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24 May 00 - 06:26 AM (#232967) Subject: Musical chairs: a warning From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Those of you who play music to children may be amused or infuriated by a recent UK report that recommends that nursery schools (pre-schools, kindergarten) do NOT allow the children to play musical chairs as it encourages aggression and may lead to injury, law suits etc. I remember in my childhood (no, Steve P., it wasn't to an Edison phonograph it was to my mother's idiosychratic piano playing) when we played it, it usually ended in tears! As a teenager I seem to remember musical laps was more fun, but probably they'll ban that as encouraging lewd behaviour. Personally I'm looking forward to musical recliners. RtS |:o<) |
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24 May 00 - 06:51 AM (#232971) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: GUEST,Hilary, Hamilton, New Zealand It has just happened here at the end of the earth - schools are being advised not to perform any acts of multiple musical seating in a play type situation. Sigh...wot next... no games of hangman to aid spelling in case it encourages primary school suicides? oops - that'll probably happen now... |
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24 May 00 - 07:32 AM (#232977) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: catspaw49 I'm getting really good at picking out the Skiff threads. Can you believe this? What a bunch of complete nonsense! Don't you want to know what parent went batshit and sued somebody? Since we sue everybody for everything all the time anymore, do you think we could file suit against anyone involved in this particular bit of lunacy for "Malicious Stupidity?" We can hang the judge and lawyers for "Aiding and Abetting." Geeziz............. Spaw |
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24 May 00 - 07:52 AM (#232983) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: McGrath of Harlow When I played Musical Chairs in infants school, if you pushed someone out of the way and took their seat, especially if they were smaller than you, the nuns would descend on you and you'd be thrown out of the game. And quite right too. |
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24 May 00 - 08:49 AM (#233000) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Steve Parkes Roger, you've reminded me of one of comic Dave Allen's sketches, where bishop Allen is leading a solemn procession of scarlet-robed choristers down the aisle of a church, accompanied by solemn and majestic organ music; the music suddenly stops and everyone scrambles frantically for a pew, leaving the poor old bishop still standing, on the verge of tears. I remember MC from my early schooldays too; not on cylinders, but on 78s. My grandmother had a piano, but not enough chairs ... Steve |
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24 May 00 - 08:57 AM (#233006) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: kendall There is nothing more scary than ignorance in action. Neitza (sic) |
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24 May 00 - 09:11 AM (#233018) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: MMario as with McGrath, I remember playing musical chairs, however any rudeness or anything beyond very minor pushing was tromped on. And the kids play it just about every party our youth group holds... |
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24 May 00 - 09:46 AM (#233032) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: GUEST,A Wandering Minstrel I don't know about MC but being descended on by nuns sounds like the sort of thing to psychologically scar impressionable young kids for life. I'lll bet anything the originators of this 'advice' had never lived through the infant hell of bloodletting and perversion that is "postmans knock" |
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24 May 00 - 10:22 AM (#233058) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Linda Kelly then of course there is the subtle mental torture that is Pass the Parcel...... |
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24 May 00 - 12:24 PM (#233147) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Ella who is Sooze Is an olympic champion at musical chairs. Of course it's competitive, whats wrong with that. We don't want a load of future wet weekends growing up and sitting around and not having any get up and go. I know it's petty. Next musical statues will be seen as a form of harrassment. Or pin the tail on the donkey a form of cruelty to paper donkeys. Come on... I'll take you all on for a game of musical chairs, just let me get me running spikes ready. Ella |
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24 May 00 - 12:31 PM (#233149) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: McGrath of Harlow Musical chairs and opass the parcel and so forth are the kinds of games which adults et up kids to play. They are all about training and so forth, sticking within the rules.
