such thing exists.

brat i do agree with you regarding the stay at home parent bit, however i have to wonder....who comes up with this crap about not keeping score or no jump ropes so the kids feelings don't get hurt? is this brought up by stay at home parents with a lot of free time?

if you take out the competitive edge all together how are kids to learn about commitment, dedication, and hard work let alone what it means to lose graciously? these kids are going to grow up expecting everything to be handed to them on a plate or done in 'fair' manner. how does that translate into the real world? life is not fair, you grow up and apply for college, jobs etc. what are these kids going to do when they get rejected? they are not going to know how to deal with it becuse they have been coddled their entire childhood.

[dandjdad]

I wish I was lying about the jump rope thing...sadly, it does exist, though.

I couldn't have expressed my thoughts on competition any better than you just did, gymgirl. I once heard some nitwit on "Road Rules" or one of those type of reality shows on MTV say "I've never lost at anything in my life". My immediate thoughts were either that (1) she was a liar, or (2) she never pushed herself at anything in her life. If #2 was the case, did she really win? Heck, everybody can win at an invisible jump rope competiton. (Hey...guess what! I just did! Whopee for me!)

Anyway, my point is, oftentimes losing can be a good learning experience, as well as having a lot to do with building character. In life, if you truly--truly--push yourself, you're probably going to lose a helluva lot more than you win. If you can lose with grace/sportsmanship, learn from your loss, and figure out what happened to cause that loss, you're going to be a lot better off in the future.

[Lady C]

Originally Posted by dandjdad

If you can lose with grace/sportsmanship, learn from your loss, and figure out what happened to cause that loss, you're going to be a lot better off in the future.

This is how the real work world should exist. Sadly it doesn't. This is life. Who said life was always fair?

This reminds me of my son. He would plan nintendo with friends. If he started losing (because he wasn't a good sport about losing) he would 'accidentally' hit the reset button. See nobody won! He had to learn a hard lesson about that - when we caught him, his friends would have to leave until he could be a good sport.

[CF-OC_gal]

Originally Posted by dandjdad

My wife and I both work because we have to. If it was fiscally attainable that we could continue our lifestyle on one salary--well, believe me, we'd argue over who was going to quit their job first and stay home with the kids! We both make a decent living and are not extravagant, but still, between diapers, day care, food, car payments, mortgage et al, the money goes really, really quickly!

We had to too, but I didn't. I made money part time worked around the needs of the children. I lived at a lifestyle below what I was accustom to and was expected of me. I'm still trying to crawl out of the hole that decision dug for me 20 years ago. yess people judge me and my intelligence because of it. On the otherhand I wouldn't trade my kids for any additional house square footage, fancy cars, or even incompatable husbands.

The kids got to take music lessons and play Nintendo (within reason) but did not always have the best shows on TV nor had the best grades at school.

They also walked or biked everywhere and were not interested in soccer, baseball or hockey.

[Coreyatdel]

Like Jimmy Johnson said "Duhh umm"

[DaRkAnGel]

That's just rediculous... but im not really one to speak. I am currently trying to finish 16 ounces of peanut butter and am only halfway to my goal... back to work.