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Recess Coaches Teach Kids To Play Nice
Does your kid know how to play hopscotch? Mother May I? Dodgeball? Is she in peril of spending her recess period lounging under a tree with a friend, not playing any games at all?
Never fear. A recess coach can teach your kid how to play, and make sure she does it every day.
More and more schools are hiring recess coaches, the New York Times reports. Not only do they get kids up and moving, but they cut down on schoolyard bullying.
So I’m really torn about this. My anarchy-loving heart recoils at the notion of a recess coach to structure kids’ free time. But it’s hard to argue with their numbers: disciplinary issues and playground injuries drop off to almost nothing with the introduction of a cheerful adult with a whistle and a rulebook.
Even the free-range queen herself, Lenore Skenazy, has weighed in on the side of coaching recess, saying, “I’m all for free play, as you know. But if what’s really happening is free-misery, it makes sense to reassess recess.”
She suggests keeping the recess coaches, but giving kids the option to opt-out and go play Dragons vs. Space Robots on their own if they want to. That would be even harder to argue with than the trend towards mandatory playground games the Times is reporting on.
I remain dubious about the entire prospect, though. I can’t help but feeling like a little free time in the middle of the day is worth a few skinned knees and hurt feelings. Kids really need a chance to decompress, to be on their own schedule instead of someone else’s, even if its only for a few minutes.
And it is only a few minutes: the school profiled in the Times has 15-minute blocks of recess for their kindergarten through 4th grade students. No wonder the kids are going a little crazy, with only 15 minutes to play.
There’s also a class issue at play. The schools using these recess coaches seem to be urban schools with small play areas and poor students.
My daughter goes to a small private school with a rolling green hill just outside her classroom that features trees, a garden, a little stream and a big varied playyard with a lot of toys. The kids getting the attention of a recess coach are banging around a paved basketball court with a high fence.
While I can’t imagine that taking away their 15 minutes of freedom is really the best solution, I’m ready to believe that 100 kids milling around a basketball court is a different prospect than 25 running wild on a grassy hill. Still, these recess coaches cost almost $25,000 a year. Couldn’t that money buy some trees and a few raised garden beds instead of another authoritative adult telling the kids what to do?
Photo: Luis Argerich
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4 Comments
[...] over the weekend arguing that kids’ lives have changed to the point where they really need recess coaches to teach them how to play with each [...]
The End of Play | Strollerderby commented on Mar 30 10 at 9:26 amLenore Skenazy commented on Mar 16 10 at 9:09 amComments: Yes, I can see where it sounds like these coaches could be squelching free-time and creativity in one fell swoop, but I just got a nice comment on my blog from a dad whose kid goes to one of these inner city schools, where the playground coach has brightened the lives of the kids at recess. I know we all wish all kids could have a grassy hill to roll down. When kids don’t, and their neighborhoods are so miserable that they spend the rest of their free time indoors, often in front of a screen, learning “Mother, May I?” could be as valuable as lessons in art and music: A way of appreciating the joy in every day life — indeed, of adding it back in! Thanks for this post and the link! Yours — Lenore “Free-Range Kids” Skenazy
BlackOrchid commented on Mar 16 10 at 11:10 amI think it’s a GREAT idea! At my daughter’s private school (rolling hills, the whole bit) the pe teachers take turns supervising recess and some girls choose to play the more organized games – you can choose not to too. Also there are 2-3 parents volunteering to help oversee recess (I did it last year and will do it again next year hopefully) helping with the normal hopscotch, tag, jumping rope type games.
It really helps a lot! There are no negatives to this idea, and the “class envy” aspect is off-base, since I’m sure ours is not the only private school with essentially the same thing (recess “supervisors”). In fact I remember teachers/parents overseeing recess when I was growing up too (often my mom was one, to my embarrassment!).
Beth Kimberly commented on Mar 18 10 at 10:25 pmIt’s great to see recess a popular topic. As a Playworks employee, I can see you totally get it. We’re not organizing the playground to control kids. We’re organizing the playground so kids can ultimately take playtime into their own hands. We’ve targeted schools in need where recess is a challenge. Coaches then teach games and support developing motor skills in biweekly classes. At recess, they help students determine where games will be played and what rules are fair then give each child a choice: “Where and how will I play today?” Most of these schools allow students opt in or out of games provided.
I would encourage any school to have adults (or even older students) play fun, inclusive games at recess–especially to provide games that encourage fun and cooperation instead of competition. You can find game ideas on our website http://www.playworks.org
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