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Boys and girls, come out to play....
Oct. 18th, 2006 10:56 amNEWS HEADLINE 1: Not it! Mass. elementary school bans tag
ATTLEBORO, Mass. - Tag, you're out! Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.
Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.
NEWS HEADLINE 2: Elementary School Kids Increasingly Obese
Gee, do you think there is any correlation between the fact that we are so concerned about controlling every moment where kids might get hurt and the fact that they are running and playing less?
While I have serious problems with tort reform as it is currently being bandied about by insurance company lobbyists, I also believe that it's time that judges stopped extending fault to include every single time someone falls down. Kids at play get hurt sometimes. That's a fact of life. I took a few spectacular falls in grade school and ended up at the doctor's office more than once. But if when we try to take that risk out of the equation, we do so at the risk of our children.
Doctors who malpractice should not do so confident that their liability is limited - I've seen too many horror stories to believe that punitive damages should be eliminated. But people who sue school districts over broken arms from a recess mishap should be thrown out of court with a good scolding and the school district's court fees assessed to them. Because the ones putting kids at serious risk are those who would turn recess into a time to mill about quietly instead of running and playing.
ATTLEBORO, Mass. - Tag, you're out! Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.
Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.
NEWS HEADLINE 2: Elementary School Kids Increasingly Obese
Gee, do you think there is any correlation between the fact that we are so concerned about controlling every moment where kids might get hurt and the fact that they are running and playing less?
While I have serious problems with tort reform as it is currently being bandied about by insurance company lobbyists, I also believe that it's time that judges stopped extending fault to include every single time someone falls down. Kids at play get hurt sometimes. That's a fact of life. I took a few spectacular falls in grade school and ended up at the doctor's office more than once. But if when we try to take that risk out of the equation, we do so at the risk of our children.
Doctors who malpractice should not do so confident that their liability is limited - I've seen too many horror stories to believe that punitive damages should be eliminated. But people who sue school districts over broken arms from a recess mishap should be thrown out of court with a good scolding and the school district's court fees assessed to them. Because the ones putting kids at serious risk are those who would turn recess into a time to mill about quietly instead of running and playing.
