Check out these playground rules!

[Greaseball]

From elementary schools in my county:

• Children are not allowed to slide on their bellies
• Students must stay off muddy grass
• Children must be actively "doing something" and not just walking around
• Students must play in groups and not alone
• A child may only bounce on the "bouncer" 25 times before his turn is over
• "Digging sticks" can only be as long as the child's shoe

Here is the article; most of these rules were copied from an inset that was in the paper but not in this link.
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles...y/topstory.txt

I can understand having rules that are about safety and respecting others' rights, like the "no throwing acorns" rule, but I think this list is overly restrictive. Recess should be about taking a break, letting off steam, and doing what is needed to relax, not about even more rules and instructions about how to play.

Like the rule about "doing something" or staying in a group - some children may just need to wander aimlessly or sit alone and may not appreciate a rule telling them that is not allowed. No one gets hurt when one child decides to use his recess time to just take a walk around the playground or read by himself.

I don't understand how someone could get seriously hurt from sliding on her belly. Anyone who goes down a slide like that knows they might fall the one-foot distance off the end, and I'm sure they are fine with that. My dd has preferred to slide that way since she was 2, and could always catch herself so she didn't fall.

I think children should be allowed to get dirty at the playground. Maybe they can be required to wipe their feet or bring a spare outfit to change into, but a little dirt never hurt anyone.

And the rules about "only 25 bounces" and "sticks can't be longer than your shoe" - who is going to monitor this? Are the supervisors going to stand around counting and comparing? And what if one kid has really big shoes - is it fair to give him a bigger stick just based on that?

I think recess can't truly be recess unless it's largely unstructured. Do other schools have rules like these?

[chickadee79]

I agree that it is very restrictive. When I was in elementary school, we had "indoor" shoes and "outdoor" shoes, simply for the reason that kids get dirty! The school didn't want dirt tracked throughout the halls and classrooms(who can blame them) and instead of saying ok you cant get dirty, they just had us have another pair of shoes.

[member]

Wow. That list makes me . I remember the best part of school was running around in the mud at play time.

[PumpkinSeeds]

OH man, in elementary school my brother and I used to slide in the mud on the grass (with other friends of course)...

I remember sitting in class wet and muddy, and not thinking twice about it...
:LOL

ooooo sorry that was a little OT

[sugarmoon]

devil's advocate speaking..

Sorry, can't help it :

staying off the muddy grass: if 100s of kids are trampling through a muddy area, pretty soon there will no longer be grass there -- maybe they're trying to preserve the grass and not have just a hard dirt-pack playground?

the sticks, sliding on the belly, and 25 bounce rules -- I (while not necc. agreeing with the rules as the best solution) can see where they may have come from wrt to safety/sharing. In a large group of kids, consistency is sometimes the way to go, even if it is not the best solution all the time.

I don't get the "do something" and no playing by yourself rules though.

[Greaseball]

I don't get the "do something" and no playing by yourself rules though.

I think these are the worst. What if you are new in school, or are really shy and don't have any friends? If no one likes you, will you be forced to try and play with those children anyway? Will other groups of children be forced to play with someone they do not like?

[mammastar2]

I'm no Lord-of-the-flies advocate when it comes to school recess, but this moves a bit too far in the Orwellian other direction!!

Especially the rules about playing in groups - loners have enough of a hard time without being made into rule-breakers in and of themselves. If you want to encourage inclusiveness, why not just say 'you can't exclude others from your game who'd like to play'??

The mud part is weird too.

Also in the article, when the representative at another school was explaining how they realized that their no running rule had been too restrictive, when what they really didn't want was any playing tag on the blacktop! Playing tag?? For pete's sake...

[LeftField]

Maybe the "no alone play" thing is some sort of anti-bullying, anti-exclusion thing thought up...by extraverts. I'm an introvert and I would implode if I wasn't allowed to be by myself when I wanted. You figure that you're always with people in school; there's no privacy for kids, really. After being with people throughout the day, I would welcome a little solitary wind-down time. They need to consider the needs of little introverts too.

[EFmom]

Most of these rules are silly. If kids want to walk around, alone or in groups, what's the problem?

But, I can see the rules about the "bouncer." They have a similar rule in my dd's school, which was made because the biggest kids would get to it first and hog the thing for the entire period. Now all the kids count after each child gets on and they take turns nicely.

[Greaseball]

There was another rule that says students can play games in groups but cannot "walk around" in groups. What are they trying to prevent there? Students planning a shooting or something?

Any student who knows they have the right to peaceful assembly is not going to go for this.

