SHADOW TAG

Schools across the country are falling all over each other to ban childhood games that might cause bumps and bruises to the current generation of kids, according to the Arizona Republic.

The latest target of education administrators is tag, “which joins the list of childhood games such as dodge ball and tackle football no longer allowed . . . because of too many injuries and squabbles.”

According to Cindy Denton, principal at Thew Elementary School in Tempe, Arizona, “tagging turns into shoving, and someone’s crying, ‘He pushed me!’”

To eliminate that possibility, schools around the country have substituted another form of tag for the traditional game. “Children can play tag, but they can’t touch each other. They stomp on each other’s shadows instead. The bans are for safety and civility, though some worry that kids may not get enough exercise or enjoy a childhood rite of passage.”

Acacia School Principal Christine Hollingsworth says her school started a “no-touch” policy several years ago, which drastically reduced the number of injuries on the playground. Hollingsworth said that she is “no longer called on to settle fights that had escalated from an unintentional too-hard game of tag.”

As fourth grader Raenna Wilkinson explains it, “Shadow Tag is like regular tag, but instead of touching players to get them out, whoever is “it” stomps on their shadow. In another version, whoever is “it” stomps on a shadow and yells “Frozen!” Frozen players must stay until someone sets them free by running in their shadow.”

Another fourth grader says: “In regular tag, people push, and you fall down and you get hurt.” Now, “no one gets hurt,” says Diane Hernandez. “And the game is more challenging because the angle of the sun can make it hard to get to people’s shadows when they’re srunning, even if you are close enough to tag them.”

Parents and school nurses report that there are far less broken bones and knocked-out teeth because of this decision. While some parents are pleased about this, others like Kim Yamamoto, say that it’s a shame. Even though her son Cameron broke his arm playing Red Rover in fourth grade, she said that she wouldn’t have given up any of her personal experiences in order to create a safety-first environment. “We had such fun, she recalled. “If we control every aspect of the time on campus, are we limiting the students’ access to being kids and exploring their world?”

Deborah Lambert writes the Squeaky Chalk column for AIA’s Campus Report newsletter.