Banning School Yard Tag

Posted by Jodi Gallegos Oct 23, 2006

Do you hear that sound? It's me screaming!

Now granted, I don't have the references for this story, I heard about it on CNN in the morning on satellite radio. It was enough to have me pulling my hair and screaming at the radio (while sitting in the middle of traffic, to the pleasure of the drivers surrounding me).

Apparently (or should I say allegedly??) there are elementary schools in the US that have banned all forms of school-yard tag. In case you don't remember, or have forgotten; Tag is the game in which one kid who is "it" chases the other kids and tries to touch, or "tag" another kid who then becomes "it". That's about it as I recall. There isn't much more to the game than that vicious circle of touch and run. However, in our litigious society the "risks" of the game have become grounds for some parents to try and sue schools. In answer to the "risks" schools have now banned the game of Tag.

Now, periodically while playing Tag someone trips or gets tagged a little harder than expected. But even when I was a kid and my band of sixth-grade suburban bandits played paper-tag at the bus-stop (literally chucking a rolled newspaper to tag each other) nobody ever had more than a red welt or two (maybe some road rash as a result of trying to run while looking back over your shoulder).

I'm sure that freak accidents have occurred, but they can't be controlled. I'm also sure that the same schools that have banned Tag are in districts that are pouring money into football programs for older kids. I haven't done an empirical study but I'm willing to bet that the number of school football injuries is dramatically higher than the number of tag injuries. I've never known a single person who rubbed their shoulder on a rainy day while complaining of an "old tag injury".

While I understand the desire to protect children, I also support the need for children to run and play and even fall down periodically.

(And for the record, for everyone in my neighborhood who may have gotten a shredded newspaper in the morning, I am truly sorry!)