E“y we s“ourd weay sas’s a; d ab” de by yures
When I was a teacher and an administrator and playground issues would come to my attention, I used to explain to kids that there were three main reasons for laws, regulations, and rules:
1 – Safety
2 – Consideration for others: respect, fairness
3 – Efficacy and efficiency I would try to help them to understand that, while we try to keep these to a minimum, when people abuse their freedom to responsibly interpret 1, 2, and 3 above, it can result in more laws, regulations and rules for clarification that often impacts the freedom of everyone — even those who were acting responsibly.
In addition, it was important that they understand that maintaining 1, 2, and 3 above are easier to do and less restrictive when there are just a few kids playing on the playground after school than when there are 100- 300 during recess. With more kids, more laws, regulations and rules become more necessary.
We must have a playground that is safe, considerate of others, and efficient, e. g., game rules, use of area and/ or equipment, etc. The question then asked of them: Do you want to fix this yourselves by figuring out how to apply 1, 2, and 3 above or do you want me to fix it? Because if I have to fix it, it will result in more rules.
The hope was that the kids would eventually see how these same basic tenets apply to our society so we can all enjoy the playground of life.
Bev Bachman, Estes Park