Mandate Recess In Our Elementary Schools

I have a wonderful, vibrant, smart, energetic, caring, STRESSED OUT, OVER STRUCTURED 10 year old son because of what our schools are putting him through everyday in his young life! He has a NINE hour school day Monday thru Friday. His bus ride equals two hours of his day. He leaves the house at 7:40 am and returns home at 4:40 pm. The "latest" cut at his school was the before school recess! 450 plus children are now required to LINE UP and wait for the bell to ring! They are NOT ALLOWED to play!

In his 45 hour school week (not including homework) he is allowed only SEVEN recesses A WEEK! A 15-17 minute lunch recess everyday and TWO “extra” recesses. A 20 minute break on Tuesday, and another 20 minute break on Thursday. He works 45 plus hours a week and only has approximately two hours of break / recess a week. At least we as adults have made sure WE have mandated Labor Laws to make sure we get OUR breaks at work!

If you are unsure about how you feel on the issue of mandating recess in our schools, and may perhaps feel that recess is "trivial and unnecesary", I whole heartedly urge you to take a minute to read the below research article. Written by Anthony Pellegrini, a 25 year educational psychology professor at Minnesota State University. He has hit the nail on the head!

http://www1.umn.edu/umnnews/Feature_Stories/Research3A_not_just_fun_and_games.html

Take responsibility!

Take Action!

Give the kids of the United States a break!

MANDATE RECESS TIME!