BMX/MotorX/Skateboarding

» Jodi Gallegos - What's your opinion

I would love to hear from others on the idea of schools banning the game Tag. Do you think it's a reasonable plan or a reactionary response?
What are your thoughts?

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» Robert Dailey - What's your opinion

In response to What's your opinion posted by JodiG:

Totally reactionary and irrational. Tag? I was raised in the country. We were jumping out of barn lofts (into hay piles), traipsing around the woods, wading gullies and creeks, swimming after school in the irrigation canal (no lifeguard...although the bigger kids always looked after the smaller ones), camping out at night, and yes, playing tag. When I got a little older (9 and 10), we'd all go fishing in several ponds. We'd wade out in the ponds chest high and fish. The real game wasn't to see how many fish one caught, but how many leeches one could collect on one's body in a given period of time.
We also rode horses (usually bareback). If we were too short to get up on one, we'd get someone bigger to help us or use a stump.
We rode our bikes for miles and miles exploring country roads.
We even played tag on bikes, which occasionally led to skinned knees and elbows, but nothing that was seriously lasting.
We became creative, learned to solve problems, learned to help each other and play together, and yes, sometimes the play got rough, and sometimes there were bruised egos, cuts and scrapes, sometimes a knot or two on our noggins, but we always rebounded. If things got too rough, someone in the group always realized it soon enough and we slowed down.
Are we building a society of tiresome unimaginative bores, incapable of interracting with others except on the shallowest, least challenging level?
Growing up, it wasn't about danger. It was about exploring our limits, finding out what our physical and psychological boundaries were, learning about the world from the unique perspective of our own experiences.
I feel sorry for the kids that don't have this opportunity.
I have to add this: we raised five daughters and one son. We still have two teenagers living at home with us. Our 16 year old daughter, who stands about five feet tall, and weighs less than 100 pounds, decided that she wanted to play rugby. to see this tiny girl on the rugby field is, to me, exhilarating. She also enjoys skateboarding (which she does on the quiet street in front of our house, and in the park) and ice skating.
When our 23-year-old daughter was 10, she lost two teeth skateboarding. She lived through it, is a beautiful, well-rounded woman, with a child of her own. She also loved softball, and was the catcher for her team. I didn't know girls could be so rough or so competitive then. Some of them were downright mean...but she not only lived through it, but helped bring her team to championships.
Our other teen loved to garden and fish, particularly salt water fishing, and she's a real trouper when it comes to fishing, and a whole lot braver than I am.

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» desertblue - What's your opinion

In response to What's your opinion posted by bobcajun:
hear, hear, Bob. Banning tag? Why not just cancel school entirely, teach all classes online, and raise a generation of zombies?

I used to work for Outward Bound, and I considered it my duty to help kids be kids again - to encourage them to roll in the lovely leaves, swim in lakes (yup, leaches and all), build a fire, climb trees, enjoy a sunset. Most of these kids had never done anything along these lines before.

We, as a society, are sturggling to find ways to make life safer for young ones. It will take a while before we figure out how to do it right, methinks. The pendulum might swing too far in the other direction before we figure it out.

-- posted by desertblue

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» Jodi Gallegos - What's your opinion

In response to What's your opinion posted by desertblue:

Thank you for the great responses. I grew up in a country setting as well. We swam in the canal, rolled inside innertubes down hills, rode bare-back and by ourselves. My brother had a litle 250cc dirtbike at 5 and by his teens he had scouted more of the canyon than any adult ever had (with only his dog to keep him company).
With childhood obesity being the problem that it is, I think it's ridiculous to ban the very things that keep kids active.

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