Then you went out in the playground and the adults and stand back and you'd make the rules. A bit like the Mudcat. It's no fun if there aren't any rules, and part of the fun is knowing when to bend them. And bullying isn't allowed, and just spoils the game.P>
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24 May 00 - 12:49 PM (#233159) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: paddymac Well, my take is that McGrath and MMario have hit the nail on the head. It isn't the game so much as the lack of supervision that facilitates the bullying- arguably culpable negligence. Perhaps more importantly, the lack of supervision is really a lost opportunity to teach courtesy and consideration as a balance to competition. |
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24 May 00 - 01:01 PM (#233174) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: MMario I find it strange that things like Musical Chairs are going under consideration of ban, but there are ice hockey teams for kids as young as four and five, ditto football. And don't even CONSIDER cutting out high school sports programs that have been medically proven to contibute to lifelong injuries to joints, spines, etc. But the arts are the first things to go.... |
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24 May 00 - 01:09 PM (#233179) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Eric the Viking Fairly soon rules are going to become all inclusive under the general heading of DO NOT! so we won't do anything for fear of the results. |
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24 May 00 - 01:16 PM (#233186) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Mrrzy And what about Duck Duck Duck Goose? Is it disrespectful of water fowl? I'm sure some parent did "go batshit and sue" - kinda like how to get a stop sign on a problematical corner: Tbone a senator's cousin, and voilà, stop sign. Now if I can only get someone to Tbone someone important in front of my office, we'd get a Do Not Block Intersection sign and maybe someone could get out for lunch once in a while! |
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24 May 00 - 01:20 PM (#233189) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Penny S. I saw the item in the Guardian. Wasn't it BA who had an advert recently identifying the characters in a game of MC by their behaviour - chairman of the board etc, and the sweet potentional stewardess giving up her seat to him? I thought it was cringemaking. Penny |
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24 May 00 - 01:58 PM (#233215) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Metchosin Speaking of nuns descending, in kindergarten we had one who asked us to stick out our tongues and anyone with a pointed tongue was labeled a liar. I spent weeks in front of a mirror worrying if mine was pointed and trying to figure out ways to make it appear more rounded.
But for sheer psychological abuse you can't beat the Protestants. A Sunday school picnic was ruined for me when I had trouble putting clothes pegs on a clothes line during a race and ended up last. To add insult to injury the Sunday school teacher remaked to me during my struggle, "I guess this shows that you never help your Mommy!" Oh the guilt! |
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24 May 00 - 02:06 PM (#233217) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Hollowfox Maybe they'll ban spelling bees to prevent lowering the childrens' self-esteem when they miss a word. |
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24 May 00 - 03:28 PM (#233252) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: wysiwyg I guess that lets out spin the bottle, too then. |
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24 May 00 - 04:02 PM (#233269) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Rick Fielding You got it Susan. Spin the bottle probably promotes indescriminate sex, alcoholism and will make rapists out of little boys. We had that thread about political correctness a little while back, and as much as I try to be supportive of the aims of progressive people, this sort of stuff is assinine. Teach the little bastards to read and write and to be able to speak a complete sentence by the time they're 18 and they'll have MUCH BETTER SELF_ESTEEM. Gosh I AM turning into a conservative old fart! Rick |
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24 May 00 - 11:15 PM (#233499) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Amergin Don't forget the sexual harrassment spin the bottle promotes. |
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24 May 00 - 11:47 PM (#233513) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: TheOldMole Boy, we're jumping all over this one, aren't we? What's the story here? Was no-musical-chairs MANDATED, or recommended? Who recommended it? How seriously is the recommendation being taken? And did the same people who recommended musical chairs really also recommend ice hockey for five-year olds? And how did that old debbil self-esteem rear its ugly head here? I don't seem to see anything about self-esteem in the original article. Is there a little knee-jerk conservatism happening here? Anything we did when we were kids is good, because we were the last good generation, whereas today's kids are going to the dogs. And anything that's suggested as a modification of the dynamics of the schoolyard sytem equals smarmy liberals drooling over kids' self-esteem equals a lowering of standards. OK, here's a theory. It's got some holes in it, but it's not the worst theory in the world. The downside of musical chairs is that it encourages aggression and may lead to injury, law suits etc. What's the upside? Why are we going to the mattresses for musical chairs? And...one more question...which are the schools that sanction spin-the-bottle as a school game? Why didn't I go to one of those? |
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25 May 00 - 07:02 AM (#233622) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: GUEST,Hilary in NZ I'd forgotten about postman's knock. They don't play postman's knock here in New Zealand. Perhaps that's why Kiwis are so repressed. Will they still permit "what's the time Mr Wolf?" or is that discriminatory against hairy old lecherous men? If you want to see violence in schools come to NZ and watch kids play rugby. |
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25 May 00 - 09:05 AM (#233654) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Amos Musical chairs should be banned. It is a stupid game. I played it too, and did fairly well, except for the fact that I could not understand why the hell anyone would do it. In those days there were so many forms of psychic torture available to us, playing musical chairs was at least a mild one. But incomprehensible. Nor did I care for or understand the fatuous simpering dancing teachers who thought that doing the hokey pokey had some mystic charm for people with small bodies, which dried up when the bodies got bigger. They got to booze it up and have flings with each other and make howling noises at each other and bare their teeth, barking in large smokey rooms, waving cocktails. We had to put our right foot in and turn ourselves about. This is the kind of rampant, heavy handed injustice which gave rise to the student riots of the early 1960's. We were suckers for the notion that we were being guided, or taught, or should cooperate with these inane pastimes so as not to tick off our parents. In actual fact we were being slowly bored to death by covert means. To hell with musical chairs! |
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25 May 00 - 12:02 PM (#233733) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Mark Clark Amos, I curious about the game of musical chairs and that you couldn't understand why anyone would play it. Was your version of the game played outdoors and did it involve long clubs and little white balls? I remember spin the bottle as a wonderful game. Kissing always expanded my... er... self esteem. We never played it at school but we did play it at church youth group meetings. Sometimes I think all this PC crap is just the western version of what Iran went through. People with too much time on their hands occupy some cheap and easy "moral high ground" and inflict their particular neurosis on everyone else. - Mark |
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25 May 00 - 12:33 PM (#233742) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Clinton Hammond2 This is officially the stupidest thread I've read here ever!!!
