Boy, am I glad I’m no longer a kid.

As an adult and parent of two boys, it’s sad to think that some adults out there are so worried about little Johnny or Janie getting hurt that they prohibit the games and activities I knew and loved: tag, flag football and the like.

Places such as Boston, Spokane, Wash., and Cheyenne, Wyo., have decided not to allow unsupervised chase games because they fear if kids get hurt, the schools would be sued, according to The Associated Press.

My first reaction was, “What in the world are we coming to?”

Then I found out Tucson Unified School District has a similar policy.

Why?

“Because of the potential for injury,” said spokeswoman Chyrl Hill-Lander.

When told that back in my day – and likely hers – this never would have been the case, she replied, “It’s unfortunate.”

Indeed.

I take it Sears no longer sells those Tough Skin jeans of my day, where you had to be run over by a semi to get a rip in them. I’m sure my parents bought them in part because they got tired of buying new jeans after rips became the norm at school or after it.

I guess today’s scientists would make a killing marketing bubble-wrap jeans for the current and next generation of kids.

Here’s the slogan: “The kids make a popping sound when they fall, but at least they’re safe.”

Face it, if you have kids, injuries happen. Sometimes they are unavoidable.

We’re already at a politically correct fever pitch, living in a “watch-what-we-say-as-to-not-offend-someone world.”

Now this?

“It’s crazy,” said noted Tucson psychologist Kevin Leman. “We’ve all been held hostage to the crazy notion that you sue everybody. We’ve taken monkey bars off the playgrounds of America because of it.”

It wasn’t long ago that some schools banned physical education and then a few years later wondered why we had overweight kids in the schoolrooms.

You don’t think there’s a direct correlation? Even to a small degree?

But we’re more concerned about being sued than letting things be. And specifically, letting children play children’s games.

Next, we’ll see stories with headlines that read: Johnny is bored at recess, with a subhead that reads: Authorities now say no recess at all because kids get nothing from it.

How can they? They’re not allowed. It’s a sit-there-and-don’t-misbehave mentality.

Part of growing up is dealing with an everyday life of accidents and missteps. And that’s at school, in school athletics or otherwise.

Where’s the sense of competition? And some of that comes from competition in school – and not just with GPAs.

In recent years, kids on teams – mostly recreational – have been given trophies whether they deserve them or not, so they wouldn’t feel left out compared with those who were trophy-worthy. Funny thing, though, it’s their parents who are paying for the trophies anyway.

Competition has “gone away,” Leman said. “Everybody wins. Everybody gets the trophy. I think it weakens America, it weakens our children, and it weakens the spirit of competition.

“It’s really important that kids learn to fail because if you talk to anyone who is successful, they’ve got failure in their life.”

Loved the line from a parent in the AP story, “I think that it’s unfortunate that kids’ lives are being micromanaged and there are social skills they’ll never develop on their own.”

Exactly.

But not to worry, the same parents and powers that be will eventually change or come up with something else to dull down the lives of kids.

It’s what they do, thinking they are doing it for the sake of the children – all the while doing it so they won’t be held liable.

It’s sad – but it is the world we live in.

Steve Rivera is a sportswriter at the Tucson Citizen.

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