Reply to Withholding recess in 1st grade

Forum Index » Schools and Education General Discussion

Reply to "Withholding recess in 1st grade - ?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Making a child run laps as punishment is illegal in Virginia, and most other states . If your child's teacher does this, contact the principal immediately. [/quote]

I don't actually know the law so I'm going to assume you're correct and it is illegal, in which case obviously any school doing this should stop. But I'm curious as to why. As I said in a previous post on this thread, this is a technique we sometimes use at home, generally quite effectively, and I would have no objection to it being used in school. I read on this board all the time how parents say their kid can't meet the school's behavior expectations because the child is not getting enough exercise and time during the day to be active but then when the consequence for bad behavior is exercise parents are upset? This does not make sense. If lack of exercise is a significant contributor to bad behavior, then requiring a bit more exercise as a consequence of poor choices isn't even a bad punishment it's just B

Both, of course.

Physical activity is good for behavior, but it needs to be incorporated into the day in a positive way or it will backfire - fun gym classes, more recess with games encouraged by recess monitors who are active in the recess by encouraging kids to be active. If physical activity is associated with punishment and humiliation for a child, I see no better way to create a life-long couch potato. If a kid is acting out and getting squarely, a good teacher will recognize the need for movement and find a way to get that child or the whole class moving without making it a punishment.

Also, for many kids gym class is humiliation -- to make it also a humiliating punishment is over the top. Remember that all kids are not like your kids.  Also, some kids are not physically able to handle laps for medical reasons, so then you have uneven punishment administration by teachers. This child gets a time out, but that child has to run laps for the same behavior.

That's just the tip of the iceberg of why this is a bad idea and why it is now illegal.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics