As the new academic year approaches, I check off the back-to-school tasks—label folders, disinfect lunch box, buy overpriced required school shoes t

Why don’t schools have recess? How one group of parents tried, and failed, to make a change.

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2024-09-08 16:30:03

As the new academic year approaches, I check off the back-to-school tasks—label folders, disinfect lunch box, buy overpriced required school shoes that will result in blisters and whines—and I also check to see which states, if any, have adopted new laws to require recess. I’m happy to report that California and Washington are joining nine other states that require daily recess this year. This is a change I tried to make in my town years ago—and failed.

Our group, Alabama Families for Recess, began one evening in September 2017 on a front porch during a party. At this time, I had a kindergartner in public school and was shocked by the lack of recess. The result was a pent-up child so tired from being on-task all day that the night ended with a tantrum or, worse, quiet crying in the tub. She simply hadn’t had enough of a break in her seven-hour day, and my efforts to take her to a playground first thing after pickup couldn’t counteract that.

The other parents shared similar stories: exhaustion, irritability, kids getting in trouble at school for rambunctious behavior, and worst of all—curiosity being replaced by apathy. So, wine in hand, we resolved to talk to the principal. It seemed like such a practical, free, improvement. “Who would oppose recess?” I thought. But in advocating for free time during a child’s school day, we had no idea the cultural quagmire we were stepping into.