Primary school bans handstands. What next?

Photo Credit

And in a world gone completely mad, one Sydney school made the decision this week to ban handstands, cartwheels and somersaults unless "under the supervision of a trained gymnastics teacher and with correct equipment.''

But wait, that's not all.  Last week it was revealed that a Melbourne Primary School, had placed a ban on balls in the playground before and after school.

I spent my primary school years covered in mechurochrome from scrapes received on our asphalt playground, but that didn't worry me - or my parents - in the slightest.  In fact, we kids at Balgowlah Heights Primary School in the 1970's and 1980's wore our mechurochrome-covered cuts and scrapes with great pride and continued our handstand games of 'hey presto' without missing a beat.

A sprained ankle or a banged up knee seems a small price to pay for the sense of pride and accomplishment you get when you finally master a cartwheel.  

Not to mention the fact that you are moving your body, gaining confidence, building self-esteem, developing resilience, working on balance, strengthening and stretching muscles, developing co-ordination, taking risks and delighting in shared play experiences.

Increasing pressure from the cotton-wool generation of parents is backing schools into a corner and leading them to make decisions that would have seemed ludicrous a generation ago.  At the same time, here we are all wringing our hands and shaking our heads over the rise of childhood obesity in Australia.

Children can get hurt any time, anywhere - as can we.  That's life.  My youngest son broke his risk running into a wall at his school.  Do we ban running?  Walls?

What do you think?  Are schools being smart to protect themselves?  Are parents over-reacting?  How can we, as parents and teachers, protect our children's right to free, unstructured outdoor play?