Running around, making noise and generally getting their energy out are all essential parts of a child's day - but one school doesn't want any part of it. An elementary school has been slammed for banning children - between the ages of four and 11 - from running around on the playground during break.
While they failed to provide a detailed reason as to why, it is assumed they wanted to prevent accidents from occurring. Outraged by the "ridiculous" rules, one former student said: "In elementary, [my school] banned running entirely - no running on the playground either. They also banned all ball sports, and would take your ball if you took it in from home, and they would put it in the gym cupboard to be used during PE class.
"Keep in mind that these are 4 to 11-year-olds, so everyone ignored the rules and so many were in detention."
He went on to explain how the school confiscated a child's signed football and locked it away inside a cupboard, refusing to give it back to the boy.
"It turned out that one of the kids in the year below me had bought in a signed soccer ball, by a really famous player, and the school took it and kept it," he added on Reddit.
"We found out because there was a very angry mother screaming at the secretary that they effectively stole something that could be worth upwards of $1,000.
"They obviously gave back the ball, and stopped stealing them after that. Who would have thought that stealing from little kids was a bad idea?"
While most users expressed their outrage over the school's rules, others shared how their schools went power-mad when setting out restrictions.
One user said: "They probably thought 'It's like stealing candy from a baby'."
Another user added: "I hate when teachers steal from kids. When I went to reception age four, my tiny little autistic self was very attached to a comfort blanket and my teacher said I was too old for that and stole the blanket.
"I refused to admit it to my parents or give it back. I screamed and didn't sleep for three nights in a row. My parents had to go out and buy me another one. I get they didn't want me to bring it to school but they cant steal from four-year-olds."
A third user said: "So, basically, your elementary school made rules literally defeat the whole point of the playground."
One more user added: "In my freshman year of high school we had a terrible vandalism problem, the bathrooms would be broken in various ways almost constantly.
"In a stroke of pure genius, the staff decided that any bathroom that was vandalized would be closed for the week on first offense, the quarter for second, and permanently on the third offense. They took back the rule after closing every bathroom on day one."
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