School Bans Rolling Snowballs

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2003-12-17 04:38pm

I saw this one today on the noon news. Some kids at an Ontario school were having a snowball rolling competition to see who could roll the biggest snowball. And then they had an accident and one kid got pinned under a snowball and the school principal and other people had to go in and break up the snowball and get it off the kid before it squished him to death. Freak accidents happen and that's where the story should have ended, they get the snowball off the kid and no one got killed or seriously injured.

However, the last thing I hear before they went to the next story was this. "The school is now banning all snowball rolling because of this incident". So what the fuck are kids allowed to do with snow these days? That just pissed me off. I'll see if I can find a link to this.

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2003-12-17 04:47pm

Jesus, how big and well-packed was that snowball?

Or how small was the kid?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-12-17 04:48pm

Schools are extremely paranoid about safety nowadays. Mind you, if you were the father of that kid who almost died, you might not be so pissed off at the rule. Most schools already discourage or prohibit snowball fights anyway, so I don't see how this changes much of anything. That's what the park is for.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2003-12-17 04:53pm

Ban public fountains. Children may, after all, fall in them and drown.

Better yet, ban oceans.

This could simply be solved by requiring large games and such to be adult-supervised (large groups of young children should have constant adult supervision anyway), and telling the children to avoid rolling large snowballs or burying kids in the snow, etc.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2003-12-17 05:32pm

I don't see a problem with it.

Quick frankly, I've seen some kid snow-ball rolling contents that just scream 'accident waiting to happen'

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2003-12-17 05:37pm

Life is a sexually transmitted disease.

Guaranteed to end in death.

Don’t mean that you should not make the kids’ environment as safe as possible but 100 % protection is impossible.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-12-17 05:37pm

Many of things I did when I was younger were accidents waiting to happen as well, but when it got too dangerous, I used common sense and backed out. Some kids don't do that, and that's why you don't see high places in playground equipment anymore.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2003-12-17 05:40pm

*shrug* My gradeschoolo had detention for making snowballs, possible suspension for a snowball fight.

Not really that different from banning any other kind of fighting if you think about it, what with kids sticking rocks in stuff in them and all.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-12-17 07:29pm

Fucking bullshit. With supervision kids can do a lot of stuff. I had a snowball rollong contest, and it took four of us to get this thing as huge as we got. We also had king of the hill fights ALL THE TIME. Even better. We were allowed to build snow tunnels when the show got deep enough. Talk about bloody fun to do.

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2003-12-17 07:41pm

A tightly snow ball with some ice can mean a broken nose or worse

I don't see a problem with this rule

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2003-12-17 07:51pm

Don't see any problem with it. When I was at school, we weren't allowed snowball fightes (though we did anyway), this is just an extension of that.

They can just do it outside school.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2003-12-17 08:29pm

Alferd Packer wrote:Jesus, how big and well-packed was that snowball?

They were saying it was about 5-6' in diameter and weighed roughly 1000 pounds, but I have serious doubts about the weight. A snowball of that size with the snow we had on the ground would 1/3 to 1/2 that at most.

Ender wrote:*shrug* My gradeschoolo had detention for making snowballs, possible suspension for a snowball fight.

Not really that different from banning any other kind of fighting if you think about it, what with kids sticking rocks in stuff in them and all.

What? Are you telling me you can't even make snowballs for a snowman without getting in shit? And what does a a bunch of kids seeing who can make the biggest snowball have to do with assholes loading up snowballs with rocks and whipping them at each other?

Sharp-kun wrote:Don't see any problem with it. When I was at school, we weren't allowed snowball fightes (though we did anyway), this is just an extension of that.

They can just do it outside school.

Jesus, so all you can do with snow is make snow angels? I don't think I could live in today's schools, no wonder kids are fucked up these days, they don't get to have any fun. I guess you could still do snow angels and build snow forts, but what would be the point if you can't whip snowballs at each other? I lived for snowball fights when I was in school, and so did damn near every male kid in my school. A few people including myself got our glasses bent up but and was the worst thing that happened. Wargames in the snow rule.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2003-12-17 08:31pm

aerius wrote:Are you telling me you can't even make snowballs for a snowman without getting in shit?

