Kids forbidden to play chase at school

Children at the Verhoeff-Rollmannschool in Bodegraven aren't allowed to play chase anymore after a safety probe has deemed it too dangerous. The school decided to ban the popular game after an inquiry found that some children sometimes feel unsafe on the school field, the AD writes wednesday. The game, which is a school field institution and some would say a right of passage for children, is played by running around, following each other until one of you is caught. According to director Bart Kuiper, this is too rough and causes arguments. Because of the pushing and tugging nature of the game, supervisors sometimes have to put out fires.

The ban has been in place for several weeks at the protestant-christian school. Tag is still allowed, however. A child that does get caught playing the outlawed game, will be placed in a corner. As of yet, the children haven't been delinquent trouble makers. "The children think it's fine like this" Kuiper tells the newspaper. The ban comes from criticism from an investigator of the Hogeschool of Amsterdam, Mirka Janssen. She researched school field behavior. "Conflicts and collisions are often not the fault of the game", she says in the paper. Recess should, according to her, be a moment in which children should claim their creative space. According to Jannsen it isn't a calamity if the game leads to a conflict one day. With the proper guidance, escalations can often be manageable. And if it gets out of hand one day, then this can be addressed in class. "Create regulations, children learn from that. A ban is not necessary then." Pupils from the school do tell the paper that miss Eveline van Heteren provides other fun school field games. "We only play chase on the street now, because it is nice and exciting."