And To Think I've Lived to Tell About It...
I'm getting to that weird age - where I can remember twenty years ago... Hell - that I have twenty years to look back on... I honestly never thought that I'd be one of those people who said, "Oh yeah? Well when I was your age, I walked seven miles uphill (both ways) in the snow - just to get to school, where we had to be three hours early - just to get a seat...
But today, I heard a news story that pushed me over that nostalgic edge - where I remember a lot of things that used to happen to me - and in light of what's going on right now, am amazed that I've survived.
A school in Colorado has banned the game of tag. I'm too ashamed to even provide a link here for you - but honest. You can google it. Tag no more. It's been banned... Okay, okay, I can't stand it. This is what apnews.myway.com had to report:
"An elementary school has banned tag on its playground after some children complained they were harassed or chased against their will.
"It causes a lot of conflict on the playground," said Cindy Fesgen, assistant principal of the Discovery Canyon Campus school.
Running games are still allowed as long as students don't chase each other, she said.
Fesgen said two parents complained to her about the ban but most parents and children didn't object.
In 2005, two elementary schools in the nearby Falcon School District did away with tag and similar games in favor of alternatives with less physical contact. School officials said the move encouraged more students to play games and helped reduce playground squabbles."
All of the sudden, I'm wondering how I ever survived childhood:
1) I played Tag...
2) I didn't use antibiotic dish soap
3) I walked on a roof without a harness
4) I ate trans fat
5) I also ate eggs and dairy - which depending on the year, may have easily led to possible demise
6) I was held responsible for my actions. It was usually not my teachers' nor my parents' fault
7) I graduated without the aid of "No Child Left Behind."
8) I travelled without the protection of the Patriot Act
9) I jumped on a trampoline.... Both in gym class and at summer camp.
10) I drank creek water.
11) I've eaten at restaurants (which I'm sure is consistently grosser than it sounds!)
12) I was vaccinated
13) We played a lot of contact sports in school - like dodgeball, Red Rover, Duck, Duck Goose - and (gasp) TAG.
14) I somehow lived through Scarlet Fever and Pneumonia without being hospitalized.
15) I've played on a see-saw (or teeter-totter)
16) I can drive a stick shift (Ok... This doesn't seem to be anything to inhibit my survival - but I like to tell people I know how the clutch works)
I could go on. Seriously - I don't know if I'm more interested in how kids are going to become even reasonably responsible adults today - or how I survived in the first place. What gives? How is it I'm not an over-bacteriad walking talking disaster waiting to implode at any moment? Or am I?
To think I've lived to even write this blog!
But today, I heard a news story that pushed me over that nostalgic edge - where I remember a lot of things that used to happen to me - and in light of what's going on right now, am amazed that I've survived.
A school in Colorado has banned the game of tag. I'm too ashamed to even provide a link here for you - but honest. You can google it. Tag no more. It's been banned... Okay, okay, I can't stand it. This is what apnews.myway.com had to report:
"An elementary school has banned tag on its playground after some children complained they were harassed or chased against their will.
"It causes a lot of conflict on the playground," said Cindy Fesgen, assistant principal of the Discovery Canyon Campus school.
Running games are still allowed as long as students don't chase each other, she said.
Fesgen said two parents complained to her about the ban but most parents and children didn't object.
In 2005, two elementary schools in the nearby Falcon School District did away with tag and similar games in favor of alternatives with less physical contact. School officials said the move encouraged more students to play games and helped reduce playground squabbles."
All of the sudden, I'm wondering how I ever survived childhood:
1) I played Tag...
2) I didn't use antibiotic dish soap
3) I walked on a roof without a harness
4) I ate trans fat
5) I also ate eggs and dairy - which depending on the year, may have easily led to possible demise
6) I was held responsible for my actions. It was usually not my teachers' nor my parents' fault
7) I graduated without the aid of "No Child Left Behind."
8) I travelled without the protection of the Patriot Act
9) I jumped on a trampoline.... Both in gym class and at summer camp.
10) I drank creek water.
11) I've eaten at restaurants (which I'm sure is consistently grosser than it sounds!)
12) I was vaccinated
13) We played a lot of contact sports in school - like dodgeball, Red Rover, Duck, Duck Goose - and (gasp) TAG.
14) I somehow lived through Scarlet Fever and Pneumonia without being hospitalized.
15) I've played on a see-saw (or teeter-totter)
16) I can drive a stick shift (Ok... This doesn't seem to be anything to inhibit my survival - but I like to tell people I know how the clutch works)
I could go on. Seriously - I don't know if I'm more interested in how kids are going to become even reasonably responsible adults today - or how I survived in the first place. What gives? How is it I'm not an over-bacteriad walking talking disaster waiting to implode at any moment? Or am I?
To think I've lived to even write this blog!
posted by Kell @ 5:59 PM
3 Comments:
At 4:13 AM,
Sarabeth said…
There are normal parents out there. I'm one of those. I (gasp) let my daughter ride her bike without a helmet. My son, no way, although he is much younger.
In defense of overprotective parents, having children makes you crazy. Someone should study that.
At 5:17 AM,
Kell said…
I don't know that I think it's parenting more than I think it's some strange culture shifts - so yes - it's parenting - but within a larger context... BTW - as one who learned the hard way, (and I'm not telling you how to parent - but as one who lost half her vision - and now sees everything in 2D) - I would recommend the bike helmet! That's one culture change that makes a lot of sense to me.
At 7:28 AM,
Trixie said…
Oh and here's a thought...
I was at the grocery store yesterday in the deli section. I was ordering lunch meat and a mother was there with a child (maybe 3?) and a lone man. The store gives kids a free cookie from the bakery. The child was munching the cookie. It fell. The mother picked it up threw it out and asked for a new one. The lone guy behind me asked "Doesn't the 3 second rule apply?" I turned around and said "I think it only applies in a domestic setting. I am not sure it applies at a commerical location." He thought about this and said "I thought it applied everywhere."
I got my order and was getting ready to move on when he ordered his lunch meat. He didn't know what kind of roast beef he wanted and said "whatever." Suddenly I wondered if he was a dad or an uncle or what. I wondered if he thought the 3 second rule applied everywhere because of something his wife said or didn't say. He was looking really concerned when I pulled away.
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