My son loves to play soccer. He plays on a rec league and apparently a lot of the other first graders play pick up soccer at recess. Recently, he came home with a note in his folder saying that the first graders would no longer be allowed to play soccer at recess. This ban will continue until the end of the year. Per the note, the first graders were getting too physical, resulting in some getting office discipline referrals. The teachers apparently also used class time to address this issue with the students, but it didn't stop whatever was going on at recess. Just wanted to get some perspective on this - has anyone else been in a similar situation? I think it's odd, but am okay with this decision if it teaches the kids something and resolves the problem.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and perspectives. Each post gave me something to think about. When I went to elementary school in the early ‘80s, there was very little regulation on the playground. I remember ‘chicken fighting’ (trying to push an opponent off a raised balance beam using one hand) and playing ‘king of the mountain’ on the snow piles, and I also remember the teachers saying that they didn’t want to hear about anything unless there was a serious injury like a broken arm, to discourage excessive tattling I suppose. So that’s why I raised an eyebrow when this next generation is banned from playing something as benign as I view soccer to be. However, I do certainly understand that parents are much more likely to ‘helicopter’ and sue these days, and schools must protect themselves, so I can definitely see the other side of the argument as well.
I talked to my son over the weekend, and he said that the problem was that a lot of the kids were using their hands (a ‘handball’ penalty), and the kids that play soccer outside of school were calling it out, and that’s where a lot of the disagreement started, which I imagine probably escalated from there. I know my son takes sports seriously and plays hard, and can sometimes take things personally, so while I never saw an ODR (Office Discipline Referral) come home that needed to be signed and returned, I would bet that he had some involvement in the situation as well. I did talk with him about how we all need to follow the rules and play fair, and sometimes we need to let things go. He said that he and his friends have since moved on to playing basketball at recess, which is a sport all the kids seem to understand and can agree on.
Over the years the school my kids attend has had to ban soccer, tag, mini-stick ball hockey, the building of snow forts and tobogganing. The bans were always in response to kids who were not following rules, they came after several warnings and they were temporary.
My son liked to play football at recess. They have been told they can't anymore because of physical play and bickering amongst themselves.
He is in 2nd grade.
My mother works at an elementary school and is on the playground every day. They have banned team sports before for an amount of time because it's usually more fighting then fun.
I don't think it's odd at all.
L.
My 2nd grader used to play in the dirt, and he'd come in with dirt in his shoes and pants that got the classroom dirty. The teacher said no more playing in the dirt...
My son was so bummed out, but I understood... (made it a lot easier to get his clothes clean too!)
I could let him play in a sandbox outside of school. That made him very happy. Your son plays soccer outside of school. He gets to play soccer, just not at school.
Your teacher tried to turn it around by talking to them in the classroom. It didn't help. Sometimes kids have to learn the hard lesson that if they don't follow the rules, they don't get to do something. This is part of growing up and REAL world stuff. It's not like they aren't allowed to play and get physical activity.
You should be backing the teacher up. You should also tell the soccer coach what is going on and ask him or her to use this as a teaching lesson with the kids. It will only help them to grow up some...
Yes mam... We took it away in 1st and 3rd grade because the kids were so physical with each other in an unsportsmanlike conduct and resulting in injuries.
Before we took it away, it was addressed several times with students in the classroom and via communication with all parents of each grade level.
I'm not going to stand at recess as a teacher and watch kids who just want to have fun with a game end up injured or worse because of primarily a select few who are over enthusiastic with their abilities.
That sucks but we have to protect all the children because if we didn't, we'd be getting sued for not protecting them!
Hopefully the students learn better sportsmanship in the end. This is also carried over to PE when they have competitive games. Many children just want to participate and have fun whereas others are in it to win at all costs.
It's sad but it's what we have to do for liability purposes and the sue happy people out to make a buck without working for it these days.
it all began with dodgeball..........
i think it's incredibly stupid, but i don't see what else the schools can do. since parents have insisted that kids cannot be disciplined for being little asshats, and it's always the other kids' fault, or the teachers', and there are lawsuits whenever a child falls down or another kid sneers at them, there's really very little recourse for them.
we can, of course, keep them all safe by putting them in little hermetically sealed bubbles that waddle around the hallways with them. i'm thinking by about 2020.
khairete
S.
Any activity, be it soccer, tag, or kickball, can be taken away if the kids get out of control, are too aggressive, don't listen/follow rules, etc.
I know it sucks, but I was a first grade aide and did yard duty for grades 1 to 3 for three years so I know exactly where they are coming from.
It's a good teachable moment for your son. Even if he wasn't doing anything wrong you can have a conversation about why the teachers did what they did. Student safety ALWAYS comes before fun, that's just how it is, and needs to be.
Well, that is basically like the age old problem of where kids can't play nicely with a toy, the toy goes away.
