Spunky has a post about the decline of recess time in schools. It reminded me of my own situation when my kids were in school.
When Big D was in Kindergarten, they frequently did not have recess. I went in to talk to the teacher about it and she said there just wasn’t time because she had to get the kids ready for the testing that would be done at the end of the year.
This continued for first and second grades, too.
He would burst out the door full of energy at the end of the school day and run around. Big E was the same way. I always let them stay after and play if they had no recess, but this was hard sometimes in the winter because I had Little E with me.
The most frustrating part was that the teachers wanted Big D to sit still all day and were frustrated that he could not. Not only that, but he finished much of his work before the other students and was not allowed to talk. So, this poor kid, having had no outlet for his energy, had to sit still with nothing to do, while the other kids finished their work. I was told that they could not give him extra work to do. He was allowed to read, though.
To top it off, the teachers were frustrated because they saw him as a problem, but they couldn’t really identify the problem. He was not doing anything blatantly against the rules or warranting a trip to the Principal. They admitted that they had a hard time putting it into words. “He doesn’t respect the other kids while they are working” was the best they could come up with.
Basically, my son can be annoying if he has no stimulation. You’ve heard that idle hands are the Devil’s tools, well so are idle minds. Kids with no mental stimulation will think of ways to annoy people. Trust me.
Of course, I have learned this by homeschooling him last year and this. At that time, I did not get what they were complaining about. The fact that they could not explain it didn’t help either.
If they had just let him outdoors to play a couple of times a day and given him enough to do to keep his mind alert and active, they would have found that he is a wonderful kid, even polite and helpful. But when he has nothing to do, or is stuck inside all day, he can be a real pain. And that is what they frequently got.
It really is no wonder that there are so many problems these days with kids in the classrooms.
Concerned parents of public school children can join the recess movement here.