Tag, You're It!

When I was in elementary school, I remember playing tag and variants of the game like freeze tag. In all the years and numerous days of play I cannot recall getting hurt or any of my friends getting hurt while playing tag. In Physical Education class we used to play dodge ball as an organized class activity in the gym. Remember those red rubber balls that came in different sizes? When you got hit with one of the small ones in the leg, it would leave a nice outline of the ball on you and sting like hell. I remember lots of kids who got hurt playing that game.

I read yesterday that many school districts across the U.S. are banning tag playing. They are worried that students might get hurt and parents will sue the school. (These days, everyone is suing someone for something. I think it’s because there are too many lawyers). I guess schools have the freedom to ban any activities they think are dangerous but I think this is a little excessive. Recess and running around are part of school. Falling down and getting a scraped knee or elbow is part of growing up. If schools are afraid of personal injury claims then they should probably remove all the playground equipment too. So, in the end, there will be no more tag, red rover, flag football, swings, and seesaws, just to name a few. But at least we can sleep well at night knowing our kids are safe in the playground at school.