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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Playground health & safety

40 replies

MrsLadywoman · 15/07/2010 22:09

My kid loves doing cartwheels. She's obsessed with them - does them all the time. And I've now been told that she's not allowed to do them in the school playground during playtime. Not because she might crash into someone else (even) but because she might hurt herself.

The boys at school get the run of the playground because of football and basketball. This is not exclusively a privelege for the boys - girls can play football and basketball too - but of course the way the kids play, the girls get left out and shouted down and so it ends up that its just the boys playing football and basketball and, therefore, getting the run of the playground.

So with the remaining space left to the girls, it seems that they are not allowed to do cartwheels/handstands ie something SPORTY.

Basically, it's fine for the boys to go mental with a ball and be active, even if that means lots of accidents, kids hit in the face by a ball, barralled to the ground etc. But the same 'high risk' sport is not allowed if you're a girl. Even though she's never once hurt herself or anyone else by doing cartwheels.

I'm really pissed off...

OP posts:
Ladyanonymous · 15/07/2010 22:17

Read this

southeastastra · 15/07/2010 22:20

it's not within current guidelines so i would get advice from your county council

some school rules are maddening

larks35 · 15/07/2010 22:25

ladyanon I read the synopsis of the book you linked to and whilst there is a link to what the OP's problem, it doesn't exactly help, unless there is more in the book???

OP, can you not ask your kid's school to run a lunchtime gym session so your DD can cartwheel, handstand, backflip and (who know's?) become the next gold-winning gymnast for Britain? It does seem unfair that your DD isn't allowed to acrobat in the playground but I imagine that there are more serious injuries caused by this sort of unsupervised gym activities than there are by football etc.

larks35 · 15/07/2010 22:27

good lord, dreadful grammar in my posts, am off to bed ...

hocuspontas · 15/07/2010 22:33

We don't let them do them on the playground but it's ok on grass. The possibility of head injuries is far greater doing gymnastics on concrete than playing ball games.

Ladyanonymous · 15/07/2010 22:35

larks35

Eh?

southeastastra · 15/07/2010 22:48

larks the book is a guideline for current play practise - really good read

so buy and read then report to head!

Ladyanonymous · 15/07/2010 22:51

Thanks southeastastra maybe I over presumed that....?

hairytriangle · 15/07/2010 22:53

Yanbu!!!

southeastastra · 15/07/2010 22:55

everyone is confused nowadays whether to protect kids from every danger or go the other extreme

playwork is probably only known to about 4% of parents i reckon

katiestar · 16/07/2010 00:26

Very difficult to imagine how you would hurt yourself cartwheeling - backflips-they may have a point.
i think you need to arrange to see the head and make all the points you make here.
I wonder if your DDs go to our school-it's exactly the same here!

Vallhala · 16/07/2010 00:37

Funny how the school of a relative's child used to positively encourage her to cartwheel, backflip, cartwheel and flip without hands on the ground. But then she was a national champion and it didn't do the school any harm for them to boast of that.

Double standards? As if!

Original poster
MrsLadywoman · 16/07/2010 01:22

Hey, she's no national champion, she's just a kid that likes doing cartwheels. Yes, I guess I'll take it up with the school but it seems like a big battle over a really small issue. I know things have changed but I grew up doing handstands and cartwheels with my friends on a patch of tarmac that was our school playground and no one evr got rushed to hospital. Ever.

And now my kid is all stressed out because I've said I'll talk to the school about it and she's like 'No! I'll get into trouble!'

Seems like there should be more important things to fight over. But thanks everyone for the insights. I guess my main curiosity was whether other schools have the same rules... might give me a bit of leverage when I have to start a squeaky wheel campaign about it...

OP posts:
Galena · 16/07/2010 08:26

The thing is, that if someone said 'Hmmm, if a child falls doing a cartwheel they might hurt themselves' and nothing is done to stop them, then if a child DOES fall and hurt themselves then the school could be sued as a risk was noticed and nothing was done about it. It's the way it goes with todays litigious society.

Our school was sued by a parent because the child slipped off a bench in PE onto a mat and broke her arm.

