to wish schools would ban...

[YesTisMe]

bloody swaps?
i know they have been around since the dawn of modern life, but feck me i hate it all!!
there have been
stickers, various cards, football things, pokemon shit, and not sodding moshi monsters!
kids get things swapped, nicked, lost or broken.
some cant afford it and get left out
some dont understand it and get cheated out of decent things
some get accused of nicking things when they have swapped
some parents get involved.
just ban the sodding lot of it and be done.
( grumpy old bird whose daughter was in tears this morning)

YASBU. You are going down the banning conkers, banning skipping ropes, banning climbing trees road.

no im not, those things are free and no one is left feeling left out if their parents cant afford them.

YABU. Sorry, I know its hard when your kid is upset but it just happened to be about swapping - if it weren't that it would be something else. Being a kid is tough sometimes.

Surely these are life skills? How to barter for something of equal or greater value, or not to swap if it's not in your interest?

at the monent the swap things of choice at their school are moshi monsters. which work out at about £1 per little figure, they school keep sending notes home that a child in X class lost his collection, or child Y swapped and wants it back from child Q and its doing my head in.
so i think i am possibly ( and only a little bit) UR.

I actually think children learn a lot from the pain in the arse that is swopping.

They learn to negotiate, they learn fairness, they learn generosity, they can have the experience of kindness from a friend who has something of a better value but wants something of a lesser value.

And I would rather my ds that is into footabll cards has some chance of being able to build up his collection without me buying endless packets that have exactly the same bloody cards in them.

When it works, the children really enjoy it, but it is something that can require a lot of adult support for it to work fairly.

These things were banned when I was at school because of all the trouble they caused. Conkers and the like were not.

Same at the school where I work - no cards/stickers etc but they have been known to arrange conker tournaments and there are always skipping ropes available at playtime.

Why should staff have to spend half an hour after every lunchtime sorting out petty squabbles about these things? School is not the place for them.

YABU. School shouldn;t ban them, school should not get involved. Neither should parents. 'Ohh little Jimmy swapped his bestie westie moshi collection for a pre-chewed gummi bear Can he have it back?' , suck it up Jimmy!

Dd's school has banned them in key stage 2 and they arent allowed to take any toys etc in in key stage 1 anyway. There was a lot of problems with swapping and parenst got involved going round each others houses banging on doors etc.

Dd takes her moshi monsters to friends houses and to her childminders where they do swaps and lay their cards out in order for hours on end - I think it's a nice thing to do and they are only 75p a pack so I would imagine most people could afford to buy their child a pack or 2 a month, which is all dd gets. I have explained to her that she is only to swap for something she really wants, and is only to give away cards she has more than one of - she's only 6 and understands but if she chooses to that is up to her and will be a valuable lesson.

Can't really see the problem with the swaps, but can see how it gets out of hand when large numbers of children and teachers have to get involved. So YANBU to think they shouldnt be allowed at school.

It's difficult for school not to get involved when kids are kicking seven shades of shit out of each other because someone swapped their best card and got a dud in return though.

They are banned at our primary school and I know of at least two other schools locally.

I think your school is handling it quite badly. It is not their place to be sending out letters like that.

Our school tells parents and children that they are taking a risk by bringing anything like that into school, and that they will accept no responsibility for anything like this if they go missing, or get swopped or whatever.

I think that's the right approach for the school to take really.

Get involved in how the DC deal with it, not in the swaps though.

thing is, if the school dont get involoved at all, then the parents step in to sort it all out.
if the school do get involved then they have to try to find the time to do so!
so if they just banned them in school they wouldnt have the issue!

That's true!

Our school says they won't get involved, but thinkingabout it, I guess they do in a way. They put the responsibility back onto the children and say that they need to work out fair ways of swapping between themselves otherwise they will have to enforce a ban. It gets talked about in assembly. It seems to work, because they haven't had to ban anything for ages.

( anyone wanna do some swaps?)

I have a 16 year old for swap. Any takers?

i will swap a 33 yr old!

'Swaps' are banned here - thank goodness!

im coming to your school then Valiumred!

I already have a 32 year old and don't want to swap him. I would swap the 16 year old for biscuits or wine?

DC's school banned it from classrooms, IIRC (last "swap" craze was football card related and DS wasn't really bothered). Sending home notes about specific unbalanced swaps is seriously nuts, though...

Hm I have no issue with the swapping it's the cost of the blimmin cards they swap that blows my mind.

Forget about drug barons living the high life on their ill gotten gains, I reckon the person resposible for Moshi cards must be driving round in a solid gold Ferrari on his own island by now funded by a billion pocket money from a billion kids

the cards are bad enough, but at the moment they are swapping the bloody figures.

OP as far as I know all the schools round here have a ban on swaps/figures etc.