The right — and surprisingly wrong — ways to get kids to sit still in class

When it came time for me to make suggestions to the school about how they could best meet this little boy’s needs, my answer was simple: “He needs more time to play and move his body. Fifteen minutes of recess is not enough. I recommend an hour-long recess session everyday.”

Most of these teachers had already read my article about why kids fidget and agree with this philosophy. It didn’t matter. When they heard my response, they started laughing – all of them. I think my face went bright red. “That is never going to happen,” said one of the teachers. “Yes,” agreed another teacher. “Unfortunately, our hands our tied.” The principal just sat there and said nothing at all. That’s it? I thought to myself. They know that children NEED this, but they aren’t going to do anything about it?

After the meeting, the teachers came up to me and apologized for laughing. They said: “We agree with you. We would love to allow for longer recess sessions, but there is nothing we can do. We simply don’t have the time.”

via The Washington Post.