Is cops and robbers on the playground really something to be upset over?
First Graders Suspended for Playing Cops & Robbers
You know, I'm really getting tired of kids being punished for being normal kids. But here we go again. First graders at a Maryland elementary school have been suspended for having the audacity to play a good old-fashioned game of cops and robbers.
OMG. Don the Kevlar! Call out the National Guard! Six-year-olds are playing games on the playground!
After a 6-year-old was suspended -- in Maryland as well -- for pointing his fingers at his classmate and saying "Pow," this latest punishment that doesn't fit the crime hardly surprises me. Heck, we have kids being dubbed sexual deviants at 5 for hugging pals in kindergarten. NOTHING surprises me.
But it does depress me. These blatant over-reactions are slowly destroying childhood as we know it and turning kids into something ... jaded? Old?
We're expecting kids to face issues that are far above their level of cognition. We're aging them.
Kids shouldn't know about school shootings and mass murders. They shouldn't know that a game of cops and robbers could upset some adults who see shades of darkness where they see only some innocent horseplay.
I can only wonder what is next if we keep pushing kids to explore topics they're not yet ready to deal with. Is cops and robbers going to be replaced by a game of drug dealers and addicts? Or maybe pimps and prostitutes? After all ... we're expecting kids to tackle more and more adult themes, but they are still just kids, kids who engage one another in play. Turning something into a game is in their nature.
I need no more proof of that than to look to these little boys playing cops and robbers. One of the boys' father is an Army staff sergeant who pointed out that his boy is well aware that his dad uses firearms in defense of this nation. He's a kid being brought up to respect guns ... but he's still just a kid who was playing a game.
Do we really want to take that away from our kids?
Is cops and robbers on the playground really something to be upset over?
*************Waiting for " the perfect" moms to come on here and say tht it should be banned cuz they don't want their snowfalkes to get hurt************.
I like playing that with my husband ;-)
Quoting Matriarch87:
& Cowboys & Indians!
My son was suspended for 2 days when he was in 2cnd grade and drew a gun in the hands of a pilgrim and an arrow in the hands of an Indian both aiming at a turkey. I fought it and lost. Zero tollerance policies are becoming so ridiclous.
Sorry I couldn't help myself with that one.
Anyways yes suspending a 5 year old for playing C&R is a bit ridonkalous but it sadly doesn't surprise me.
Quoting Kokoscold:
I like playing that with my husband ;-)
Quoting Matriarch87:
& Cowboys & Indians!
exactly!
Quoting Anonymous:
We wonder why kids no longer act like kids. Its because WE DON'T LET THEM. They are just having fun. I hate how everyone overthinks everything now days. Its so crazy. Its just a childhood game. But we are okay with parking them in front of an Xbox and letting them murder zombies, okay.
Let the kids play. They say turn off the tv and let the kids play but then when we do the kid gets in trouble.
Make up your damn mind America wtf do you want our kids doing??
I would probably protest ir something if I was closer
Call the cops on me then!!!
I let my kids play cops and robbers(although they call it officer krupke from west side story).
My mom used to play cowboys and Indians and she is in her 60s.
Honestly though, they were role playing which is developmentally normal. I dont know why they were disciplined?
what to do when the special needs kid is the bully?
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on Jan. 16, 2013 at 12:36 PM