School ditches rules and loses bullies

[The Straight Story]

Ripping up the playground rulebook is having incredible effects on children at an Auckland school.

Chaos may reign at Swanson Primary School with children climbing trees, riding skateboards and playing bullrush during playtime, but surprisingly the students don't cause bedlam, the principal says.

The school is actually seeing a drop in bullying, serious injuries and vandalism, while concentration levels in class are increasing.

Principal Bruce McLachlan rid the school of playtime rules as part of a successful university experiment.

"We want kids to be safe and to look after them, but we end up wrapping them in cotton wool when in fact they should be able to fall over."

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/school-ditches-rules-and-loses-bullies-5807957

[Warpy]

1. Alas, too many parents want to keep their kids wrapped up in cotton wool

and will sue the schools when they aren't.

There were still bullies during chaotic playground breaks but I admit there were more of them when the playground was organized and closely supervised by adults.

[1000words]

2. This gives me hope

Knew immediately it couldn't be happening in the U.S., but pleases me nonetheless.

[linuxman]

3. Wait a second...

They're saying that it actually HELPS to let children get their energy out through "rough" play, rather than banning red-rover, fireman's poles, chasing each other around with gun-shaped hands, jumping off swings and doing NORMAL kid shit? I call bullshit. Suspend the children involved in this BS and let them play twenty question if they insist on playing outdoors.

[Downwinder]

4. Anybody for annie over, kick the can, jump rope,

real swings you can pump and buck.

[defacto7]

5. Be careful now....

20 questions can become 21 questions... then 22... then no one knows what wickedness this way comes....

Ban all play.

and welcome to DU!

[Vattel]

6. What is bullrush?

[brewens]

7. I imagine it's a lot like "Smear". That was tackle tag! n/t

[Vattel]

8. On my football team in middle school we played bull in the ring.

Basically the person in the middle got beat up by everyone in the circle around them.

[jmowreader]

12. My grade school had rules about "Smear"

We had to wait till there was at least four inches of snow on the playground before we played that because the playground was blacktop and they didn't want us killing each other.

Fortunately, this was the 1970s and North Idaho towns still got snow between the end of October and the middle of March.

[brewens]

13. I'm in Lewiston and that was also in the 70's. Where did you go to school? I don't know

that it was actually banned ever at my school but it may have gotten broken up when it turned into a melee. One rule was softball only on the baseball diamonds. One diamond at the far end of the playground was where we would often break out a real baseball. I got a hack for bringing one because it had my name on it!

[jmowreader]

16. St. Maries.

We also played it as a form of football:

The game starts when one kid throws the football to another kid. The designated receiver was the only one who could be tackled until he either threw the ball to someone else or ran it in for a touchdown. If he got tackled the ball got picked up, thrown to someone else and the game began anew. If he made a touchdown he brought it out fifteen yards and threw it to another kid. You couldn't throw it back to who threw it at you.

People would probably pay to see this.

[Javaman]

17. In my "lord of the flies" school it was known as...

"kill the guy with the ball"

bullies have no imagination.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Seems to be another name for 'British Bulldog', which can get fairly rough

You need to play it on grass, because it involves tackling people:

British bulldogs (often the singular British bulldog, also octopus, seaweed, bullies, bullrush or simply bulldogs) is a tag-based game, of which red rover and cocky laura are descendants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_bulldogs_%28game%29

The rules I know are: one or two children start as 'it', and everyone else (perhaps up to 30) line up behind a line on one side of a field. At 'go', they have to run to the other side, while those in the middle have to tackle one or more of them, and either get their shoulders on the ground. Once that's done, the tackled person joins the team in the middle. When everyone else has made it to the other side, there's another run back, and so on, until everyone has been caught. So it's basically an extended game of rugby tackling, followed by wrestling to get their shoulders on the ground. And sometimes several people will be tackling one person.

[XemaSab]

14. Sounds like a good time

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. It is, but we were told only to play it with kids the same size as us

which is reasonable enough. Just a couple of years' age difference can mean a collision can get dangerous.

[likesmountains 52]

10. Where are the teeter-totters and merry go rounds now?

Too dangerous for parks and playgrounds? I visit a lot of parks with my toddler grandson and it it all just slides and swings, with various things to climb on.

[TlalocW]

11. I remember soccer games during recess in grade school

50 kids on one side, 70 on the other, and one of my friends in the middle of it all picking up rocks and throwing them in the air in random directions.

TlalocW