Playing with Sticks

[llpa]

My DCK's are NOT allowed to play with sticks. EVER.

... I feel like the dck can explore sticks at home. There are other natural items we explore all the time. I do have logs for them to carry, roll, stack etc that are short and about twice the diameter of a paper towel roll. Those are in the outside play yard.

[Josiegirl]

Years and years ago a boy at our local school(grades 4-6) lost an eye due to a pencil being thrown in class.
I'm so on the fence with this type of question. I've seen kids allowed to run with lipops in their mouth My dcks build pretend campfires and keep it pretty calm. It's wonderful to watch them all play together like that; it's teaching them many things such as teamwork, being careful, etc. If they start getting forgetful of safety rules, the sticks go away.
We have a large sandbox. What about playing with sand and kids throwing it? That's dangerous. I allow sandbox play and they only get one chance. If they throw sand they're out. With all those products of nature to play with, I allow most of it, just monitor, supervise and follow through with the rules very carefully and consistently. I mean, when ya think about it....look around your playroom and tell me you don't have items in there that could do damage.

[Jack Sprat]

We're allowed I also consider them loose parts, and there are guidelines, as with everything else.

No throwing them.
No throwing them anywhere, not even straight up in the air.
No throwing them at the tree.
No throwing them in the air even if you didn't mean to hit the tree.
No using them to whack bugs off the tree.
No weapons
No fighting
No poking people.
No swinging. Even if it's a sword, because it's not a sword? Remember, no weapons. yes, swords are weapons. Yes, even if it's pretend.
I tend to wrap all those up into "Play softly and gently with the sticks" which works. Except for one particular child who needs to find ALL the limits and test them, haha. The "detailed" rules up there are all things I've said to him at one time or another.

Sometimes I decide one is too sharp/long/heavy/etc and take it away, but we mostly get the smallish ones. And I have some pieces of tree branch lying around for "campfires" and things of that nature. It's cute, really.

We find them and collect them on walks. We use them to build lots of things. This and rocks!

[Jack Sprat]

Years and years ago a boy at our local school(grades 4-6) lost an eye due to a pencil being thrown in class.
I'm so on the fence with this type of question. I've seen kids allowed to run with lipops in their mouth My dcks build pretend campfires and keep it pretty calm. It's wonderful to watch them all play together like that; it's teaching them many things such as teamwork, being careful, etc. If they start getting forgetful of safety rules, the sticks go away.
We have a large sandbox. What about playing with sand and kids throwing it? That's dangerous. I allow sandbox play and they only get one chance. If they throw sand they're out. With all those products of nature to play with, I allow most of it, just monitor, supervise and follow through with the rules very carefully and consistently. I mean, when ya think about it....look around your playroom and tell me you don't have items in there that could do damage.

[DuchessRavenwaves]

I hate that we are forced to sissiefy our kids. Heaven forbid they scrape a knee.

YES, so much this! One of my families has damn wiener kids because they get coddled.

I have LOTS of big sticks in my yard. My dcks love to use these sticks as weapons to slay the dragon/monster/whatever (a tree or bush), draw lines in the dirt, etc. They cannot remember not to swing them around, and they're not self-aware enough to watch out for each other or the one tiny dck I have. I hate to quash good play, but these kids will put someone's eye out eventually. No sticks. :/

...Stores should be putting out the summer stuff soon. Maybe I will buy some pool noodles and cut them down, and they can slay dragons with those. Somebody still might catch a stray noodle to the head, but at least it won't knock any eyeballs out!