I found this in the news today...seems like the Virginia school's short-lived tag ban is catching on.
Don't touch! Will rule make kids feel safer? By TERRY COLLINSStar TribuneMay 17, 2008
Excerpt:
But Jamie Henriksen, a volunteer coordinator for the school's PTA for the past three years, said kids should not have to be afraid to play with each other. She describes her two sons -- Jake, an 8-year-old second-grader, and Lucas, a 6-year-old kindergartner -- as playful boys who could be hugging each other one minute and wrestling the next. And they're no different than other kids who like to play outside. No more freeze tag? "The hardest place to supervise is the playground. There's kids running around everywhere," Henriksen said in a telephone interview. "They could trip, get hit accidentally with a tetherball or by a jump rope. Things happen. "But if a kid should be afraid of another kid on the playground, then there's a bigger issue that needs to be addressed." During the conversation, she asked her son Lucas what the school told him about playing tag. "You shouldn't do it," Lucas replied. But do you like to play tag? she asked him. "Yes," he said, before running off to play outside. She then asked her nephew, A.J., 8, a second-grader at Armatage, who had two other siblings who also went there. "I like to play freeze tag. It's my favorite, and now I can't play it," A.J. said, describing a game where once you're tagged, you have to stop until a non-tagger touches you to unfreeze you. The game promotes teamwork, Henriksen said.
But Jamie Henriksen, a volunteer coordinator for the school's PTA for the past three years, said kids should not have to be afraid to play with each other.
She describes her two sons -- Jake, an 8-year-old second-grader, and Lucas, a 6-year-old kindergartner -- as playful boys who could be hugging each other one minute and wrestling the next.
And they're no different than other kids who like to play outside.
No more freeze tag?
"The hardest place to supervise is the playground. There's kids running around everywhere," Henriksen said in a telephone interview. "They could trip, get hit accidentally with a tetherball or by a jump rope. Things happen.
"But if a kid should be afraid of another kid on the playground, then there's a bigger issue that needs to be addressed."
During the conversation, she asked her son Lucas what the school told him about playing tag.
"You shouldn't do it," Lucas replied.
But do you like to play tag? she asked him.
"Yes," he said, before running off to play outside.
She then asked her nephew, A.J., 8, a second-grader at Armatage, who had two other siblings who also went there.
"I like to play freeze tag. It's my favorite, and now I can't play it," A.J. said, describing a game where once you're tagged, you have to stop until a non-tagger touches you to unfreeze you. The game promotes teamwork, Henriksen said.
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