Kids are inclined to roughhouse. And they should be encouraged to do so.
It’s good for them.
It’s a healthy way to build relationships, release pent-up aggression, and lower stress levels. It’s good exercise and teaches limits and resiliency.
According to research, it’s also good for the brain.
Roughhousing releases brain-derived neuroptrophic factor (BDNF), which improves cognition and alleviates anxiety and depression. Kids who roughhouse do better in school and are more readily able to build friendships.
This is why students, particularly boys, are drawn to it. It’s natural and shouldn’t be discouraged outside of school. In school, however, it should be against the rules.
Here’s why:
1. It might be bullying.
What can look like innocent playfighting on the outside may actually be one student bullying another. In many cases, it can be difficult to determine the difference.
2. It might be a fight.
Again, and especially from a distance, it can be hard to judge what’s all in good fun and what is a real fight, which can escalate into an even more dangerous situation.
3. It can cause injury.
It’s not roughhousing necessarily that causes injury. It’s the accidental falls. Getting pushed off playground equipment. Tripping on cement. Tumbling into other students.
This is why few campuses allow it.
However, because roughhousing is so natural for kids, it’s a problem at almost every school. Hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear from a teacher complaining about it.
The Solution
The solution is twofold.
First, it must be enforced. Students need to know exactly what it is and why it isn’t allowed and then promised an immediate consequence if it happens.
In the classroom, I recommend simply following your classroom management plan the moment one student puts their hands on another. This way it can’t escalates to full-fledged playfighting or something more.
On the playground, again, there must be a plan.
Here at SCM, we recommend The Smart Principal’s Recess Behavior Plan. The key is to have a school-wide set of rules that include roughhousing—and which should result in a higher level of consequence.
Second, and most important, BDNF is also released through exercise. The truth is, very few students get enough of it. It’s critical to their social, emotional, and academic development.
You must give your students opportunities to exercise throughout the school day. It can be a run around the field first thing in the morning. It can be movement breaks throughout the day. It can be soccer or street hockey leagues during recess, lunch, or after school.
All are beneficial. The more exercise, the better behaved and focused your students will be.
I also recommend after-school wrestling or jiu-jitsu clubs. They have so many wonderful benefits that can be life-changing for many students, especially those who aren’t getting enough roughhousing at home.
Because of safety and bullying concerns, you have no choice but to outlaw free-play roughhousing and playfighting from your school and classroom. But doing so also leaves a void that must be filled with exercise.
Otherwise, there will be fights. There will be bullying. There will be injuries, rowdiness, and trouble on the playground and in the hallways.
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Respectfully, we know that roughhousing is not okay in classrooms. However, students continue to have the urge to do so regardless of the consequences. Please provide us with actionable steps for classroom management.
Teachers can not provide before or after-school activities and are limited in their ability to provide during school exercise unless it is curriculum based.
It’s very hard to stop roughhousing during the breaks if no other teacher says anything to the kids.
My approach, depending on the intensity of the contact is to say repeatedly – no touching each other. They usually stop. I also try to explain calmly why this is dangerous. But basically I am the sole teacher in the entire school who says anything to the kids. As a result, when rough housing kids see me coming they laugh and yell – no touching. But then they generally stop touching, so I guess something is accomplished …
I am wondering if you have any articles about what to do when a the principal and assistant principal – don’t give consequences. They ask that us teachers Build relationships with students and we do. The problem is our admin. builds relationships too and then there is no one to be the disciplinarian. Students laugh and joke when we tell them they will be sent to admin. They even say which one they want to go to because that one is nicer.
Help! Anything I can read…..
If I were you, I would take the matter into my own hands. Humans are naturally selfish and greedy. Same applies with children. I’m sure that you offer value for the children in some way. I would withhold that value until they give you what you want: no horseplay/roughhousing. It’s all trial and error day by day. I work with 5th graders so I usually withhold P.E. time every time they break any of my rules. For example P.E. is 45 minutes, every single time someone (it can be any student in my class) breaks a rule I take away minutes from their P.E time. This allows the students to hold each other accountable. Now, I barely have to discipline them. They discipline each other! Hope this works.
I’m a sped teacher at an alternative school. I have the middle school group, all boys if you could imagine. 😉 Anyways, boys love it horse around. Climb on each others backs, bump shoulders and it’s healthy and fun. But it’s a absolute no in my classroom. What is fun and playful will escalate in a flash. I am constantly reinforcing this rule. Boys can be boys, but after school. Full Disclosure – this expectation is one of my hardest to keep in check.
How can I start writing skill classes for primary department?
What should be the process/syllabus of its execution?
What do you think about students pretending to have a gun or a weapon of may kind and play like they are shooting it? At another person or just the sky? I am not for it at all ams I write kids up for it. At my school, the first offense is a serious conversation involving the counselors. The second offense is dealt with ASD loss of recess, lunch recess. Would you post an article about this?
Yes, it could be one or all three of the behaviors named. I am not one to say the solutions given are the answer either. I am glad I had an opportunity to read this article. I just can not appreciate the sport “Wrestling -Boxing”, That is just me, I am sure.