Comments for Rethinking Childhood

Comment on School playtime bans: a former head speaks out by Tim Gill

Tim Gill — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:05:29 +0000

H Peltan, Ben – thanks for your comments. Ben, I know of Playworks. I follow you/them on twitter, and also Ooeygooeylady who sure is an active tweeter. I observed a Playworks session at a school in Baltimore a few years ago. The programme was very structured. This may be a good starting point in some school contexts, but is not the kind of play that I think kids really need. A conversation for another time and place, perhaps.

Comment on Schoolchildren banned from playing hide-and-seek – and that’s just for starters by Tim Gill

Tim Gill — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:59:45 +0000

UPDATE: I have heard back from the parent who first told me about this school. It appears that hide-and-seek is not officially banned, though there are rules in place that aim to prevent children from excluding others – which is confusing to the children (and to the parent). My personal view is that this rule is unhelpful if not unenforceable, and likely to generate more problems than it solves. It also seems that the ban on best friends was enforced by a class teacher trying to deal with friendship issues, and is not an official school position. The ban on note-writing remains in force. More encouragingly, the school has reassured the parent that it is receptive to the need for the children to learn from their experiences. Let’s hope this leads to a more thoughtful approach in future.

Comment on School playtime bans: a former head speaks out by Ben Cromwell

Ben Cromwell — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:41:15 +0000

Great post. I think this hits the nail on the head. Teachers and principals are not taught to value play. They’re taught to value academics, achievement scores, and direction following, but play never really comes into our discussion of what makes children successful in life. A couple of great resources for play training, though both are based in the U.S., are The Ooey Gooey Lady, and an organization called Playworks, which I happen to work for in the Salt Lake area. Both are very good.

Comment on School playtime bans: a former head speaks out by H Peltan

H Peltan — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:07:30 +0000

The way things are going maybe childhood will be banned altogether soon, when I was young, from age 5 onward we were allowed to outside to play and wander wherever we wanted to go, we didn’t cause any trouble and we weren’t in any danger, how sad to be a child in these troubled times.

Comment on Schoolchildren banned from playing hide-and-seek – and that’s just for starters by Tim Gill

Tim Gill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:40:05 +0000

Kevin, Cath, Silver Fang – thanks for the comments. As the pingback above says, I’ve posted another blog that I hope takes the topic forward in a constructive way: an interview with ex head and leading educationalist Juliet Robertson. What do people on this thread think of her views?

Comment on Schoolchildren banned from playing hide-and-seek – and that’s just for starters by Love Outdoor Play! | nature workshops

Love Outdoor Play! | nature workshops — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:00:35 +0000

[...] It gets worse as some headteahcers decide to ban best friends in the play ground, and hide and seek! Read on [...]

Comment on Schoolchildren banned from playing hide-and-seek – and that’s just for starters by School playtime bans: a former head speaks out | Rethinking Childhood

School playtime bans: a former head speaks out | Rethinking Childhood — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:06:31 +0000

[...] Rethinking Childhood Website for Tim Gill Skip to content HomeAbout TimNo FearWritingMediaConsultancyWritten reportsOther projectsEventsContact ← Schoolchildren banned from playing hide-and-seek – and that’s just for starters [...]

Comment on Schoolchildren banned from playing hide-and-seek – and that’s just for starters by Cath Prisk

Cath Prisk — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:19:42 +0000

A friend of mine used to work for a major American-owned international management consultancy firm. They had a rule which said no one was allowed to ask personal questions about family, touch each other above the elbow or comment on personal clothing or appearance. So no “oh that’s a nice skirt”, “you got your hair cut? It’s lovely!”, “how’s your son?”. When I first heard it I was horrified. She’d been working there so long as the rules gathered up – all in response to sexual harrassment cases, and each understandable responses to try and stop such incidents – she’d not really thought through the implications. But when looked at fresh you realise that this almost entirely stops the way women in particular bond and network. We don’t talk about football or traffic – yes generalising like mad, but you get the point. It also stops you comforting a distressed colleague, or feeling at ease.

I understand the comments above that schools will have good reasons for these bans, but they need to be looked at in the round, helped to stand back and realise what they have done.

Get the local business school in to talk about the skills they value most – it will be the ones they develop in the playground. The resilience gained by dealing with bullies and strength built up by having a best friend – and arguing with them and making up.

Very important issue.

Comment on Schoolchildren banned from playing hide-and-seek – and that’s just for starters by Silver Fang

Silver Fang — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:26:00 +0000

I think Western civilization has become so risk averse that they are now just short of banning childhood altogether, as childhood is a time fraught with risk and children are, by nature, risk takers.

Perhaps in another ten or 20 years, children won’t even be allowed to be together in the same classroom. Instead they will sit in little cubicles, each equipped with a computer and will interact with their teacher only over the computer.

Comment on Schoolchildren banned from playing hide-and-seek – and that’s just for starters by Kevin Harris

Kevin Harris — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:56:04 +0000

For me, the key point in this thread is Nick’s comment: “If as the school is claiming there is bullying going on isn’t that just as damaging to a children’s (sic) development as preventing children engaging in these interactions?”
I think the answer is no, it isn’t ‘just as’ damaging. I’m puzzled as to why you should think it could be Nick. Bullying is a form of exaggerated relationship, it is a question of degree – not to be condoned, but consistent with human behaviour and the assertion of differences, which goes on all the time in all societies and has to be understood and managed. Denying children the option of exploring the difference between close and less close interactions contradicts and denies natural human behaviour, rather than seeking to accommodate it. It’s surely a profoundly damaging measure, from which it is harder for a personality-under-construction to recover.
I suppose the most damaging thing you could do is to allow bullying to take place, and then remove the option of discussiing it with others…