I picked this up today from KATU News Channel 2's website.
What a crock of horse-$#it:
Most adults can remember the carefree days of childhood, climbing trees and jumping from swings, often on schoolyard playgrounds.
Yup, I sure do.
Climbing, swinging and sliding was once a rite of passage during recess, a time for adventure, to see how high, how far and how fast we could go as a kid.
Oh hell yes, I can taste the pre-recess anticipation now…
Today, kids find themselves grounded, victims of a culture of fear and injury litigation.
I don't like where this is going.
A growing number of school districts are going so far as to ban the game of tag and are even posting signs that read "no running on the playground."
Are you fscking kidding me?
Is there real danger on the modern playground?
Safety advocates say yes and want to eliminate it.
Their first target: swing sets.
They've convinced Portland Public Schools to remove all swings from elementary schools playgrounds.
This makes me want to choke somebody….must….control…evil….urges….
But the safety advocates don't stop there.
Portland Public Schools have also rejected merry go rounds, tube slides, track rides, arch climbers, and teeter totters.
[...]
In Broward County, Florida, there's a new rule on the playground: no running. (Emphasis added)
Seriously…can this be real? This is like something you'd see on South Park. It CAN'T be real…
One parent got it right:
A parent there commented that "no running on the playground, that's kind of like no playing on the playground" and another called for a review of what exactly was "safe" or unsafe.
And we wonder why American kids are getting to be pudgy little pork-pies? Here's a fscking clue:
What can kids still play?
Not dodge ball or tether ball, that's still too dangerous. And in Beaverton, at Barnes Elementary School, rules there forbid the game of tag.
Kiss my flourescent white ass. If my kids ever get in trouble for playing tag at recess, it's gonna be bare-knuckle boxing time with the Principal…and I don't care how brute-ish she is. I'll take my chances. I'll grab her by the lip-hair and teach her a thing or two about recess…
On a lighter note, I'm curious if "Kick The Girl You Like" is still a favorite among youngsters. I seem to remember being a champ at that one…
Actually I believe that “Kick the Girl You Like” has been replaced by “Kick the Person You Like”. I think Title IX made this a gender equity issue.
LMFAO…of course of course. How could I forget that…?
All this conjuring of memories long past has rendered me nostalgic….
Who the frack do these morons think they ARE
that they feel the need to want to take “being a kid” AWAY from our children anyway?
I recall too many times coming home from the playground with bumps, bruises, and a minor cut (or two) when my overzealous persona tried disembarking from my “spaceship” (read monkeybars) witout “scouting the terrain….no big deal. A little bactine, a bandaid and a kiss from mom was all it took to get me back out saving the universe once again. Whenever I fell or got hurt, it was usually MY fault (anyway), and not the device I was riding or climbing on. Besides…Mom always made better pies than ANY lawyer I ever knew, so I deferred to her in case of injuries (and a slice of that pie…heh, heh, heh).
As to those playground amenities…well, let’s see…
Dodge ball: aka Learn to NOT strike the ball WITH YOUR FACE….a LOT!
Tag: never make the tallest and heaviest kid *IT*, unless YOU can run a LOT faster than he can.
Swings: How many ways CAN a child negate the laws of physics?
Sliding boards: OK, how far can we run UP them before we have to slide back down?
See-Saw: another attempt to defraud Newton & Einstein.
That thing you spin around on for 5 minutes and then toss yer cookies:
NUFF SAID….4*G*s are all little kids can take, trust me.
It’s called BEING A CHILD…..
Then again, we had one of he BEST “platoons” of 8 year old soldiers in our part of town. Every kid had an arsenal of toy guns at his (or even her) disposal, and we used them ALL with gusto, making our neighborhood “safe” from those infernal commies…lol
(some of those old toy guns looked more real than the REAL McCoy…no “blaze orange barrel plugs” for US…no sirree!)
Not one eye shot out…not one arm busted…not one single solitary injury, other than the usual scrapes, scratches, and of course…the dirty clothes. But hey, it gave mom some “job security”.
ANd I never heard of ONE instance where any of us grew up into terroristic, hate-mongering, gun-toting radicals out to kill everyone and everything.
Perhaps these people that think our *mini-chubs* might get hurt should stop and realize that forcing them to grow up SOONER has dire consequences…let’s face it…watching some 6 year old with baggy saggy jeans and an *05* shirt on with a tiny ball cap backwards isn’t saying to ME “innocent little tike”, is it?
“Gee…he looks like a mini 50cent…ain’t that CUTE”?
Not hardly.
What’s next? A sign at the local pool that reads: NO SWIMMING?
Makes me wonder why I see so many curbside basketball hoops (which are a violation anyway)…shouldn’t there be some decal that states: WARNING – DO NOT USE IN THE STREET, YOU MORON…THERE COULD BE CARS DRIVING THERE TOO
Then again, I see parents ALLOWING their kids to ride their tricycles IN THE STREET, when my sidewalk is just sitting there, collecting birdcrap and litter. All this within walking distance of a “PLAYGROUND”…oh, horrors!
Get the lawyers OUT of the playground….this smacks at just another version of the same predators that stalk these children when they are at play.
Let them have a childhood…life will be biting them in their a$$ soon enough.
B.G.
All part of a bigger conspiracy to neuter the men!
http://fromthemorning.blogspot.com/2006/05/do-men-still-matter.html
Liberalism is a mental disorder