cartwheels and handstands banned

[oldandgreynow]

DD has just told me that any gymnastics on the (large) school field have recently been banned as they might result in someone getting kicked.Yet the boys are allowed to play football and I've lost count of the number of times my DC have had a football booted into their face , been kicked etc Recently a teacher on the playground with a cup of coffee was scalded when a footballhit her.
So why is it OK for boys to have their sport but not girls? I remember as a child the girls spending every playtime somersaulting on bars or doing handstands,leapfrogs and cartwheels.
Is this the norm?

My dd is only allowed to do handstands and cartwheels if shes wearing trousers or shorts under her skirt so shes not showing her pants, shes only 8!

Ha ha Animation you must have been a child of the 70's! I'm sure it was cheap crap coffee but it smelt so good.

I used to like the ads too! The coffee morning ladies looked to sophisticated.

The crab...forgot about that one. There was always a kid who could put her legs over her shoulders and walk on her hands looking like R2D2 too wasn't there?

Janet, that's interesting. I've wondered about dyspraxia, as it tends to go with the whole autism/ADHD/OCD thing that our extended family seems to specialise in, but her fine motor control is great drawing, writing, music it's the gross skills that really aren't there. She's always the one turning the wrong way a beat late at dance class, wobbling grimly on her bike, clinging to the side of the ice rink, jumping from heights of two inches with a look of sheer terror...

Cloudpuff -- no, I could never cartwheel (though I could crab, once upon a time) and I have a not-yet-fixed hernia, so perhaps best not to try it just now!

One of her brothers can cartwheel, but that just rubs it in for her. He has all the opposite problems -- writes like a demented spider, can't draw, but CAN rollerskate, cartwheel, skip, handstand... and gets called a girly wuss for it. Grrr.

Mellow Birds will make you smile

Ahh - it still does.

You really should take it up with the school and check if it's true. If so, it needs to be changed. We are sending a terrible message to young girls that they can't be sporty and can't be athletic.

This is a message we reinforce every time we tell them to sit with their legs together or not flash their knickers or be more 'ladylike' or all the rest of the crap. It's the British equivalent of foot-binding. Turning beautiful, athletic, strong girls into lumpen, inactive teenagers.

And as for making girls wear shorts before they are allowed to do handstands, wtf??? They're already wearing knickers aren't they? What else is there to cover? It's just disgusting fetishising of female bodies and clothing.

Can't cartwheel or handstand - never have been able to - but this makes me want to have a jolly good try - right under the noses of whoever said not to - big meanies! We were just banned from playing British Bulldog (late 70's playground rules) and I'm not even sure why. I think too many chiddlers were scraping their knees on the playground in the stampede part of the game. Maybe there was plaster or a germolene shortage going on at that time that us kids weren't aware of!

I cud never do the cartwheel; but it seems an excessive ban. I do see the schools problem

I once worked for a couple of terms as a supply teacher in a school where, on one of the first days the children were allowed on the field, I took my class out for break and one of them said "I can do cartwheels now Mrs Really!" "Oh lovely," said I. "Let me see one." "No, we're not allowed to do them at school. Mr (Head teacher) said so." I thought that was quite sad but thought there had probably been an accident and wanted to show solidarity with the head so replied, "Oh well, I expect Mr (Head) is worried about children hurting themselves or kicking other people." Child re

Replied, "No, he said we can't do th so we don't show our knickers off." I didn't really have a reply to that as I was quite shocked. Also, my class were 5 and 6 year olds so I was quite horrified they were being made to worry about showing their knickers off.

I used to love doing cartwheels on the field, and did them as a quite well developed 11 year old, and didn't worry about my knickers being on show as it was never mentioned. Generally the boys were all further up the field playing football so weren't watching us, and the teachers didn't think it was an issue for little girls to be flashing their pants.

It really saddens me when I go and teach in schools these days and see girls wearing shorts under their dresses. They shouldn't be thinking that they have to hide their bodies. They're perfectly modest as it is in a dress and knickers.

Anyway, at the school where it was banned there were a few occasions where we went outside early, or for a lesson and then they stayed out until the rest of the school came out for break and I stayed with them until the teacher on duty came out. The children soon realised that when it was just our class I would turn a blind eye to cartwheels on the grass!

Will read thread later but at OP, YANBU!

Reallyneedajob - that is a horrific story. How does a man who views children's bodies and clothing as sexualised end up as a headteacher?

it about the same as 18 month old girl told not suitable to go swimming in frilly pink and blue swim nappy as nipples on show!!!! how to nipples of 18 month old girls differ from those of boys??