Who do you think will get sued if someone gets hurt? Blame parents, not the school.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2003-12-17 08:34pm

Sharp-kun wrote:Who do you think will get sued if someone gets hurt? Blame parents, not the school.

True, some parents need a snowball in the face and a snowjob.

Rubberanvil · Post by **Rubberanvil** » 2003-12-17 10:48pm

Sharp-kun wrote: They can just do it outside school.

That will still get you in trouble at many schools where their rules applies to everywhere withing eyeball distance and/or within several hundred to couple thousand feet the campus.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-12-17 10:52pm

Rubberanvil wrote:That will still get you in trouble at many schools where their rules applies to everywhere withing eyeball distance and/or within several hundred to couple thousand feet the campus.

Don't be silly; the school's jurisdiction stops at the property line. There's a line of sight between my kids' school and a local park, and no one's ever been penalized for breaking school rules at the park.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-12-17 11:02pm

Holy crap that must have been a big snowball. Yeah, it sucks for the kids, but it does not seem so terrible a rule. Considering, how someone could really get hurt. Although I do think it probably was a feak accident.

Lots of things have been banned, tree houses, rock fights, riding bikes without helmut, etc. And the result has been a drop in childhood injury and deaths from accidents.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-12-17 11:05pm

It's true, that's one thing which is often lost in all of this angry "we did all that shit when I was a kid and we survived!" rhetoric. The people who make this claim never back it up with statistical evidence; just anecdotal "evidence". So their implicit claim that childhood accidental death and injury rates have not dropped has a rather weak basis.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2003-12-17 11:06pm

Darth Wong wrote:Don't be silly; the school's jurisdiction stops at the property line. There's a line of sight between my kids' school and a local park, and no one's ever been penalized for breaking school rules at the park.

Mike is right except for in-public within a thousand feet there can't be any smoking.

Obviously private residences within that radius are ok, but no smoking on a sidewalk within 1000 ft. of a school here.

muse · Post by **muse** » 2003-12-17 11:13pm

Darth Wong wrote:It's true, that's one thing which is often lost in all of this angry "we did all that shit when I was a kid and we survived!" rhetoric. The people who make this claim never back it up with statistical evidence; just anecdotal "evidence". So their implicit claim that childhood accidental death and injury rates have not dropped has a rather weak basis.

True enough, but I feel there's a point where all these safety rules become stupid, and that point is reached when most of the fun is sucked out of childhood. IMO childhood is for having fun and doing stupid things, not to be protected in some sterile environment.

Rubberanvil · Post by **Rubberanvil** » 2003-12-17 11:20pm

Sharp-kun wrote: They can just do it outside school.

That will still get you in trouble at many schools where their rules applies to everywhere withing eyeball distance and/or within several hundred to couple thousand feet the campus.

Rubberanvil · Post by **Rubberanvil** » 2003-12-17 11:24pm

Shit could some delete the my double-post?

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2003-12-18 12:05am

Darth Wong wrote:
Rubberanvil wrote:That will still get you in trouble at many schools where their rules applies to everywhere withing eyeball distance and/or within several hundred to couple thousand feet the campus.
Don't be silly; the school's jurisdiction stops at the property line. There's a line of sight between my kids' school and a local park, and no one's ever been penalized for breaking school rules at the park.

You speak the truth Mike, but schools like to keep selling that particular bullshit lie to their students - I know mine did. I went to a private school which had an "image" to uphold, so they were strict on a couple of things. One example of their bullshit was telling students to obey the uniform regulations outside before and after school hours (like for instance wearing the uniform in it's entirety and respectably at a shopping centre, or some other public place).

It's a fucking stupid rule but that doesn't stop schools from being anal about it.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2003-12-18 12:49am

Darth Wong wrote:
Rubberanvil wrote:That will still get you in trouble at many schools where their rules applies to everywhere withing eyeball distance and/or within several hundred to couple thousand feet the campus.
Don't be silly; the school's jurisdiction stops at the property line. There's a line of sight between my kids' school and a local park, and no one's ever been penalized for breaking school rules at the park.

Maybe in canada, back home its routine for schools to punish kids for stuff that goes on a parties on weekends at students homes.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-12-18 12:54am

Ender wrote:Maybe in canada, back home its routine for schools to punish kids for stuff that goes on a parties on weekends at students homes.

Are you serious? That's fucking retarded.