Random fallout from helicopter parenting

[IIOY]

I just had an organizational meeting for parents who volunteer to assist at lunch and recess at my DD's school. One of the talking points presented was to avoid giving specific directions to students on how to play at recess. Apparently the teachers are seeing more and more students who are incapable of free play and who need to be told precisely what to do with a ball, a jump rope, the jungle gym, etc.. The kids aren't able to come up with their own games.

::insert ProBoards wide-eyed smilie here::

[luckyval]

Oh, wow. That is really sad

[ECB]

That is sad. Cripes.

[soontobeka]

That is awful.

[lys]

Only the beginning for not being prepared to deal with life. Sad indeed.

[mominatrix]

FFS.

...although, I have to say (having been volunteering at B's school for a couple weeks now) the kids don't seem to have any problems at all... and this is with a complete and utter lack of playground equipment (not installed yet), so all they have is blacktop, chalk, balls and jump ropes. Yet, they seem to have a grand old time.

[marie427]

Wow.

I used to make up games with anything I had. To this day, my uncles (who were tweens and teens at the time) still make fun of me because when i was 4 or 5 I once proposed that we play a game I made up called "Shoe." I don't remember the rules of Shoe anymore.

But yeah, let kids be imaginative.

[Deleted]

the kids in my neighbourhood play outside for hours in the summer, so I still have hope.

[taratru]

Oh FFS.

[penguingrrl]

My oldest whines that she doesn't know what to do all the time and we're not helicopter parents. My response is always that she has to figure it out. But she has never had a problem if she has friends around or is on a playground. My younger one entertains herself easily.

[ringstrue]

Sept 18, 2012 8:08:06 GMT -5 IIOY said:

I just had an organizational meeting for parents who volunteer to assist at lunch and recess at my DD's school. One of the talking points presented was to avoid giving specific directions to students on how to play at recess. Apparently the teachers are seeing more and more students who are incapable of free play and who need to be told precisely what to do with a ball, a jump rope, the jungle gym, etc.. The kids aren't able to come up with their own games.

::insert ProBoards wide-eyed smilie here::

Wait, so the parents had to be told to not give the students play "directions" or were the teachers trying to encourage the parents to interact with the students more?

I dunno that DD will ever be in an environment where she learns what to do with a jump rope if we don't show her. Where do we think kinds learn to play with these things if not the play ground?

[cookiemdough]

I am picturing kids listlessly wandering around the playground muttering claims of being bored.

[eclaires]

Sept 18, 2012 9:15:59 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

I am picturing kids listlessly wandering around the playground muttering claims of being bored.

lol, me too.

According to Jackson, he plays ninja on the playground with his friends. I have no idea what it entails, though. He loves playing things "in real life" though. Like, he enjoys Mario Bros type video games but his favorite thing is to pretend to be Mario/Luigi/whoever in real life.

[IIOY]

Sept 18, 2012 9:15:59 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

I am picturing kids listlessly wandering around the playground muttering claims of being bored.

cookie, I volunteered at recess yesterday and two girls approached me and asked me what to do. Mind you, other kids were running around like maniacs and having fun, but these girls just had no idea what to do with themselves.

ringstrue, the parents were being instructed not to give directions to the kids as to how they should play. The kids are supposed to play with and learn from one another, not spend their time interacting with the parents or being told how to spend their free time.

[ringstrue]

ok that makes sense. I feel bad for the kids - maybe its the camp counselor side of me. I was bored a lot at recess but part of that was due to the "play ground" being an old parking lot :-| and not really wanting to jump rope every darn day.

[eddy]

That is probably going to be the most depressing thing I have read all week. Holy shit.

Edit:Smug parent alert-This is not a probably for my delightful 5 year of course. ;D

[brit1017]

DH just told me about this story yesterday about a woman charging $350 to let your kids play unsupervised in Central Park

abcnews.go.com/US/york-mom-charging-350-children-play-unsupervised/story?id=17211116#.UFieB7KLvNU

[Nonny]

Sept 18, 2012 11:15:48 GMT -5 brit1017 said:

DH just told me about this story yesterday about a woman charging $350 to let your kids play unsupervised in Central Park

abcnews.go.com/US/york-mom-charging-350-children-play-unsupervised/story?id=17211116#.UFieB7KLvNU

That's the Free Range Kids author -- I think she's being tongue-in-cheek about it.

My favorite toy when I was a kid was this pink plastic bucket. I could put water, grasshoppers, chalk, other toys, weeds, etc. (not all at the same time!) in it and come up with all sorts of crazy stories. Usually it involved pretending I was Laura Ingalls and I was hauling stuff back to the homestead (area behind the metal outbuilding) or the wagon (the picnic table). I think my nephews would be baffled about what to do with a bucket for play.

[brit1017]

Sept 18, 2012 11:39:25 GMT -5 Nonny said:

Sept 18, 2012 11:15:48 GMT -5 brit1017 said:

DH just told me about this story yesterday about a woman charging $350 to let your kids play unsupervised in Central Park

abcnews.go.com/US/york-mom-charging-350-children-play-unsupervised/story?id=17211116#.UFieB7KLvNU

That's the Free Range Kids author -- I think she's being tongue-in-cheek about it.

My favorite toy when I was a kid was this pink plastic bucket. I could put water, grasshoppers, chalk, other toys, weeds, etc. (not all at the same time!) in it and come up with all sorts of crazy stories. Usually it involved pretending I was Laura Ingalls and I was hauling stuff back to the homestead (area behind the metal outbuilding) or the wagon (the picnic table). I think my nephews would be baffled about what to do with a bucket for play.

Never heard of her, but I assumed that she was being tic. Just seemed to relate to what the OP was talking about.

[DarcyLongfellow]

I think this probably says more about parents who can't stop interfering than kids who can't entertain themselves.

Lazy parenting for the win. My kid is awesome at entertaining herself for the same reason I was as a kid -- I'm always trying to read while she plays!!

[ttt]

Along these lines, I think this is why video games are terrible for kids. Not just because they involve sedentary play or because of the violence, but because there's only one way to win the game. There's no creativity necessary, or allowed actually. There's one way to do it and that's it.

I've seen this with my stepson SO much. Even when he was playing a game like Lara Croft where you have to solve puzzles, he'd try for about 5 seconds and when he couldn't figure it out immediately, he'd just get on the computer and find a cheat or walkthrough. SMH...

[heightsyankee]

Not just video games but all those electronic games that beep and spin when you press a button. All the toys do something that has a fixed end result. I know if I push the button, the song plays VS what sound does it make if I smack the blocks with the spoon or smack them together or hit the floor with them.

My kids are outside right now playing with a giant limb that feel from a tree during last night's rain storm. I am on the internets. Yay for lazy parenting!