I think that in this no-win-no-fee society the place for risk-taking is at home where the parents are willing to be responsible. You cannot ask a school to allow risk-taking for some children (as there are other children whose parents would not be happy) when they then risk being sued.

Original poster
MrsLadywoman · 16/07/2010 12:24

So true. But I have had my son sent home once with a bloody nose (ball smashed into his face full force) and once with an egg-sized lump on the head (kid watching the ball ran into him and sent him flying), both because of football. So no health and safety issues over football, just cartwheels.

OP posts:
Colliecross · 16/07/2010 15:29

Head of our primary banned football, piggy backs, conkers, tiddly winks, cards, british bulldog, running too fast etc.
Would probably like to ban playtime altogether.
He also banned 'karate', only a pretend power rangers kind IYSWIM except for 4 notorious trouble makers/fighters-with-scary-dads who were allowed to do it 'as it is something they are good at therefore a positive for them,' (WTF?)
Drove the poor MTA's potty as the rest of the junior school pointed out correctly that this is NOT FAIR.

Colliecross · 16/07/2010 15:30

Head of our primary banned football, piggy backs, conkers, tiddly winks, cards, british bulldog, running too fast etc.
Would probably like to ban playtime altogether.
He also banned 'karate', only a pretend power rangers kind IYSWIM except for 4 notorious trouble makers/fighters-with-scary-dads who were allowed to do it 'as it is something they are good at therefore a positive for them,' (WTF?)
Drove the poor MTA's potty as the rest of the junior school pointed out correctly that this is NOT FAIR.

Sasha02 · 16/07/2010 15:40

Our local schools allow cartwheels in the playground, my niece came home having hurt her leg doing them! My sister never considered suing and they are still allowed to do them!! Personally I am surprised they are so widespread banned, but again I come from the era of childrens' playareas on gravel etc, gravel was such a pain to get out off your hands and knees when you fell off the swings

MrsWobbleTheWaitress · 16/07/2010 15:45

I got fairly serious concussion being hit on the back of a head with a proper leather football during break time at my secondary school.

Trouble is, stupid as I think the rules are, if you choose to send your children to school, you choose to put them in loco parentis during the time the children are there, so you must accept their rules and the limits to which they feel they can take their responsibility to your children.

usualsuspect · 16/07/2010 15:51

My ds broke his arm playing football at school ..I still think these rules and regs are a bit daft though

Original poster
MrsLadywoman · 16/07/2010 16:23

I really do understand that the school have a responsibility to make sure that the children don't come to any physical harm during playtime.

My argument is that I think it is SEXIST. Whatever the risk of injury, boys sports are ok, and there's this underlying bias that boys 'need' to have a sporty playtime.

But a girl doing cartwheels - instant ban, no conversation.

I would be happy to sign a contract that said if my daughter injures herself while doing cartwheels, I promise not to sue the school!

OP posts:
MrsWobbleTheWaitress · 16/07/2010 16:28

It's not sexist at all, it's just very, very poorly thought out.

It's really, really unlikely that someone has said 'I know, let's make playtime fun for boys and boring for girls'. Someone probably said 'OMG! Did you hear about that child who cracked his head open doing a cartwheel!' and someone else said 'Gosh, yes! Maybe we should ban them in the playground - would hate that to happen here'.

And signed disclaimers like you suggest are not worth the paper they're written on if it were to come to court.

januaryjojo · 16/07/2010 16:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

melikalikimaka · 16/07/2010 16:50

I got hit in the stomach with a cricket ball, nobody made a fuss of me when I couldn't breath for 2 minutes. It is ridiculous, I don't blame you, YANBU.

olderandwider · 16/07/2010 16:57

I would ask the head politely why he thinks cartwheeling is dangerous (not might be dangerous). Has s/he personal experience of the dangers of cartwheeling? Children taken to A&E/GP/missing school? Any statistics from local Health Trust? Other education authorities? Dept for Education?

If s/he can give you some evidence that cartwheeling is dangerous, then fair enough, the school has done your DD a favour. If not, then, err, perhaps cartwheeling is not very dangerous after all.