The other day I heard someone say it is
a shame children today do not get to experience getting hit in the
face by a big red ball during a game of dodgeball.
And they are right.
I loved dodgeball when I was in school;
mainly because I was really good at it.
I could twist and turn and was rarely
taken out of the game. I did get hit in the face a couple times, but
that was just part of the fun.
We did all sorts of sports, games and
goofing around that ended in minor injuries. It was called being a
kid and it was something we all accepted as simply part of life.
In elementary school, we used to play
tackle football at lunch without any gear. We could have played flag
football I guess, but it was just not the same.
Following a rambunctious 30-minute
game, just about everyone had some sort of minor injury from grass
burns on our elbows to bruises and even the occasional black eye –
which was worn as a badge of honour. But we were all ready to go
again the next day.
Nowadays, teachers and parents are so
worried about Junior getting a boo-boo they have banned pretty much
all contact sports. One school even banned tag because a child might
fall and hurt themselves while running from the person who was 'it.'
Really? Tag is nothing but running and
fitness and building cardio. And then they wonder why Junior is so,
um, er, weight enhanced at such a young age.
I played hours of tag when I was a kid
and I don't ever recall someone getting hurt.
If someone fell down, they dusted
themselves off and got back up – simple as that. The worst part of
falling down was it usually meant whoever was chasing you, caught you
and now you were it.
No need to call the paramedics for
that.
Another school banned soccer because –
you guessed it – someone might get hurt. Here is another sport that
involves nothing but running around a field. There is no tackling,
body checking or any real physical contact, but someone was worried
some how a child could receive a minor injury while having fun so
they had better cancel having fun.
It's all part of the 'helicopter
parenting' that has taken hold of North America in its overly
cautious grip.
I admit, I too have been a hovering
parent at times, but not so much when it came to letting my boys be
boys.
Every parent wants to protect their
child, but there is a time when you simply have to step back and let
them get a bruise or two.
It's part of life. I did it, my dad did
it, his dad did it and so on and we all survived.
I am not saying to let them jump off a
small cliff holding onto a bed sheet as a parachute because that
really does not work - trust me on this one - but a little rough
housing is just fine.
Oh, and also maybe don't let them try
to jump from one branch of a pine tree to another because if they
miss that really hurts too.
But my sons would often come home with
bruises from skateboarding or crashing their peddle bikes –
something I had done more times than my mom could recall – and they
are now healthy adults with a few scars to tell stories about with
their friends.
In the quest to keep children safe from
harm they are also keeping them from having any fun, experiencing
life (which involves bumps and bruises) and doing what kids do.
I got way more hurt playing organized
sports than rough housing, so let them take a big red ball to the
face, let them fall out of a tree, let them have fun (but keep the
bandaids handy).
Copyright 2016, Darren Handschuh
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