'Tagging out' youth physical fitness

Okay, I guess I can kind of understand why many schools have removed the game of dodgeball from their P.E. curriculum. Not that I didn't enjoy taking out a little aggression on an imposing player with a high-speed "kill" shot, but I was also on the receiving end of many a direct hit from a skillfully thrown rubber playground ball and lived to tell the tale, without a bruised body or psyche.

But now not only is dodgeball regarded as a playground "no-no," but some schools have also taken aim at the time-honored recess game of "tag." The Oct. 30 issue of Time reported that Willett Elementary School in Attleboro, Mass., has forbidden tag, as well as touch football and all other "chase" games during recess. The report also stated that schools in South Carolina and Wyoming have enacted similar bans.

The Attleboro administrators reportedly feared that a student might get hurt and the student's parents might then sue. Unfortunately, they probably have a very valid point. In an overly litigious society, it probably was only a matter of time before some suit-happy parents saw a playground scrape as an instant payday.

Give me a break. I recall very clearly falling on the asphalt playground when I was in kindergarten and getting up with a bloody nose. What "action" did my parents take? They most likely told me to "be more careful."

There is no shortage of materials from health organizations reporting on the growing number of schoolchildren who are overweight or even obese, but in order to protect the children (or the schools they attend), more and more physical activities are being removed — to the point where we will eventually have playgrounds and P.E. classes of children standing in place, since that seems to be the only activity that is "risk-free."

Four-square would be out because a player may be required to run fast in order to get enough momentum to bounce the ball over the head of his or her opponent; tether-ball is just an accident waiting to happen, with the ball zipping around the pole at face-level; and the crazed running in circles to escape the pursuer in "duck, duck, goose" requires running, and is probably also not politically correct in its use of "birds."

Like any parent I wanted my children to be physically fit and appreciated the school's efforts in that area. When my son fell on a playground in winter and broke his arm, what action did we take? We explained the physics of trying to run on ice patches.

Children face enough real and potential dangers in today's world, let's not exaggerate the "hazards" of childhood play.