What about Smear the Alternate Lifestyler? That was a good game.

I'm so glad I was a kid when being a kid was still allowed.

F*ck society. Get some damned personal responsibility, people. Jesus Christ, the world didn't come to an end when kids were allowed to kick the shiat out of each other on the playground.

Ditto, alcoholic_entropy. It pains me to see how the playarea of my favorite park when I was a kid changed.

We used to have a vintage fire truck that was gutted to climb on, monkey bars, chain link swings, ect.

Went by there the other week, everything was plastic and rubber, and they replaced the gravel with rubber mulch. Hell, they even had kids with helmets and pads on to "protect them".

Mind you, I'm only 19. Seeing that change so fast and so dramatically is really, really depressing.

/begin rant

And parents wonder why their kids are so hyper, too. S'because of shiat like this - they expect kids, who are a NOVA of energy, to act like full grown adults. All of a sudden, being 10 and acting it is a sin now.

Of course, parents who see thier kids acting thier age are HORRIFIED, and turn to thier psychs to pump their kids full of drugs until they're calm, sedated vegetables. If the poor doc says "christ, lady, they're just kids', they get sued with malpractice.

Kids grow up, and ritalin becomes prozac. Parents wonder why kids are so screwed up these days - its because they pump them full of so many chemicals and stimulants that their brain never functions how it should.

/end rant

Sorry for the long post. This is a topic that I get pretty fervent on. I speak from experience on the drug part, though.

No duck duck goose. That's farking retarded.

/Hooray for California and asshats not letting others to have fun.

I'm 31 and grew up when cement was the only thing below the monkey bars. You just learned not to fall. Darwinism at it's finest. Getting hurt is part of growing up.

"Physical contact" at Sunday School is still ok, though, right?

in about 15 years.. the US will be ripe for an invasion because of the pussies these non-parenting adults are letting their kids grow up into.

I always thought duck duck goose was a pretty stupid game anyway...

Tag, however, was fun... as was tackle football.. =P

thank God my parents were never like this.

"You fell off the monkey bars?"
"Yes."
"Well hold on tighter next time, then."


"You fell off your bike?"
"Yes."
"Either you learn to ride it without falling down or I'm giving it away to some homeless kid."


"Your sister hit you with a basketball?"
"Yes."
"Well...hit her back, then."

Speaking as someone who was a little shrimp of a boy through grade/high-school, this is moronic. You takes-your-lumps, you-learns-your-lessons. Our entire culture is so touch sensitive it's frightening. There is little left to remind us of our (often grossly overweight and slobby) physical selves.

"Show-biz Pizza, where a kid can be a kid small adult that had better STFU before we stuff you so full of drugs that you'll grow up to be like the pussified citizens in Demolition Man"

How will kids know if someone has a crush on them now? The kick in the shin has left the playground!

I have very fond memories of recess games of everybody-beat-the-crap-out-of-everyone-else. Scrapes? Bruises? Nosebleeds? Shake it off! It's called "growing up".

The forced pussification of America's youth just pisses me off.

How soon until you aren't allowed to THINK about games of physical contact?

/1984

The kids are writing rules for four square games. Is pre-law being taught in kindergarten nowadays? May I lend my voice in stating that this trend is absurd and ridiculous. C'mon, freakin' tag? If a kid loses a game of dodgeball that kid will be emotionall damaged for life? Baloney fuzz horse hockey rubbish! I lost all of the time in grade school, I never won anything, ever, yet I kept trying and trying. Losing made me try harder and learn from mistakes. What are these idiotic school bureaucrats thinking? Life is never fair no matter how they think they can engineer life to be otherwise. Also I bet this crap doesn't apply to poor schools, just the wealthy spoiled kids who are treated like precious little perfect angels -- rich kids that'll likely grow up to be coke-snorting executives at daddy's corporation.

I wonder why childhood obesity is becoming endemic? Oh right, the little gits aren't allowed to do anything remotely fun and active anymore.....

Schools can't afford to go to court everytime a kid gets hurt on the playground. Blame the court system and the parents, not the school.

I don't see this as being a problem.

All you have to do is beat your kid extra hard when they get home to make up for all the abuse they missed out on at school.

Problem solved.

Bah. Even when I went to a Lutheran school as a kid (19 now,) we played all sorts of rough games. If kids can't be allowed to be kids, they can't grow up to be good adults. Too many of these kids are protected from the world because their parents think that a scraped knee can kill them.

For pete's sake, let the kids out, give 'em a dodgeball, and let them slam it at some other kid. It's theraputic.

