Kids Just Wanna Have Fun

It would appear that New York legislatures do not have enough on their plates. I believe that the lack of appropriate outdoor activities pose more of a health threat. Not so, says the New York Department of Health. They are now considering labeling such indoor/outdoor day camp games like kickball, wiffleball, tag and horseshoes as dangerous to children. They even propose taking it one step further and any camp that offers those activities would require local and state regulation.

This ridiculous regulation on child's play has gone too far. Earlier this month I wrote about the lawsuits springing up in West Virginia over children being hurt on swingsets. The end result was the swings were removed from the school's playgrounds.

If you missed that article you can read it here.

With NY State imposing regulations on summer day camp activities what's a kid to do? Looking back over my childhood it was dotted with bumps and bruises but isn't that what teaches some of life's best lesson plans? You fall down and you learn to get back up again and rejoin the game.

Kickball, wiffleball, tag and horseshoes seem harmless enough. What will be next? Football, softball - why not outlaw or regulate every sport? Soon enough we will be left with a generation of children who forget how to play any game and just sit in front of the computer all day long.

Local community summer day camps are the most affordable camps for many families. With this new set of pending regulations, many communities may opt to cancel the summer camps altogether - who could blame them?

Will riding a bicycle become the next hazardous activity? Maybe even taking a walk around the block could have potential hazardous implications.

Sources:

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/04/19/new-york-state-health-officials-declare-war-on-wiffle-ball-kickball-and-dodgeball/

http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2011/04/19/new-york-says-kickball-dangerous

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011104190330

http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/64524/lawmakers-kick-back-over-kickball-regs/