Crushing the life out of children in Britain. nzherald.co.nz
<08.08.2002
By LORNA DUCKWORTH in London
Britain's parks and playgrounds are branded "boring" by children who say they are banned from activities and games that carry even the slightest risk of injury.
Many youngsters cannot ride bikes or skateboards, climb trees or climbing frames, or play with water because of rules imposed at local council recreation grounds, research for the Children's Society shows.
Schools have also stopped children playing tag, performing handstands, playing with yo-yos or making daisy chains because of a growing obsession with safety and fear of litigation.
The excessive caution is stifling children's mental and physical development, making them too reliant on adults, less confident and depriving them of a sense of fun, the charity warns.
Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the charity, urged schools and councils to review the restrictions. "Research has shown that children learn through taking risks and our survey says that children want challenging adventurous playgrounds.
"We need to overcome our over-cautious culture and let children take a chance with play." ... contd... >
I can vouch for that. In the mid 1980s we lived in London and our children attended the local state primary school [Sythwood in Woking]. BP Oil would have paid for private schooling but on visiting the prospects, they seemed quite mad - mixing it with the mob seemed a better idea.
Anyway, children were NOT to go on the grass. There was nothing for them to do except slouch around. Misbehaviour resulted in being made to stand against the wall. Misbehaviour involved dangerous things like running or generally getting out of line.
My father was a primary school headmaster in the 1960s [in New Zealand] and his theory was that children needed to be safe enough that they'd break their arm, not their neck. Other than that, leave them to find and stretch their limits with jungle gyms, bullrush, footy and stuff. As for rules, his idea was that the fewer and simpler the better and it was basically, don't damage stuff, don't attack other people.
Of course there would be other 'learn as you go' rules, such as no talking when the teacher or somebody else is speaking, no stealing, no abuse, etc.
Mqurice
PS: Bullrush is a game where one person stands in the middle of the field, calls one person to try to get to the other end. If the person is caught [physically wrestled to the ground] they are then in the middle too and they call somebody else. It continues until all are caught and in the middle. If somebody gets through, or the previous person caught could call it, the cry goes up "Bullrush" and everyone charges to the other end. Big tough guys are generally the last caught because they take mob attack to get down.
Oh oh, like AIDS, homoregulatus for child "safety" has reached Kiwiland: vuw.ac.nz Now banned in many schools. Also, note that now the runner is merely 'touched'. How pathetic. It used to also be called King o'seeny [I don't know that I've ever seen the spelling so that's probably wrong].
Academic scrutiny of playground language: google.co.nz
Torture as one variant in Bullrush: < “We usually play it how you tackle them and hold them for 5 seconds. Or we
tackle them and then torture them until they say mercy.”
“They tackle instead of touching”
“You tackle instead of touch”
“When we play Bullrush it’s the same rules as it is in the questionnaire, but we
tackle than touch.”
“We play it but we call it Ballrush and sometimes Mercy Ballrush and we have to
tackle.”
“We play the game pretty much the same except instead of tagging we tackle
each other.”
“The game described have the same rules except the person/people in must
tackle somebody trying to reach the other side (not just touch)”
“We play basically the same but to get the person down they have to be on their
back”
“The game described here is basically the same but when you run instead of
getting tagged you get tackled, the rest is the same”
“The person who is in has to tackle someone and hold them and beat them till
they say mercy”
“The person in tackles a person and hits him or her until they say mercy. The last
person to go in is the person to get all the other people in the next game.”
“Ballrush: One person is in the middle and you can call out a person’s name or
call “Ballrush” and they all run. The person in the middle tackles as many people
as he can and if you get tackled you help the middle person.”
“The person in the middle has to touch or tackle the person that they call out
before they get to the other side”
“The person in the middle, he has to tackle everyone else”
“We tackle them and torture them if they get caught – until they say mercy. If
they say mercy they are in . If they don’t and they get away, then they can run
again but[?] one there is the winner.”>
vuw.ac.nz |