It's just musical chairs people... if yer kid ain't tough enough fer that one, he'll never evern survive to hight school, and ya know what, the gene pool will be better off without him!!
Sheesh... it's a game... and it gets a little rough... SO WHAT!?!?! Ever see what kids to to each other just playing make-believe?!?!?! Kids are designed to get skinned knees, elbows, a few broken bones during childhoold builds character while building scar tissue and callouses... Give 'em a few knocks about the head and neck with broke bottles while yer at it... or administer a few fatal beatings before the age of 7... HELL!! Bring back lawn darts and let'em HEAVE 'em at each other!!
If I ever have kids, (gods forbid) I'll be teaching mine aggressive behaviour... It's a necessary trait in animals like the human race... we needed it to get this far, and we're gonna need it to get further! (Trolling trolling over the Mudcat blue!! LOL!!) {~` |
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25 May 00 - 12:42 PM (#233745) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Mbo Right on Amos, I always found musical chairs boring as dirt, and the hokey-pokey downright undignifying. Though not as bad as being MADE to roll on a dirty floor to the some "Roll on the ground boys, roll on the ground, eat soda crackers, roll on the ground." This was also one of the reasons my Mom & Dad yanked me out of school and homeschooled me themselves. Thank goodness my youngest sister didn't have to go through and of that nonsense! BTW I'd rather listen to the music than run for a chair... --Mbo |
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25 May 00 - 03:00 PM (#233824) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Hollowfox I'm reminded of a class my mother took in college in the 1950's. The teacher required the college students to actually play the games they would be teaching to children . Two things come to mind..my mother got a lower grade one day for refusing to ruin her nylons by getting on the floor and pretending she was a seal. And then there was the time the teacher tried to get the class into a rousing game of Brownies and Fairies. Everyone insisted on being a Brownie. |
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25 May 00 - 03:04 PM (#233826) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Amos Clinton, You're such a JERK!!! Reel that f@@@@ing line in and call your neighborhood vasectomy clinic!!! :>) A |
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25 May 00 - 03:20 PM (#233833) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: GUEST,Professor Iris Clinton, While this may in fact be a "stupid thread", your explanations, justifications and succinctly worded "philosophical offerings" catapult you to the rank of top contender for the dubious award of "Mudcat Asshole of the Week" (if there was such a category.) A word of advice. It is better to be thought of an asshole, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt. Thanks for removing that doubt. |
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25 May 00 - 03:38 PM (#233842) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Clinton Hammond2 I'd try to see yer point of view but I can't get my head that far up my a$$!! It's the thought of a whiny sucky world like this that makes me not wanna ever have kids... And to anyone else really offended by my above post, go back a re-read... I think's it's painfully obvious where my seriouseness ends and my parody begins... Some people here are SOO tightly wound and SOO easy to set off!! LOL!!!!!! 3 words... TONGUE IN CHEEK!!!!!! {~` |
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25 May 00 - 03:53 PM (#233846) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Bert Well 'I' thought it was funny Clinton. |
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25 May 00 - 03:56 PM (#233847) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: MMario and while I didn't find it funny, I *did* see the obvious reference to "trolling" and figured it was *meant* to be funny. |
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25 May 00 - 05:53 PM (#233889) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Willie-O Clinton, believe me, you do not have to teach kids how to be aggressive. Left to their own devices they figure it out quite rapidly and give it up with extreme reluctance. Better you should teach em first aid. This thread is typical of most "discussions" of so called rampant political correctness...somebody somewhere says something that seems stupid, and is immediately promoted to being the dreaded "they", despised by the champions of freedom, which is usually everybody present. Nobody knows who "they" are, but they're the ones who "won't let you" do stuff. They have stopped all your fun. Damn them. Maybe Amos is "them". You let the cat out of the bag there, bucko. You can have my musical chairs when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers... What in the hell are "Postman's Knock" and "Pass the Parcel" ? Willie-O
