All of those "violent" kids games

[Racket_Man]

NOW pose a "significant risk of injury "

http://www.parentdish.com/2011/04/19..._lnk3%7C210282

New York State is now banning a lot of summer camp type games and imposing more regualtion and registration and costs (on-site certified medical staff). games like freeze tag, wiffle ball, kick ball, dodge ball are now verboden.

like some of the commenters I say yup let's just fatten up our kids even more. what ever happened to just letting kids be kids and playing with dirt and sticks and mud?

[Andara Bledin]

Freeze tag? Whiffle ball?!?

Let's just file this under the heading of 'baffling laws to disguise yet another money grab.'

^-.-^

[Bloodsoul]

To be honest, my first thought coming into this thread was about violent videogames.

This is worse.

[AdminAssistant]

I'm not one of those, "It was so much better in my day when there weren't child safety laws and health regulations!!!" type people, and Red Rover was banned at my school when I was a kid. (One of the really hefty kids got sent over and someone broke an arm). But freeze tag? Kickball? How are those even remotely dangerous?

[Ladeeda]

Yet gloved boxing and football are totally kosher. *epic eyeroll*

[Nyoibo]

I worked at a summer camp in the New York for a couple of years, apart from there being horseriding, stagecraft, stage fighting, fencing, martial arts, one of the biggest things there was circus, what the hell are they going to do there, shut down the whole camp?

[fireheart17]

I'm not one of those, "It was so much better in my day when there weren't child safety laws and health regulations!!!" type people, and Red Rover was banned at my school when I was a kid. (One of the really hefty kids got sent over and someone broke an arm). But freeze tag? Kickball? How are those even remotely dangerous?

We did a slightly more safer version of Red Rover, which basically had us all in a line on one side and a few people as the"catchers" in the middle, they'd call "Red Rover, Red Rover, send on over...." and then something like "blue hats" or "maroon shirts" or "blonde hair" and all the people matching that tactic would have to run to the other side and avoid being tagged. If you were tagged you'd have to either freeze on the spot or sit out.

[dendawg]

What's next to get banned, hide and seek? Red light/Green light?

[Cats]

I'm not one of those, "It was so much better in my day when there weren't child safety laws and health regulations!!!" type people, and Red Rover was banned at my school when I was a kid. (One of the really hefty kids got sent over and someone broke an arm). But freeze tag? Kickball? How are those even remotely dangerous?

Agreed. I've blacked out from being knocked over in Red Rover before (thankfully only for a second or two), so I would agree that game IS dangerous because there is a lot of potential for some of those 'hardcore' injuries.

But otherwise, kids are going to get cut, bruised, and roughed up a little being kids. That's normal and they will heal in time. Builds character. I'm short and was considerably shorter than my peers growing up, and on top of that, I'm skinny as heck, so I can be injured very easily (I've gotten a melon-sized black bruise from tripping or walking into something at work more than once. Thankfully, I do heal pretty fast). But besides Red Rover, which I refused to participate in if there was an option to, I played kids games and sports as much as any other kid, and my parents didn't try to stop me at all because of my size either.

If I can survive all that with no worse for wear, then kids these days are just as fine. If someone gets hurt? You tone down the activity for a while at best; chances are it was just a random accident or maybe someone being a little too rough, but that can be easily rectified. Heck, even a broken bone, while sucky, isn't too bad, kids do that often enough as well.

As for trained medical people on site, if there's a lot of kids, then I have to say I do support that decision. Inevitably, someone IS going to get hurt (even just a little), so it's not a bad idea. Heck, I'd use that as an excuse to make the kids have access to MORE activities, because if worse came to worse, you can take care of any injuries ASAP.

[Ginger Tea]

How is freeze tag a violent game? you run around till someone tags you and you stand still "frozen" or am I getting it mixed up with the "Live hand grenade down the pants" game?

[IDrinkaRum]

I say we wrap our children with bubble wrap and/or packing peanuts before sending them outside!!!

Ahem ... I can see dodgeball being dangerous. Especially if the popular kids are aiming at the unpopular ones. (And I speak from experience on that).

Otherwise, my daughter has bruises, scrapes, whatever. If she's not screaming/crying hysterically, I know she's fine. (Good thing about Child Rum: she only cries when she's really badly hurt).

I know I grew up with bumps, scrapes, whatever. I survived. The people/parents advocating this crap also played these games & survived bruises and scrapes. I just don't understand why it was okay for them but not their own kids.

[Andara Bledin]

My most egregious injuries ever came from riding my bike , riding my rollerskates, playing on the monkey bars, and playing volleyball. Never got hurt playing flag football, tag of any sort, dodgeball (and I was one of the unpopular kids).

Aside from the cracked rib from the monkey bars incident and the boxed ear from volleyball, my next worse injury came from .... walking. Three years running, I managed to turn my ankle resulting in a nasty sprain from 1) stepping wrong, 2) sliding off a bleacher bench wrong, and 3) not realizing that the steps I was going down went for another half-step.

^-.-^

[ExRetailDrone]

Oy, parents just don't want their kids being kids anymore, do they?

I've had more scrapes and bruises than I can count, usually as a result of my own uncoordinatedness, and I'm no worse for wear over it. I would fall off my bicycle, scrape up my legs while climbing trees, bump into things or trip and fall resulting in some nice bruises. What's the harm in any of these? Hell, I even once gave myself a bob lip by running into a parked car because I wasn't paying attention. I probably cried a bit, but then got over it and went back to playing.

Parents don't seem to think that a kid should sustain any injuries whatsoever, but I feel that's just part of being a kid! You can't keep them locked away in the house all day, because that's just not healthy for an average kid. I couldn't get enough of being outside when I was younger, and minor injuries were just a part of the territory, and both me and my parents were perfectly fine with that.

[NateSean]

So...let me get this straight. And feel free to counter my argument if you disagree with this assessment.

Lets say I take my nephew and nieces to a park in New York. With me so far? Great. Now, I teach them the game of freeze tag like I was taught when I was their age. Oh, maybe my little sister and my cousins are there too, so this is all one big group thing.

If they're playing freeze tag under my tutalege, does that mean I am breaking the law?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

How is freeze tag a violent game? you run around till someone tags you and you stand still "frozen" or am I getting it mixed up with the "Live hand grenade down the pants" game?

Not violent, but exclusionary, because if you're tagged you have to stay one spot and can't play any more, and that might turn you into an axe murderer or a bureaucrat who thinks up violent games to be banned.

So...let me get this straight. And feel free to counter my argument if you disagree with this assessment.

Lets say I take my nephew and nieces to a park in New York. With me so far? Great. Now, I teach them the game of freeze tag like I was taught when I was their age. Oh, maybe my little sister and my cousins are there too, so this is all one big group thing.

If they're playing freeze tag under my tutalege, does that mean I am breaking the law?

It seems to apply only to "summer programs," but summer programs can be anything the person defining them wants them to be.

I'm really glad to have been a kid when I was a kid. It's absolutely got to suck being a kid nowadays, not being able to play kickball or dodgeball because they're "violent" games that are competitive and exclusionary. Guess what? Life is competitive and exclusionary.

And we wonder why when kids reach adulthood, they can't handle not getting a job, or not being told how special and wonderful they are.