"Rough" play in school playground

[Otta]

We (as a society) also over protect them in my opinion, and we're also far too quick to look to legal action as the answer to everything. Again, in my opinion.

D_C's legal action comment was in response to my "dammed if they do, dammed if they don't" comment, and that (threats of legal action) is EXACTLY why schools find themselves in that position.

And to be clear, I'm not talking about the OP, just a wider point.

[Otta]

And I don't think that link about a tragic accident is helpful.

Last week a pro cricket player wearing all the correct gear, was killed playing cricket. Weird freak accidents will always happen on occasion. All we can do is hope they don't happen to us. The other option is to wrap ourselves in cotton wool and never go out.

Having said all that,I think if my daughter ended up with a blue bump on her head I'd want to be called and I'd want an explanation.

[david_carnell]

Where have I said we shouldn't protect our children? Uncleglen has already accused me of apologising for domestic abuse and now you too. It's this ridiculous hyperventilating over-reaction that is precisely what I'm talking about.

I'm afraid that link is a strawman. It was a tragic accident - not a result of negligence. What is your solution? Ban bulldog? More dinner ladies? These things will still happen and attempting to remove every element of risk in a child's life is no solution. It simply creates a generation of adult-sized infants who are incapable of judging situations for themselves.

Of course schools have a responsibility to protect our children but I'd rather they focussed their resources on the classroom and things like CRB checks than on excess playground supervision.

[suzisoo]

As someone who works in school and spends lunchtime as a first aider I would like to say that we find that in early years children learn very quickly that any slight knock will get them a visit to the medical room , if they bump their head they will also get the coveted sticker.As a school we have to take any head knock seriously and inform the parents even if its just two giggly girls just knocking their heads together when eating lunch. It is not unusual for some parents to get a call every day. These bumps and knocks are things that if we were out in the park with our own kids we would just hit it a rub, but due to over anxious parents we cannot take the risk that we have not taken it seriously. Little ones charge around and do knock into one another, we have plenty of staff but accidents do happen, we are forever telling them to stop running around with skipping ropes and hoops but other than stopping all games there is not much we can do to stop falls and trips. I do agree that some schools have had to fight for space since the bulge intakes and it is usually a case of staggering play times. Remember up until 5 your child will have only been playing in small groups and it takes them a while to get used to being aware of having to look out for others.

[uncleglen]

(I was not accusing you of apologising for domestic abuse d-c, sorry if I gave that impression) I totally agree that wanton aggression should be challenged every time because what some parents consider acceptable behaviour towards other children, others will not tolerate. If a child is displaying wanton aggression towards its peers or other age groups then it should be reprimanded as all children need to know what is socially acceptable and schools and other parents sometimes have to do this. I would not dismiss your child as having a colourful imagination Lochie when he said another child tripped him on purpose because we had a neighbour whose child was very fond of doing this to my younger son and this was witnessed by several other children. His own older brother was often hit with objects by this boy but since the parents thought the sun shone out of his backside not much was done- unfortunately he was persona non grata at several playgroups and eventually was sent to boarding school.

[uncleglen]

This happened some years ago at my son's school as well except it was wrestling that a few boys thought they would practice on others on the concrete of the playground. It ended up with all the parents involved meeting with the head- the mother of the worst offender was smiling and saying 'they are only copying WWF' (I had not heard of this at the time) which was on cable tv. Things improved after that.