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25 May 00 - 06:06 PM (#233896) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Clinton Hammond2 LOL!!! You and Mr. Heston both eh Willie-O!! But the first aid thing is a wonderful idea! Prayer in school I couldn't care less about for instance, but a usefull thing like that SHOUILD be manditory!! {~` MMario... I never claimed to be able to entertain everyone... I know that... But thanks fer catching the obvious eh!! LOL!!!! The good part is, it'll be the first award I've won in a long time!! LOL!!! {~` |
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25 May 00 - 06:46 PM (#233923) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: SeanM Clinton, you arse! How dare you troll all over a serious discussion/song/thread like this? You sir, are absolutely the worst musician/human being/podiatrist ever created! Your car/house/ankle/ancestors were merely the the predecessors to a tragedy! Your family/pets/friends/insert persons are all of the lowest type! Ummm... Sorry... I'm at work and not feeling creative right now. Can I get back to you with more vitriol in a bit? ;^) M |
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25 May 00 - 08:35 PM (#233977) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: McGrath of Harlow I still think Musical Chairs is a cunning training game designed to make kids learn that there are strict limits to how competitive you get, and to practice taking defeat with good grace. Inside the limits, compete, step over them, and you're penalised. Like any game. Like life.
If it turns into a free fight it's not a game any more. Give that kid a red card, and send him off.
Actually, like Amos and Mbo, I never liked it much. All that stopping and starting the music was irritating. And they always seemed to use crappy music. If you're going to play a stopping and starting game, Grandmother's Footsteps is much more fun. And excellent training in life skills. |
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26 May 00 - 07:46 AM (#234173) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: GUEST,Hilary Clinton is the one who used to tip the top of the last chair and jerk it away a few inches so the girl with glasses and pig tails who actually GOT the chair slipped and fell flat on the floor while ol' Clinty sat down on it triumphantly with the look of contrived innocence on his grubby little face. |
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26 May 00 - 07:56 AM (#234174) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: GUEST,Hilary Clinton is the one who used to tip the top of the last chair and jerk it away a few inches so the girl with glasses and pig tails who actually GOT the chair slipped and fell flat on the floor while ol' Clinty sat down on it triumphantly with the look of contrived innocence on his grubby little face. |
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26 May 00 - 07:58 AM (#234176) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: GUEST,Hilary sorry, lost my way on my own computer, must have been a repressed childhood |
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26 May 00 - 08:17 AM (#234182) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Sorry, folks, apologies for starting the world's worst thread! (Never got a superlative before!) Can I close it down with this po-faced letter to today's London Guardian: "Games such as musical chairs serve to teach that order, community and gain through achievement are integral values in our society, achieved by care, compromise and cooperation - far from the insidious systemised intimidation that pervades when children, left to their own devices, create a directly consumerist hierarchicy structured with playing cards depicting sworn enemies and assailants vested with spurious powers, locked in an endless game that can nevr be won". Julian Firth, London I think he's referring to Pokemon cards! NO MORE POSTINGS,TO THIS THREAD FOLKS, let's enjoy the weekend!RtS |
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26 May 00 - 08:28 AM (#234185) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Yes, I know, I'm still trying to have the last word but I just saw the next letter to the one I posted, so let's kill the thread on a lighter note: "This mildly boisterous pastime has now gone underground. Small groups of chairs are beginning to appear in public spaces. Short bursts of music can be heard and groups of individuals,pretending to be otherwise occupied, can be seen jostling for seats. Police are aware of this new development but say they are sitting on it." Linda Swann, London. Sorry for typos in last posting. RtS |
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26 May 00 - 08:54 AM (#234192) Subject: RE: BS: Musical chairs: a warning From: Clinton Hammond2 "contrived innocence"?? ME??? I'd never bother... I pushed and shoved my way through school and was proud of it!! LOL!! And see... I'll post more if I want to!! :-P
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