I agree with you totally about soccer. I played soccer, but never learned to head the ball and never did it.
Soccer causes more injuries per capita than football. Most parents don't know that.
I hated dodge ball, but I played it because it was played. I didn't like getting hit, and when it was my turn to throw I wasn't strong enough to do damage to those who had done damage to me. So I quickly developed a defensive strategy of letting a ball hit me in the legs early on, and retiring.
Tag is out in my wife's school at least. Too much fear of the stronger kids knocking down the younger kids, and there were also one or two boys who used it as an excuse to touch girls' breast areas. So instead of disciplining the bad kids, or better letting the other kids exclude them (the most effective behavior modification I know at that age), tag is out. As is, of course, any game that involves pretend shooting, even with just the thumb and finger.
It's very sad. We're raising a generation of kids who will be totally unable to compete in the real world.
It's been traditional since before the time of Socrates, at the very least, to complain about the next generation. But this time it's our generation we should be complaining about. |
