America is raising its children into soft ****ies

[Judge Hades]

Exactly.

[Walsingham]

Hades I meant 1906 was more dangerous, not less!

 

Meta, I think what I'm getting at (and I have no idea how it would work in practice) is the general natural law approach we use as people that says 'kids get scrapes when they play rough'. And accept that by and large these injuries cause no lasting harm. I mean, for Heaven's sake, my brother, who grew up in Zululand, used to play games with deadly treesnakes along with the other boys!

 

I also think the other points being made about the consequences of being moribund and inactive are very pertinent. If we prevent them from playing rough we may be swaping a small chance of death for an entire life of ill-health for all.

 

Finally I'd like to say that if we DO start legislating then I intend to sue my old school for letting teh girls play kiss-chase and give us cooties.

[Colrom]

It is nuts to tie kids down that way. It's not natural.

 

We used to play a game in grammer school (american) I have heard called "smear the gear" - or some name that sounds sorta like that " - at lunch break and such. The object was to run around with a football as long as you could keep going through and around as many other players as you could and throw the ball off just as you were tackled and brought down (smeared). It was a great game! I was very good at it. I could leave the field full of players spread out on the ground from failed efforts to nail me. I loved that! :D It was fantastic! :D

 

Of course we also played (american) football after school with our own gear.

 

When I was younger we played tag and hide and seek with both boys and girls.

 

He he. I also rolled down a hill in a barrel and a big truck tire. (w00t)

 

It's a freakin miracle I'm alive! :D

 

It was great!

Edited October 19, 2006 by Colrom

[Fenghuang]

It is nuts to tie kids down that way.  It's not natural.

 

We used to play a game in grammer school (american) I have heard called "smear the gear" - or some name that sounds sorta like that  " - at lunch break and such. The object was to run around with a football as long as you could keep going through and around as many other players as you could and throw the ball off just as you were tackled and brought down (smeared). It was a great game! I was very good at it. I could leave the field full of players spread out on the ground from failed efforts to nail me. I loved that!  :D  It was fantastic!  :D

 

Of course we also played (american) football after school with our own gear.

 

When I was younger we played tag and hide and seek with both boys and girls.

 

He he. I also rolled down a hill in a barrel and a big truck tire.  (w00t)

 

It's a freakin miracle I'm alive!  :D

 

It was great! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

It's Smear the Queer you liberal baby.

[Meshugger]

Just remember people, KEEP ON ROCKING IN FREE WORLD!

[alanschu]

Perhaps our lack of activity is why we have a kinder, gentler machine gun hand.

[metadigital]

How are injuries in American Football games at school handled in the US?

[Surreptishus]

At a guess, I'd say with waivers or "permission slips".

Edited October 20, 2006 by Surreptishus

[Walsingham]

I think we're agreed that we need to expose kids to a bit of rough and tumble and pay the price of the odd kid getting laldied. True?

[Darth Drabek]

How are injuries in American Football games at school handled in the US?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Surr's got it. Parents sign the waiver allowing their child to play. There's also the check box for "refusing medical care," for Christian Scientists - so the school has all its bases covered. That's why organized sports aren't a concern: The school is safe from lawsuits... unless a parent can prove the school was negligent for purchasing helmets without facemasks or something.

 

Coaches are there for supervision, and every team in our league had a team doctor on the sidelines on game nights, usually the local family practice guy. A pair of local paramedics would usually park an ambulance on the track and be ready in case someone needed to be carted off the field and to a hospital.

 

We were a pretty small-to-medium size school, with a mostly blue-collar tax base. Many larger high schools (with healthier finances) have sideline operations rivaling college football teams.

 

And yes, I'd agree with that, Wals.

 

 

Edited to be a bit more concise.

Edited October 20, 2006 by Darth Drabek

[metadigital]

So there isn't really a problem then. It's more a matter of managing the over-zealous litigious culture of the US, not altering the exercising habits of the nation.

 

[Darth Drabek]

No to the first, yes to the second, meta. The schools are (rightfully) scared to death of the lawsuits, but this reaction will hurt more than it helps. Nobody's trying to ban organized sports because they are supervised and the liability is with the parents. But the problem lies with unorganized sports.

 

Most kids that get into sports are going to try it on the playground first, right? I'd hate to see pickup basketball games outlawed because some kid (usually me) got their glasses knocked off and the parents were sick of getting new frames so they threatened litigation.

 

Thank the Lord for Rec Specs!

 

 

 

I was soooo happy when I got contacts.

[Deraldin]

No to the first, yes to the second, meta. The schools are (rightfully) scared to death of the lawsuits, but this reaction will hurt more than it helps. Nobody's trying to ban organized sports because they are supervised and the liability is with the parents. But the problem lies with unorganized sports.

