Please forgive the crude title of this post, but prepare yourself for another Sherry rant.  I am beside myself that government has started trying to legislate recess.  In New York they are saying that Freeze tag and kickball are unsafe.

So I have to ask myself, are we raising a generation of pussies?

Cause I have to tell you, if we start saying that simple children’s game are too dangerous… well, I fear my beloved football will be left with no one to play it on Saturdays.

I get that times have changed – its a different world.  Kids can’t just be let loose to run through the streets and through the creeks of their neighborhoods anymore.  They have to be more closely watched  – and I think that is horrifically sad.  It breaks my heart to know that if I have have a kid… he or she will not know that freedom.  The freedom of running, chasing and playing until the sun starts to set and hear your dad whistle.  The whistle that finally said your day was done.

And I get that we know more now… we know to have kids wear helmets, and knee pads.  I certainly could have used a helmet.

But recess? Come the fuck on.

Red Rover is too dangerous to play without medical staff nearby?

WTF?  I’ll say it again. WTF?

Isn’t breaking your arm and signing casts part of coming of age?  Sure, no one wants to break an arm or a leg or skin your knee… but it teaches you the very basic lesson to “rub some dirt on it and get back in the game”

What if I started to apply this same totally jacked up logic to things in my adult life…

No, I can’t go out on a date.. I might get hurt.  So much better to end up old and alone.

No, I can’t try something scary… like writing a book.  It might hurt me financially.  So much better to end up old with a pension, than having fullfilled a dream.

So, here’s the deal… politcios… its not about the physical risks.  You aren’t teaching kids how to be physically safe.

You are teaching them to be scared of risks.
You are teaching them to be scared of running, full tilt, eyes closed, as fast as you can toward something…
You are teaching them that its better to be safe than to experience joy.
You are teaching them to pussy out instead of doing something that MIGHT be painful.

So, yes, I fear we are raising a generation of pussies.  But its’ not the physical weakness that scares me.  Its that we might just be raising a generation of kids too scared to take a chance and far to scared to fail.

Because I assure you, some of the very best times of my life have been taking chances and failing.  Some of the very best times of my life were in the full tilt, out of breath, laughter that followed getting nailed in the face during dodgeball.