Shine OnB.C. school bans kindergarteners from touching each other
It appears the latest threat to a child's education now comes in the form of hugging.
At least, that's what officials at a B.C. elementary school have implied with their latest policy that bans touching among kindergartners at recess.
On Friday, students at Coghlan Fundamental Elementary School in Aldergrove, B.C. were sent home with a letter explaining the new policy, which prohibits games such as tag, holding hands and imaginary Star Wars light saber duels among kindergartners, reports CTV.
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The letter states that the ban was implemented as a result of hands-on games causing several playground injuries over the past few weeks.
Some parents are calling the touching ban too extreme and ridiculous.
“Kids get hurt all the time. What are we going to do next, put them in a bubble to go to school?” mother Julie Chen tells The Province. "I can’t imagine little kids not being able to hug each other or help each other on the playground."
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Well-known Canadian parenting blogger Buzz Bishop suggests school officials should find better ways to control children's behaviour.
"Are we that terrible at monitoring our kids that we can’t handle the few running amok on the playground, and we must put the entire student population on lockdown? Apparently we are," he writes.
This isn't the first school policy to raise eyebrows in recent years.
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Last month, a New York City school banned Rainbow Loom bracelets, citing concerns that students play with them during class and fight over them on recess.
An Orthodox Jewish school in NYC banned retro thick-framed glasses this past May, claiming it gave the students a "very coarse look."
Hugging was banned at a Brampton, Ont. school to avoid unwanted touching in June 2012, and a Tennessee school banned handholding because of the possibility of it leading to sexual activity just a month before.
