School ban on conkers

Carmina-Piranha_2

At nurseries, etc. here baa baa rainbow sheep is an extra verse - they still sing the black sheep part.

And yes, conkers would be banned at my son's primary because ALL outside toys are banned. A decade ago when my eldest went there they were allowed to take toys, marbles, trading cards, etc. and it caused mayhem. So many parental complaints about people not letting their child join in, or somebody wanting to 'swap back', etc.

And those complaints were all to the head. It wasted so much time, when not much of it was actual 'bullying'. Youngest's headmistress simply wouldn't have enough hours in the day if she allowed conkers.

They do, however, play in the snow and are allowed to run around and have fun at playtime.

landsberger64

Attain_by_suprise wrote: »

Has anyone else encountered this ban at their children's school? I think it is ludicrous to ban a game that has been played in the school playground for decades. I used to play conkers and can not recall at any time anyone getting injured playing it. You have more chance getting injured doing PE.

They always rant on about trying to get kids out of the house and not sat in front of the TV or games consoles but when you have a game that is free to play which encourages kids to go out running around the woods looking for big conkers, they ban it.

The sweet irony of this is, often, parents who complain about this are the first in line to sue a school if there is the most minor of minor injuries to their child.

I do wonder if parents would ever sign a piece of paper that completely absolved the school of all responsibility under this premise? My guess is that they would not.

landsberger64

Attain_by_suprise wrote: »

Our's is baa baa rainbow sheep. I dont think you can say green now, its racist towards aliens.

Except....that particular myth never actually happened.

Didn't stop the redtops repeating it ad nauseam, though...

Carmina-Piranha_2

landsberger64 wrote: »

The sweet irony of this is, often, parents who complain about this are the first in line to sue a school if there is the most minor of minor injuries to their child.

I do wonder if parents would ever sign a piece of paper that completely absolved the school of all responsibility under this premise? My guess is that they would not.

I might! My child has just as many injuries at home and at the park as he does in school.

But signing such a thing would also cover incidents of serious bullying. I personally could sign it because I think my youngest's school deals well with bullying, but not all schools do.

mgdavid

landsberger64 wrote: »

.......
I do wonder if parents would ever sign a piece of paper that completely absolved the school of all responsibility under this premise? My guess is that they would not.

we probably would have done, fortunately 25 years ago some common sense still prevailed. I think it became finally extinct during the Blair years.

PenguinOfDeath

landsberger64 wrote: »

Except....that particular myth never actually happened.

Didn't stop the redtops repeating it ad nauseam, though...

I'm fairly sure the 6 year old kid I heard singing the 'rainbow' one in the supermarket a few months ago doesn't read newspapers!

He got such a telling off from his mum for not singing the proper version

Air_Cooled_75

There are black sheep and white sheep but no rainbow sheep, unless they've been hideously dyed for a show

As for conkers, I'm in my 40s and we play them in school. There is a massive tree down the road and the path is littered with them at the moment, I've seen the kids getting them.

Childhood is partly about taking risks. My son has just started FS2 and they have a climbing tree in their playground, it's a real tree, not some fabricated 'safety friendly' thing. He loves it

maman

mgdavid wrote: »

or maybe schools need to stand up for themselves and push back on whinging parents. Two way street etc.

Carmina-Piranha wrote: »

And those complaints were all to the head. It wasted so much time, when not much of it was actual 'bullying'. Youngest's headmistress simply wouldn't have enough hours in the day if she allowed conkers.

Schools could stand up for themselves on the issue of conkers but there are so many other things that demand teachers' attention that conkers pale into insignificance so taking a hard line conserves time and energy.

*max*

This could be a Daily Mail headline.

Edit: Apologies. There is no mention of immigrants, giant deadly spiders, benefits scroungers, Ebola threat or any female celebrity's nude body. It wouldn't be a headline, merely an article.

Running_Horse

Strange one. My child has been hoarding hundreds of conkers, as have many others leaving the local park with bagfuls of the things. Yet not once have I seen any child drill a hole through one, string it up, and then actually play a game of conkers.

I made an effort to do so for my child a few years ago, but it never really took off. I suspect the game falls into the category of adult nostalgia. Like certain sweets and old TV programmes we falsely remember experiencing every day of our young lives. We have convinced ourselves we spent whole days roaming fields, scrumping apples, and playing conkers in a carefree fantasy land of perfect childhoodness.