Kids bringing footballs to elementary school

[Anonymous]

I can't believe pp is harboring that horrific leapfrogging accident that happened 40 years ago, to a friend (in the Midwest FWIW). The horrors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid broke a collarbone playing soccer. Should they ban leapfrogging and soccer?

There are two separate questions.

1. Is a broken bone a big deal? (I think it is, and I have broken two ribs, a foot bone, and a toe.)
2. Should anything at recess that might result in a broken bone be banned? (I don't think so.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe pp is harboring that horrific leapfrogging accident that happened 40 years ago, to a friend (in the Midwest FWIW). The horrors.

To recap:

PP#1: Recess injuries are not a big deal, and DC parents nowadays are weenies.
PP#2 (me): Recess injuries can be a big deal, and even people not in DC and not nowadays can think so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Nothing about that sounded angry. Spot on. I know this may come as a surprise, but in most parts of the country, getting hurt at recess isn't a big deal. No sane person would call the doctor over a bump from a football, and football is a standard playground game for both boys and girls. DC parents raise really weak kids, in general.

That depends on how you got hurt, and how much you got hurt -- doesn't it? Falling at recess and scraping your knee is not a big deal. Getting your collarbone broken because a bigger kid leapfrogged over you (this happened to a friend of mine at recess in the 1970s, in the midwest) is a big deal.

And this is where we differ- my youngest broke his collarbone wrestling with a friend on the playground. We went to the ER and had him checked out. Six weeks later he was fine. Nothing about it was a "big deal". It was kids playing.

A big deal is a serious illness, weapons at school, natural disasters, etc. Kids getting hurt is called life.

If you don't think that a broken bone and associated ER visit (and bills) are a big deal, then ok, you don't. You have very high standards, I guess.

Hahaha! Lady (and I know you are a woman because no father would say something so ridiculous) I have four that have graduated from college, two are married with kids of their own, one high school senior at home. I have been through just about every parenting scare out there. I promise you, a broken bone with a trip to the (*gasp) ER is not a big deal. It's part of life. Kids who are healthy and active get hurt. Thankfully, none of ours have been too serious.

You're in for a loooong 18+ years if you consider a broken bone a "big deal".

[Anonymous]

Men don't think that broken bones are a big deal? How about that!

[Anonymous]

Getting hit in the head with a basketball would hurt just as much, but those are everywhere.

[Anonymous]

We allow our students to throw a football around.

[Anonymous]

I can't even.

I seriously worry for the future of this world.

[Anonymous]

My kid split open his lip jumping from a climbing gym on the playground. Let's ban all climbing gyms.

My daughter hit her head walking under a slide resulting in a huge shiner. Let's ban slides.

Seriously, OP, maybe you should petition for isolation rubber rooms for each kid to play in.

[Anonymous]

What a mob of horrible shrews. There's no reason for a child to be hit in the head with a football with proper supervision. Throwing a football in of itself is not an issue if there's a designated area on an otherwise crowded playground. Blaming the child, who is the injured victim, because she wasn't focused exclusively on the trajectory of a football or admonishing her mother to teach her daughter to catch the football or anticipate the optimal way to react if someone yells out a warning is just mean girls masquerading as adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:This is why I moved my child to an all boys school.

You took her to the doctor because a football hit her.

Maybe she has a headache from her anxious mother.

Maybe I should have elaborated. She has a massive bump and felt dizzy right after. Headaches continued on and off. We called the doctor's office and were told to have it checked out. Please, school me on how to be as good a parent as you are.

Okay, I will "school" you on being a good parent.

1. Teach your child to catch a ball.
2. Teach your child to be aware of her surroundings, not everybody has to change their behavior just in case little Larla might be touched with their play equipment.
3. Teach your child that some kids need to run and play and sometime they play rough, it is okay, nobody is going to die.
4. Next time your child has a scrape don't make such a big deal out of it.
5. Stop exaggerating, nobody is getting a huge bump from a football and feeling dizzy for days, you should have gone with black eye or hurt nose, a little more believable.
6. Suggest to the school they have an area of delicate flowers but please do not take away other kids ability to have fun, burn energy and be normal kids.

Do you have anger issues?

Nothing about that sounded angry. Spot on. I know this may come as a surprise, but in most parts of the country, getting hurt at recess isn't a big deal. No sane person would call the doctor over a bump from a football, and football is a standard playground game for both boys and girls. DC parents raise really weak kids, in general.

Flag football? Tackle? Enjoy Applebees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't even.

I seriously worry for the future of this world.

+1984

[Anonymous]

I think DCUM should give OP a little slack. Concussion is a serious problem.

Obviously, I don't think we should ban footballs. I do think that there should be play areas for specific activities. I wouldn't want someone playing baseball in an area where I am focused on playing soccer. Someone is bound to get clobbered. The times I swung by to DC's school, I notice that the kids playing soccer are pushed further down the field. Basketball players are congregated on the basketball court. If a child decides to run into the middle of a soccer game and gets clobbered over the head, well...that's the child's problem then.

[Anonymous]

You can do whatever you want with your kid after school, but during school young elementary kids should be fine with playground equipment, playground balls (hard enough for soccer, basketball and catch, but not hard enough to pose much of a risk) and running around. Kids playing football wear helmets, even those who aren't being tackled. Head injuries from soccer are proving just as serious as those from football as per the research. Nobody is saying ban all sports. Just keep is moderately safe during recess. Keep in mind there are kids with SN related to motor issues out there too. Do we wrap kids in bubble rap? No. When I was growing up we could not bring regular (non-nerf) footballs or soccer-balls to school until 6th. Seems reasonable to me.

By the way, when the research was just surfacing about soccer injuries ands long term effects I remember so many parents poo pooing it and taking this same attitude. Then more research came out and their own kids got more concussions and they calmed down and realized there might be a reason for concern.

[Anonymous]

Do I think some people get too sensitive about a child possibly experiencing normal childhood injuries? Yes

Do I think the OP was being too sensitive by taking her child to the doctor? No. Not having seen the injury, I'm really not in a position to judge, but if my child had headaches after a blow to the head I might feel it was worth checking out too. The doctor told her to bring the child in to have it checked out and I have more confidence in a professional medical opinion than in someone whose children were occasionally hit by the ball themselves.

For the poster whose child cut themselves with scissors: while I don't think scissors should be banned, I do think there should be rules for scissor safety. I think we can all agree that children should not be allowed to run with scissors because that would unnecessarily raise the risk of injury. (I'm not saying this is how the child injured herself. Being somewhat clumsy myself, I understand that sometimes accidents just happen.)

Yes, you can fall off a curb or run into a stump and hurt yourself (as notrd above, being somewhat clumsy, I've run into more things than most people can imagine), but there is a difference berween being hurt by your own carelessness and someone else's.

Do I think footballs should be banned? No, but I do think there should be rules to minimize injury. Perhaps if kids want to play with actual footballs versus the nerf type, a play area could be designated for that. We don't really have enough information here to know the situation. If the girl wandered into the football area, then while it's sad she got injured, she does bear some responsibility. On the other hand, if kids were dashing around the playground throwing the ball around kids who were trying to play other games, I think the football players would bear the brunt of the responsibility. I suspect the truth is somewhere between the two extremes.