Banning Conkers (thats bonkers.....)

Its about this time of year that The Daily mail and others run articles about the dangers of conkers and other things, usually on slack news days.

"Traditional school games such as conkers and leapfrog are dying out because over-protective teachers have irrational fears about health and safety, a survey suggests.

Researchers found that conkers have been banned from nearly one sixth of playgrounds for fear that they could cause injury or trigger a nut allergy, even though they are not nuts.

British bulldog contests have been banned from more than a quarter of playgrounds and even innocuous games such as leapfrog and marbles are going the same way.

Of 653 heads, teachers and support staff questioned, 29 per cent said British bulldog has been banned in their school, 14 per cent said pupils are forbidden from playing conkers and 9 per cent said leapfrog had been banned.

Some 5 per cent said children were prevented from playing marbles and the same percentage said chasing games, such as tag, had been stopped.

The trend has been blamed on the rise in bureaucracy and red tape in schools and an increase in the number of parents who sue. Education experts have accused ‘over-zealous’ teachers of ruining childhoods.

Tim Gill, former director of the Children’s Play Council at the National Children’s Bureau, said schools have ‘forgotten how to give children a good childhood’.

He added: ‘Bumps and scrapes and dealing with life’s trials are part and parcel of growing into a confident and resilient person.

‘You can only learn through experience.’ "

This is one of the oldest chestnuts (geddit?) around, a truly classic myth. A well-meaning head teacher decided children should wear safety goggles to play conkers. Subsequently some schools appear to have banned conkers on 'health & safety' grounds or made children wear goggles, or even padded gloves!

Realistically the risk from playing conkers is incredibly low and just not worth bothering about. If kids deliberately hit each other over the head with conkers, that's a discipline issue, not health and safety.

(c) Hotpix / HotpixUK Tony Smith - Hotpix.freeserve.co.uk WDCC

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Taken in: United Kingdom / England (show map)

Taken on: September 18, 2011

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Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/0, 1/200 sec, 50mm, ISO 250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Aperture:	f/0
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Focal Length:	50mm
ISO:	250
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
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