 

Most kids that get into sports are going to try it on the playground first, right? I'd hate to see pickup basketball games outlawed because some kid (usually me) got their glasses knocked off and the parents were sick of getting new frames so they threatened litigation.

 

Thank the Lord for Rec Specs!

 

 

 

I was soooo happy when I got contacts.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Heh. I've had my glasses busted up 3 times now. Each time they were still under warranty so I got a free pair every time. "

[~Di]

As long as our judicial system not only allows, but frankly encourages parents (and just about anyone else) to sue for the slightest injury, real or perceived, this kind of thing will continue. People can sue for almost anything without any realistic punishment for abusing the system. It's like playing a million-dollar slot machine without having to put in so much as a quarter... so why not pull the lever as many times as you want? Thanks to the much-beloved legal contingency system and corporate habit of settling nuisance suits (aka anything under a few million dollars), suing the deep pockets of corporations and taxpayers (schools) is a tidy way to increase one's income.

 

Don't believe me? Just Google up "lawsuits against schools" and enjoy.

 

I can't honestly blame schools for trying to protect themselves. Our legal system needs an overhaul.

Edited October 20, 2006 by ~Di

[Sand]

Indeed it does.

[metadigital]

No to the first, yes to the second, meta. The schools are (rightfully) scared to death of the lawsuits, but this reaction will hurt more than it helps. Nobody's trying to ban organized sports because they are supervised and the liability is with the parents. But the problem lies with unorganized sports.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Um, why can't unsupervised sports be underwritten by a similar waiver?

I was soooo happy when I got contacts.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Until someone tries to gouge out your eyeballs and detaches the retina with them. :(

[Darth Drabek]

Um, why can't unsupervised sports be underwritten by a similar waiver?

I was soooo happy when I got contacts.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Until someone tries to gouge out your eyeballs and detaches the retina with them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'd like to think that if it were that simple, it would have been done already. But I honestly don't know. I just know the school in the article seemed to be going after recess games and not organized sports.

 

Maybe the controlled environment of a football practice or gym class leaves less loopholes in the system?

 

On Rec Specs: I always told myself, "If they're good enough for Chris Sabo, they're good enough for me."

[Nartwak]

Hurlshot's a teacher, I say we lynch him for turning children into soggy tater tots.

[LadyCrimson]

If we tried to take away the 'right' to sue, someone would sue for that. And yes, the whole sue-happy thing is out of control. Sometimes even if you sign those waivers, you can still sue. Or at least a lawyer would try to convince you that you could.

[metadigital]

I don't think the right to sue should be abrogated; I think it should be mitigated with common-sensical measures, like waivers.

 

There was a large movement about a decade ago in Australia to write all contracts (specifically business leases, etc, as there is a real driver to keep expenses down) in plain English to avoid the litigious feeding frenzy that may occur when deciphering antiquated prose, because this is just a contract.

 

Seems pretty straight forward; sign a waiver and (barring egregious circumstances) voluntarily give up the "right" to sue the school for accidental damage. There is still the facility to sue if there was some sort of negligence (lack of maintenance on equipment, for example).

 

I can't see it being a big deal.

[~Di]

Thing is, the difference between accident and negligent is a matter of fact-finding for a jury. THAT is what feeds the litigious frenzy in the first place, because juries frequently judge with their hearts, not their heads ("that poor little kid is going to need medical care for life, and that big, bad corporation/tax-funded-school can afford it").

[metadigital]

Sounds like the system needs to be fixed then.

[Craigboy2]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/18/no.tag.ap/index.html

 

ATTLEBORO, Massachusetts (AP) -- Tag, you're out!

 

Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.

 

Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.

 

While there is no districtwide ban on contact sports during recess, local rules have been cropping up. Several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball a few years ago, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous. (Watch how second-grader Kelsey interpreted the rule -- 1:30)

 

Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Spokane, Washington, also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, South Carolina, school outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.

 

"I think that it's unfortunate that kids' lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they'll never develop on their own," said Debbie Laferriere, who has two children at Willett, about 40 miles south of Boston. "Playing tag is just part of being a kid."

 

Another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.

 

PS: Thanks Gfted.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is why America is getting so fat.

 

I remember playing dodge ball as a kid, it was great. No one got hurt, they were just cheap foam balls. Not even the rubber ones.

 

Her son is probably the kid who wouldn't run, so the rest of us had to run for another ten minutes while he was in the nurse. I hate you Devin.

[Dark_Raven]

yeah disgusting fat bodies. momma said i cant play rough games so i have to sit at home and to pass time I eat. zStupid Gen X parents.

[kirottu]

I was soooo happy when I got contacts.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I