Should schools dictate the rules

Today my reception year son has gone to school with a spare clothes and a towel ready for a water fight. Although he’s very excited he is confused about why he isn’t allowed a water-gun – you see it’s in the name isn’t it “gun.” I guess I can see where the school are coming from on this one as would I be happy to feel that the school were promoting guns to reception age (4-5 years) children – most definitely not. Why we tend to see water-guns as something different I don’t know. Maybe it’s because it was my compromise as to what I found acceptable for me to have at home, as my boys used to use their imaginations (lollipop stick guns) or always begged for toy guns at fairs.  Some may feel even that is over the top and that toys are toys – and actually we just need to teach our children the difference.

Anyway, I digress, what this got me to thinking about is how many rules do we actually need for children? There’s a free club set up in the holidays by a charity and the lady told me that they wanted to have the children for the day, but that there’s so much red tape involved in giving the children lunch that it just wasn’t feasible. Do children need this much protection? Can parents not make decisions anymore? Or are there too many vulnerable children because parents aren’t making the “right” choices?

And how much should schools be able to decide? With when you can go on holiday; what you can eat (the packed lunch debate); whether you are allowed to take photographs and when; if they can use social media – are just some of the things that I have come across. What next – will schools be able to dictate what time our children go to bed?

What do you think? Do we need all these rules? Should schools be able to decide so much?