Dinner table conversation last night:
Julie: Henry, how was gym today?
Henry: Good. We all caught the balls AT ONCE!
Julie: Who threw the balls?
Henry: All of us! And if you caught the ball, you could throw it, but if you got hit with it, you had to go to JAIL. And then if the blue ball or the black ball rolled over to you, you got out of jail.
Julie: Was this game called dodgeball?
Henry: Yes, it was! And I got hit in the head by a ball, but if you got hit in the head, then you didn’t have to go to jail, the person who threw it had to go to jail instead.
[Insert fervent ignoring-the-kids discussion between me and Dave regarding what the hell a kindergartner needs to play dodgeball for. Insert several references to Freaks and Geeks, but I’m always shoehorning in a good F&G reference when I can.]
They will be in trouble when Eli hits kindergarten with his throwing arm. They may outlaw dodgeball right on the spot.
In a weird way, it sounds like they should let them play it in kindergarten, when most kids haven’t figured out that it’s a way to punish other kids, and then make them stop playing it somewhere around 3rd grade or something.
Well….maybe. Henry did seem to enjoy it, and the way he described it, it sounded like some crazy-rules game he would make up himself. But there’s only so long that kids can wing balls at each other before the weaker ones realize they’re getting screwed.
True.That’s why I think they should stop it. maybe even right after kindergarten.Of course, my theory on this could all change the moment that one of the girls’ decides that they don’t like dodgeball. Then,of course, it should be outlawed forever. 🙂
And, I am definitely not a fan of the game, by the way(the movie, I thought was pretty funny-“If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball”), but from your story, it did sound like Henry enjoyed it, so I thought that maybe there was some sort of “innocence window” on dodgeball.
Well put re: innocence window. I agree — if he thinks it’s fun, well fine then (and the person who hit him in the head with the ball is a girl he loves, so I think that was all ok. But I think it’s all about keeping that innocence window until they realize the thing they love might not be all cookies and roses. The other day Henry was saying, “How many more days until it snows? Will it snow TODAY?” and I was thinking, “Ugh, I don’t feel like dealing with moving snow just yet” but kept that to myself since to him it’s all snowmen and angels.