How much rough play at recess?

[Anonymous]

How much rough play at recess is happening in early elementary at your school?

Is it daily? Weekly?
Is it the same kid always or does it vary?

[Anonymous]

Not enough really. Boys and even girls at that age need to play rough to learn about their physical abilities and how to adult properly later on.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully a lot.

[Anonymous]

Aggressive rough play in early elementary in 1st grade was one or two kids (would refuse to go out when they lost a game and would chuck the ball at winner’s face or tackle kids to the ground). The same kids. Switched to private and there is a sporty culture of rough play (like the boys will be a little rough during touch football), but it’s not malicious.

[Anonymous]

In general rough play is fine and developmentally good in children, up to about 5th-6th grade, then it's time to dial it back, for both social and safety reasons as they are maturing into adults starting at that age.

Probably why "recess" is usually stopped at 5th-6th grade level and post-lunch time counts as recess then, just kids loitering around.

[Anonymous]

My son played super rough in K-1. He came home with skinned knees and elbows more often than not. He was happy about it, so I thought it was great. There was an occasional kid who went too far, but I think the group handled it pretty well (at least as far as my kid reported).

But your question implies that you are asking about one kid being rough with kids who aren't playing rough? That hasn't been my son's experience too often, and as I said, the group tended to put a stop to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son played super rough in K-1. He came home with skinned knees and elbows more often than not. He was happy about it, so I thought it was great. There was an occasional kid who went too far, but I think the group handled it pretty well (at least as far as my kid reported).

But your question implies that you are asking about one kid being rough with kids who aren't playing rough? That hasn't been my son's experience too often, and as I said, the group tended to put a stop to it.

Came home with skinned knees and elbows doing what? Mine would fall during chase games, or slip on the playground and get hurt. But nobody was pushing him over or hitting him regularly, at least not to the extent he was getting visibly injured very often.

[Anonymous]

I would like to know what specific behaviors people are including in rough play versus hurting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son played super rough in K-1. He came home with skinned knees and elbows more often than not. He was happy about it, so I thought it was great. There was an occasional kid who went too far, but I think the group handled it pretty well (at least as far as my kid reported).

But your question implies that you are asking about one kid being rough with kids who aren't playing rough? That hasn't been my son's experience too often, and as I said, the group tended to put a stop to it.

Came home with skinned knees and elbows doing what? Mine would fall during chase games, or slip on the playground and get hurt. But nobody was pushing him over or hitting him regularly, at least not to the extent he was getting visibly injured very often.

New poster, but in early elementary, my son would come home with grass stains on his pants and shirts and an occasional skinned elbow from playing football. He didn’t seem to care and took it as a badge of honor. I didn’t get the impression that the boys playing minded the rough play and he played sports with many of them. But, they would often be banned from playing a certain sport after awhile because things got “too competitive.” They would then move on to the next sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would like to know what specific behaviors people are including in rough play versus hurting.

Rough play these days means anything other than sitting in a bubble wrapped chair.
But traditionally meant wrestling, mock fighting, tackle-ish football without pads, punch-buggy, playing "mercy", swingset jumping, rock-paper-scissors/trading hits and such, etc.
For girls, mostly Red-Rover and the like, or some wrestling at an early age.

[Anonymous]

My kids played tackle football so…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much rough play at recess is happening in early elementary at your school?

Is it daily? Weekly?
Is it the same kid always or does it vary?

How would you know any of this? Kids are unreliable narrators. I assume teachers aren’t reporting this level of detail. How would you know what happens at recess and by whom?

I say this as a teachers aide who is at recess with 1st graders twice every day. I can’t imagine the kids could report recess activity accurately hours later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much rough play at recess is happening in early elementary at your school?

Is it daily? Weekly?
Is it the same kid always or does it vary?

How would you know any of this? Kids are unreliable narrators. I assume teachers aren’t reporting this level of detail. How would you know what happens at recess and by whom?

I say this as a teachers aide who is at recess with 1st graders twice every day. I can’t imagine the kids could report recess activity accurately hours later.

If you are at recess twice a day, what are you seeing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much rough play at recess is happening in early elementary at your school?

Is it daily? Weekly?
Is it the same kid always or does it vary?

How would you know any of this? Kids are unreliable narrators. I assume teachers aren’t reporting this level of detail. How would you know what happens at recess and by whom?

I say this as a teachers aide who is at recess with 1st graders twice every day. I can’t imagine the kids could report recess activity accurately hours later.

If you are at recess twice a day, what are you seeing?

I was a recess monitor recently helping teachers and I've gotta say kids aren't allowed to do ANYTHING. I follow the lead of teachers and admin, but these are some of the prohibitions:

-Only go down the slide. No climbing up.
-No kicking mulch or picking it up.
-Stay out of the mud.
-Balls only on the blacktop.
-No balls in the mud.
-No swinging on your stomach. You must sit in the swing on your bottom and hold the chains with both hands.
-No screaming.

I mean, what is the point of going to the playground and having recess? Might as well have the kids just sit around outside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much rough play at recess is happening in early elementary at your school?

Is it daily? Weekly?
Is it the same kid always or does it vary?

How would you know any of this? Kids are unreliable narrators. I assume teachers aren’t reporting this level of detail. How would you know what happens at recess and by whom?

I say this as a teachers aide who is at recess with 1st graders twice every day. I can’t imagine the kids could report recess activity accurately hours later.

If you are at recess twice a day, what are you seeing?

I was a recess monitor recently helping teachers and I've gotta say kids aren't allowed to do ANYTHING. I follow the lead of teachers and admin, but these are some of the prohibitions:

-Only go down the slide. No climbing up.
-No kicking mulch or picking it up.
-Stay out of the mud.
-Balls only on the blacktop.
-No balls in the mud.
-No swinging on your stomach. You must sit in the swing on your bottom and hold the chains with both hands.
-No screaming.

I mean, what is the point of going to the playground and having recess? Might as well have the kids just sit around outside.

I’m the teacher outside twice a day and this all seems normal and not a high bar to me. We need 20-40 kids to go back inside ready to learn, not covered in mud (and cold later) or with a chipped tooth from the slide. It’s not home where they can go onto their room and change clothes.
I see boys in kindergarten and 1st who start off playing two-finger tag and it devolves to full pushes. I think that’s developmentally normal but need to keep them safe and get them back to two finger tag. They don’t get in trouble, just redirected. I see some boys (and rarely girls) who have their hands all over each other. Full bear hugs, picking each other up. Same thing. It’s normal so they don’t get in trouble but it’s not safe so we say “keep your hands to yourself” type messages a lot.
It’s a constant struggle to let them play but not be too rough. Be physical but not too physical. Some aides let less slide than me. We try our best! We want them to get their wiggles out, too, or we pay for it later. But safety and good habits matter a lot.