I can remember getting slammed in the face with a rubber ball in elementary. Stung like hell. I cried for a minute, then picked the ball up and whipped it at the kid who threw it at me.

In High School, we switched to these nerf-like balls. You can't whip a nerf ball. These at least had some mass, so you could still get good speed.

/Jeff Foxworthy is good mentor

This doesn't suprise me. my mom has been an elementary school teacher for over thirty years, and I can't tell what kind of hell the school board is putting her through. She had to take awway her play kitchen/house set because too many parents complained that their kids were allowed to "play with knives" at school. Also, she has kindergartners all day, and they aren't allowed to have nap time, or more than one recess a day. When I was in elementary school, I can remember having about three reccesses a day, plus nap, plus some of the best play centers ever. By the way, a pic of the "knife"...

Like Goth, I'm only 20, and it was amazinly different when I still had recess. I'd be very interested to know exactly WHAT caused the major shift in parental thinking, and how it happened so FAST.

I didn't RTFA, but I can't see them controlling this at all in recess. Maybe in gym class.

My daughter just started school. The first week they didn't let them play on the swings. They also have this jumping thing with springs(don't know what it's called) they wouldn't let the kids play on it either.

what about wild crazy monkey sex? is that still alright?

Thanks liberals.

In other news, kids no longer allowed to be immature or childish.

Seriously, who is behind these moranic decisions? Is it parents? Is it School officials? Whoever it is needs to get a farking clue. Kids will be kids. There's plenty of time for them to grow up and be adults.

I am SO glad I was in school at the time I was. Dodgeball was the greatest thing ever in elementary school, "touch" football that often knocked people down was so much fun too, and no one ever got hurt that I heard of.

The year after I left, they banned everything fun. My younger brother told me they even have the teachers assign teams for games so no one feels bad for being picked last.

Seriously, way to teach kids that physical games are bad. They're going to go straight home and play Doom 3 and Grand Theft Auto.

My senior year of high school we decided to play Capture The Flag on the last day of gym class for old times sake.

Our gym teacher said we couldn't because it wasn't in the state curriculum.

Year? 2003.

is "queer" a filter word now?

We used to play "boys chase the girls" at recess. That's still fair game, right? I mean, there's no harm in a little experimental fondling is there?

alcoholic_entropy - I'm glad I was able to be a kid too.

My son has had 3 in-school suspensions (without my knowledge until he came home afterward, from that day in school) for playing 'army' with his friends. What pisses me off the most is that they are re-enacting the history stuff they're learning about in class. They discuss war each day and yet aren't allowed mimic the stories they hear. By mimic, I don't mean take a gun out and shoot someone. I mean like how we used to when we'd hear a neat story from someone. Go outside and pretend. People just need to chill out.

Why do some people want to stamp out any type of imaginative play children do nowadays? Here, they aren't sitting perfectly still, let's put them on drugs. Oh look! They are playing cowboys and indians, let's suspend them from school because people MIGHT feel intimidated by a finger and thumb cocked like a gun.

URGH.

I remember recess.

There was nothing that couldn't get resolved by either a kick to the crotch or getting forced to eat gravel.

You don't thump someone with a dodgeball, you peg them with a dodgeball. Duh.

Is bra snapping still allowed?

This is getting ridiculous!!

When I was in grade 1 I broke my collarbone after slamming into a wall during a game of tag. That's part of life as a kid. I learned to be quicker on my feet after that.

I'm only 20. I shudder to think about what life for kids will be like even 10 years down the road.

GLASS PARKING LOT
NOW

has anybody blamed all this on lawyers yet? Well which DID come first, the lawyer or the frivolous lawsuit?

Wow, when I read this article, I thought to myself "It's changed so much since I was there, and I'm only 22" ... Looks like im not the only one.

In grade school we had a huge cement courtyard that ended in a hill and with a swamp on the other side. We ran around, skinned the crap out of our knees and basicly did what any 9 year old boys do when left to there own devices (pushed each other, shouted, got into arguements and fights) and I for one think im better for it. This structured coddling that seems to have taken over schools is bullshiat. All this tripe about preparing kids for the real world is just cover for Parents not wanting there kids to be kids anymore. I bet the kids who are left to there own devices, and have to learn how to interact and get along on there own (and god forbid even get hurt once and a while) will be a hell of a lot more prepared for life then someone who never even skinned there god damn knee.

/didnt realize he was this pissed of untill he started writing

We should demand the return of lawn darts!

I can't believe that even pushing someone on the swing violates the "no touch" rule.