You’re It!

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A good many of us, at least in the United States, remember playing “tag” when we were in elementary school. It’s a game we played with a group of children by picking someone to be “it.” Then everyone would run away from the child who was “it.” “It” would chase after the children until he or she touched (tagged) another child and yell, “You’re it!” Then that child would do the same. Each child that was tagged would do the same until recess was over or everyone got tired of playing. I’m not trying to teach anyone how to play tag. I’m just trying to bring people’s memories back to the game. It’s a game I haven’t thought of in years–until I read something about the game. I can remember laughing as we ran from “it.” And I can remember being “it” and chasing other children until I tagged someone and they became “it.” A harmless little game we played to have fun during recesses. But now a school in California has deemed this fun, harmless game as too rough for children. They have banned it from school grounds. The first time children get caught playing it they will be warned. The second time they will receive a referral. The third time there will be a parent-teacher conference. (Even the punishment was harsher when I was in school. We would have to bend over and grab our ankles while the teacher would take a paddle with little holes drilled in it to stop the wind from creating a cushion of air between the paddle and our butts. The holes probably did more to scare the children than to keep from creating a cushion.) I can remember playing much rougher games in elementary school. One was where we lined up in two lines facing each other about ten feet apart with the same number of children in both lines. We would hold hands creating a “chain.” Then someone would yell, “Red rover, red rover, send (child’s name) over.” That child would run as fast and hard as he or she could. The idea was for that child to break the chain by running into where two children grasped hands. If the chain was broken the running child would join the chain that was broken. If the child did not break the chain he or she would return to their chain. The winning side would be the side with the least children at the end of the game. I can even remember teachers supervising this game. I’m sure this game was banned a long time ago. Then there was dodge ball which I’m sure has been banned in every school in America. A game where children would throw a soft ball at other children. The idea was to dodge the ball. If a child got hit he or she would be out of the game. I can remember playing marbles. We would draw a circle on the ground and each player would put the same amount of marbles in the circle. Then each child would shoot a marble off their forefinger with their thumb from outside the circle. If their marble knocked another marble out of the circle it became the shooter’s marble. I suppose this game has been banned, too, because someone could loose all their marbles. Maybe the administration of this school lost too many games of marbles.