They've tried to address it at school by discussing it in class, but that hasn't worked. The students cannot control themselves when playing a pick-up game, and since there aren't any referees out there pulling the players out when they get too rough, they don't get to play.
And no, I've not been in that situation, but I sure don't see a problem with the school banning soccer since there are probably just a few students that are playing too roughly.
I think the school really did try to help the kids to understand what the problem was, from what you describe. As other posters have mentioned, sometimes the group dynamic between even a few kids can affect the whole. If teachers were dealing with kids hitting and hurting each other during a specific activity, they are obligated to ensure that the activity isn't allowed to happen.
Also consider that for insurance purposes, this is a known liability. The school, knowing that rough play and fighting was happening, was under every obligation to protect itself by banning that activity for the present. If parents found out there were problems previously but their child was hurt, they may very well consider suing, and with due cause-- a known problem was allowed to continue.
It's too bad that it's come to this, but perhaps next year there will be enough peer pressure from the other students who didn't participate in the aggression and don't want to have to lose soccer again. They will remember that the school *will* take away a beloved activity if people aren't staying safe.
I used to be a recess monitor and yes, the kids can get really rough during soccer. But, since the kids were in grades 3-5, we would ban the individuals that didn't follow the rules. We had to do the same thing with basketball. All the kids thought they were playing for the NBA.
It is not odd that the school would handle it this way. I think they handled it quite well. It's sad that a few kids can't or won't follow the rules and that ruins it for everyone.
My high school freshman can't play dodge ball because some Mom complained that her kid got hit by a ball. It's DODGE BALL if you don't dodge you get hit by a ball.
That being said our elementary school had to ban all kinds of things (sometimes for just a short time) because the kids were just taking it way to far. Some kids figure out who is a weak soccer player and go after that kid, etc. They will find something else to do to pass the time and soccer will be back next year. :)
M
I did recess duty with another teacher at the school I worked at. The kids loved to play soccer down on the field, kids that age have a hard time playing the game and following the rules because a lot of them don't even know the rules, they just get the general idea...it's the age. Put a bunch of middle school kids out there and the same thing could happen. My husband plays on an adult soccer league and they even have arguments. That's why there are refs.
Myself and the other teacher I shared duty with didn't want to take this activity away from them, we wanted to help them play fairly and learn the rules. We split up and took turns monitoring (reffing) their soccer game. It went really well and the kids were able to continue to play in a more safe and organized way. I think if a duty teacher was willing to do this, it could be a solution...even if it was just once or twice a week.
This is a very typical "punishment" to address an ongoing issue. If your child continually misbehaves, you might take away a toy or activity. The school is doing the same, because some of the children aren't following the rules/getting violent, what have you. Perhaps children were getting hurt - I don't approve of 7 year olds playing unorganized soccer, either, because it CAN be a violent sport. I think this is really a simple issue. I don't let my Sunday School class make paper airplanes after class anymore because they were throwing them at people, lol.
When my older kids were in 3rd, they were not allowed to play tag for the last month of school because they were getting too aggressive. Some kids were tackling the others. Since they could not ban half the kids from recess, and talking to them about proper behavior, they were not allowed to play tag. They could play ball and such but were warned that recess itself would be taken away if it got too rough.
O. word: Dodgeball
Same thing happened when mine was in elementary.
My kids school has banned something for a day or two, but not months. I think that is a bit much. Kids at that age don't remember why they are in trouble after a certain amount of time. We wouldn't punish them at home for two months, so why do it at school?
I think I'd ask some more questions, and maybe the kids who can't play by the rules don't play....but everyone shouldn't suffer.
Just my $0.02.
It's sad that it has come to that because I'm sure it was a great way for the kids to get out some energy. But a group of 7 year olds with no coach or adult probably kept turning into fighting and arguing every single time with kids getting hurt. First graders are not so good at keeping their emotions in check and will resort to hitting, kicking, pushing, name calling, etc. Too bad there is no lunch time coach for their little soccer games! My son was really into playing soccer at recess for 3rd grade. This year in 4th he is really into playing basketball with other kids. If the kids can keep their behavior in check they will be allowed to keep doing it.
If it's a problem why doesn't a teacher supervise? What are they are they playing now? Kids need plenty of play time.
Do parents still volunteer to watch kids on the playground. If not maybe they should go back to that.
I would be disappointed, but I can understand it from the school's point of view. It sounds like they did try to address the situation and, since they didn't get the results they needed, they felt they had no choice but to ban it altogether. My son (also in first grade) recently said they were banned from playing tag/chase games because people were getting hurt from that. We didn't get anything official sent home, but I do think they are enforcing it at school. Soccer hasn't been banned yet, though.
Soccer is a rough game. Any contact sport has the potential for injury. Let the kids play already!
I guess next they'll ban reading because kids might get paper cuts.
Why was this hard for you to understand? Seems very 101.
