OMG

My youngest daughter telephoned to direct my attention to an editorial in her local newspaper, which she thought I'd enjoy. After the read, I can state that I did enjoy and I was enlightened.

 I did not know there are 'playground counsultants' and 'recess consultants.' When I was attending Charles L. Manners' Grade School (1947) in East St. Louis, we never had recess or playground consultants. As I recall, Eddie Gigilotto was playground/recess boss. Eddie was the toughest kid in the entire school therefore Eddie made ALL all recess/playground rules & decisions. Things went smoothly.

Today's recess/playground consultants are making changes in the informal and formal youth sports' play culture. Consider the following changes: Many youth sports' programs give trophies for just participating. Some leagues do not keep game scores thus there are no declared winners or losers. These consultants have put an end to the dodge-ball activity because it's very design is intentionally hitting players with a thrown ball, a form of bullying. Football participation seems to be on the decline due to the escalated fears of concussions, something that evidently did not happen back in the day when players wore leather helmets.

The latest push by recess consultants is to do away with playground 'tag.' It appears that causing some youngster to be 'IT' potentially damages the youngsters psyche. Oh, look for next summer's youth baseball leagues to do away with calling a player 'OUT.' When a player fails to reach base safely it is best to say, "Nice try."

When I was attending public schools, I would have loved a 'grade-evaluation consultant' who would insist that all us kids should receive 'A' grades in all subjects. That's what American families really need to insulate our precious little ones from psychological hurt.