This article on recess in Maine public schools sounded typical. (Except for the lunatic who blamed dwindling recess time on feminists- not unlike a former co-worker of mine who blamed employed women for WW II, but I digress. . ::boggle::)
At Carter’s school, they aren’t allowed to play tag either, and the play equipment is just sad. When we go play there after school hours, there’s a pretend cabin that’s pretty cool, but that’s only allowed to be used for educational purposes, something no student has admitted seeing. Who has time for a log cabin when there are I-STEPS?
We’ve forgotten how much we learn from play
During recess, I read books, jumped rope, concocted evil plots, discovered why those plots would eventually fall flat, spied, made friends, lost friends, cried, laughed, ran, fell down, tried to jump to the sky from a swing– I learned about physics, social norms, humor, literature, problem-solving and sneakiness. All from being allowed to be a kid.
When we lose faith in what our children can learn just from life (and in turn, what they can teach us) we lose faith in our humanity.
6 replies on “Whatever happened to recess?”
Amen.
That’s why it is so great to be married to someone who cares enough to research a playset, organize a toy paradise and a craft room, send jokes in packed lunches, take children to run up and down ramps at malls, create interesting projects to engage the imagination, and get down on the floor regularly to play the foil (or heroine) in the daily storytelling done by our kids.
I can’t do anything about the sterile playhouse at University Elementary (yet), but I can love you for making sure the rest of their lives are rich and stimulating.
I really agree – that’s why I LOVE my kid’s school! The play equipment is old, but there’s lots of it and – it’s really challenging for the kids, and all built in and around lovely trees. Last year, two kids broke their wrists falling from the monkey bars, when i asked one of the parents (the president of the school council) whether there were concerns about safety issues, she said “oh no. She could have done it falling out of a tree at home”. Hear! Hear! Also – a lot of kids need physical activity for self regulation – by the end of the day they must be crawling up the walls!!
(PS Will you marry me Kevin? Or at least point out to MY DH how wonderful *I* am 😉
We’d have to move to Utah.
omg- if a child fell and broke something on our school playground, I’m pretty sure there’d be crime scene tape and a new rule that only sixth graders can go outside to play, only they can’t because they try to make out behind the cabin or something. . . .
Thanks for the offer Kevin – Utah might be too cold after Australia, and I wouldn’t be able to surf…should I ever learn how… I’d settle for you reminding DH how great I am – Amy will fill you in on the details 😉
Amy – yep, I was impressed with the reaction. I know of an alternative school in Sydney where the whole school community agreed on how they were going to manage risk and negotiated this with the insurer. They have trees the kids like to climb so the older kids (grade 6/7) came up with a plan that involved grading the difficulty of the trees and ‘licensing’ kids to climb once they had demonstrated their ability to be safe. I loved that on so many levels.
[…] But your recess is so short. When do you […]