[Adder]

Recess was a big deal...Yes, I have boomer memories when we would go out and play, be it on swings and slides or a game of kick ball. Its easy to see how important a socializing tool recess is but not to the control freaks who run our classrooms. A pox be upon them!

[equaviator]

"Its easy to see how important a socializing tool recess is but not to the control freaks who run our classrooms."

Kids don't seem to spend much time outdoors on the weekends either.

[BobL]

“The bell would ring, and the doors couldn’t fly open fast enough… kids would pour onto the playground like they were just released from prison.”

FINALLY, someone else uses the prison analogy. I’ve always said that comparing public schools is like comparing cell blocks - you really don’t want to be in any of them (but many, perhaps most, of you have forced your kids into them).

[quantim]

When I was a kid the teachers/nuns asked who would man the band-aid box that day when recess was over, there was always a couple volunteer kids or the teacher picked a kid.

[22for22]

Could just be our litigious society. Know when they opened our recess doors we did some possibly dangerous stuff, but all survived and no lawsuits.

[crusty old prospector]

The teachers don’t want to sit outside because it is either too hot or too cold. And the school lawyers say someone could get hurt.

[NorthMountain]

Imagine recess at “Yogi and Booboo Elementary School” ...

[sushiman]

I went to a parochial school for 8 years . The asphalt playground had a line down the middle to separate the boys & girls . We had a basketball court on our side . In spring and summer it was baseball almost every day .We couldn’t use bats and hard ball so we had a rubber ball that we hit with our fists ! In fall it was either BB or touch football using one of those mini-footballs ,

[suthener]

In the middle 60s I took a toy gun (lever action rifle) to school to play with at recess. No one cared. Crazy how far we’ve fallen.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

[Sicon]

Did anyone else play "Smear the Queer" during recess? The game was simple: one boy would throw a football as high in the air as he could. All the other boys (usually at least 10, often closer to 20) would fight to catch the ball. Once caught, he was "the queer", and tried to run from everyone else. Everyone else chased him and eventually gang tackled him. That boy would then throw the ball up, and the cycle would repeat.

We played this "game" all of the time, and would come in from recess with grass, dirt, and sometimes mud, all over ourselves. There were also the associated scratches and bruises from tackling or being tackled.

We loved that game, and no one (including teachers) had any problem with any of it. This was in 4th-6th grade. It was just boys blowing off a tiny portion of their boundless energy.

I can't imagine any part of that recess experience being allowed today. And that's a serious problem, for many reasons.

[Vaduz]

Yes recess now is 15 minutes to play with your cell phone.

[Mouton]

Our parochial school had recess in the 50s. The church gypsum covered parking lot. We would play tag, kick ball or just toss a ball about unless it was raining or snowing those days we milled about in the basement. No equipment of any kind. The girls primarily socialized. No knifings no shootings perhaps a fist fight but beware if caught a trip to the principal who we believed was hiding
Out from Nuremberg. The point is steam was blown off and friendship kindled.

[LouAvul]

Pizza Fridays? That must be a young whippersnapper.

In my day, it was always fish on Friday. We were in a strong catholic community and they couldn't eat meat on Friday. That was an eternal, absolute commandment. Until one of their pope-a-dopes decreed otherwise.

But the fish was delicious. I often got an extra piece for a quarter. Or, a dime. Forgot which.

[Flaming Conservative]

I always heard about recess, but at my elementary school, we didn’t have recess.

[dfwgator]

Monkey bars

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgjhhSCrzMs

“The monkey bars came in, we lost 124 kids in one day.”

[kawhill]

I remember at recess the Nuns would kick our ass at basketball.

[dfwgator]

[ansel12]

Girls used to be dantier and wore frilly dresses, here they are at play.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I loved the merry go round.

[algore]

Don’t forget “Smear the Queer”