[lauraess]

What is wrong with these people?!!! Many of these rules are way over the top of restrictive. I bet if a child would complain, the rule-makers and enforcers would say something like: " your lucky you even have recess!"
This world is sooo messed up!

~L

[Greaseball]

I bet if a child would complain, the rule-makers and enforcers would say something like: " your lucky you even have recess!"

I guess, technically, it's true. What is it, something like 40% of primary schools don't have recess?

[Hera]

Originally Posted by Greaseball

I think these are the worst. What if you are new in school, or are really shy and don't have any friends? If no one likes you, will you be forced to try and play with those children anyway? Will other groups of children be forced to play with someone they do not like?

This reminds me of my dh, whose teachers thought he was "abnormal" because he preferred to alone and still during recess. They wanted to hold him back. His parents had a heck of a time explaining to them that he was bored silly in school and was using his recess time to think.

[Artisan]

I don't get the "no being by yourself rule". Maybe it's aimed at making sure no one is ostracized.

The bouncing 25 times thing I'm sure is because there are lots of kids waiting, and it's a way to take turns. There is only so much playground equipment.

The stick length is probably so it's harder to hit or injure other kids. Much easier to poke or whack someone with a big stick.

And you actually could get hurt sliding on your belly -- if you went quickly down and then face-planted on the asphalt. They aren't able to monitor and help kids on a playground the way a parent is at the park.

[LunaMom]

I understand that there may need to be some safety rules. Even the no-belly-sliding rule...maybe it's a little extreme, but when a few adults are trying to mange a large number of children, it's probably safest to have absolute rules about playground equipment. I have no trouble letting my daughter climb up slides at the playground (as long as her climbing isn't preventing other kids from coming down), but I understand the "up the ladder, down the slide only" rule at school. It's different with 40 or so kids out there at once.

But the rules about HOW to play? That's ridiculous! maybe they are trying to stop kids from excluding others, but this isn't the right way to do it.

Believe it or not, the school I used to work in actually had lunch aides who didn't allow kids to RUN in the school yard. It was just a yard, not a playground. It was awful watching the kids trying to restrain themselves. A lot of them wound up "speed-walking" instead. It was so WRONG.

[littlecityfarmer]

Wow... I guess the playground at my former elementary school was a deathtrap. Kids running everywhere, slides and firemen poles to climb on (belly down or up), play areas lined with pebbles, not soft surface...

I remember a classmate once fell from an elevated platform through fireman pole hole-- she cut her eyebrow and had have a couple butterfly closures... Much less litigious age.

I myself was once stung by a hornet from the nest in the periscope on the play submarine...

Yet another reason to homeschool, I suppose!

[Petronella]

Ugh, that's awful. My dd has friends and all that, but she is still somewhat of a loner, and during recess she would sometimes rather wander around, or read a book, or just think to herself than deal with people. And what are you supposed to do with a child with no real friends? Whoever they play with, nobody's going to be happy; kids who are made to 'do something' will do it halfheartedly, be bored, and probably get pretty darn po'd at whoever's telling them to 'do something'.

Somehow I get the feeling they were tweaking the truth slightly when they said they had no complaints. I mean, *no* complaints? (And even if they haven't, that doesn't mean everybody likes it.) Seems like most people here are opposed to it. And how could the intoverts possibly be happy with this?

[CarrieMF]

staying off the muddy grass: if 100s of kids are trampling through a muddy area, pretty soon there will no longer be grass there -- maybe they're trying to preserve the grass and not have just a hard dirt-pack playground?

the sticks, sliding on the belly, and 25 bounce rules -- I (while not necc. agreeing with the rules as the best solution) can see where they may have come from wrt to safety/sharing. In a large group of kids, consistency is sometimes the way to go, even if it is not the best solution all the time.

I agree.

Mud is not the same as dirt. There are 250 kids in my dd's school, if 250 kids are slopping through mud the school gets very dirty, even with each of those kids having indoor shoes to put on.

In the spring when it is muddy on the school grounds, the teachers close off the main parking lot & they hold games there for the kids to play instead of going onto the playgrounds.

The sticks I agree with, though I also had a kindergartener throw a 4 foot stick at my head this year too.

Sliding down a slide on their belly could be 2 things, either feet first or head first. Head first is dangerous & is probably the reason why they don't want them doing it. Feet first, can cause rug burns on the stomach & these days it's something a parent would try to sue over.

25 bounces is an easy number for kids to remember. You could say 2 minutes, but kids won't remember how long 2 minutes is.

[Calidris]

Wow! Blast from the past!

[jimblejamble]

Dear Children,

Don't be independent or creative.

Sincerely, the education system.