by KYW's Dr. Marciene Mattleman

Vicky Schippers, the mother of five and the grandmother of four, in an article in Education Week, wonders what happened to recess.

All over the country, schools are making recess a gentler activity. At the Oakdale School in Montville, CT, games like kickball and soccer have been cut because of what that district calls "body banging." At Willett Elementary School in Attleboro, MA, all unsupervised "chasing games" are out.

Schippers claims that parents and educators see this trend as political correctness and pleads for unstructured time for kids, whose days are so heavily organized. Parents believe that restrictions like banning tag, will increase childhood obesity.

In "Say Yes to Recess," the point is made that recess is freedom to decide what activities are fun, not the ones the gym teacher selects, and for kids to decide with whom they like  to play.

The precious thirty minutes of play in a seven hour, mostly academic day is little enough time to allow kids who spend many hours these days in test preparation.

Schippers claims that recess was her favorite time of the day. Was it yours?