I suppose the Perry Hall football team no longer has plays run out of the 'shotgun' formation, nor should the QB be throwing any long 'bombs' for touchdowns. No more penalty 'shots' in soccer. No 'shot' put for the track team. I suppose it is a good thing that Perry Hall does not have a rifle team...

Do you think the kids wonder why the adults are being so silly?

In my opinion this brings attention to an otherwise harmless situation. Words been different things in different context. Geesh.

Yes, let's ban tons of words just in case we offend someone or cause upset. Let's start with all the words and connotations suggested in Evets post above, but don't stop there! No longer will nosegays be referred to as such; part of that word is too touchy. Don't say "raise the roof" because that could be an allusion to a bomb blowing the roof off of a building. Instead of saying, "shoot, I can't believe I forgot my homework", let's say "tiddlywinks" instead. Instead of, "that movie was the bomb", we'll say, "Golly gee, that movie sure was swell" and then go home to watch "Leave it to Beaver" reruns. Good grief.

That it amazing. I wish you mentioned what school you were at. I may need to move. Rock, Paper, Scissors is evil?

Ridiculous, Stacey. Just ridiculous.

Maybe I'll train E to say "Go" instead of "Shoot" lol

Kids need to be kids and that includes all the safe games that come with being kids. Kids grow up to fast as it is, please don't take their harmless fun away just because of one word

This is the same line of thinking that has led to such nonsense such as not having a Halloween parade, due to safety issues. What safety issues? The only thing I can think of is mass confusion if there was a sudden zombie apocalypse, I mean how could you tell who was a zombie and who was just in costume.

Does anybody remember Saturday morning cartoons back in the 70's? Go watch and listen to the language. I watched it and never acted on things they said or did because I HAD A GOOD MOM that taught me right from wrong.

Seems like school administrators want to put restrictions on free speech.

This is nuts. You can ban words and all types of activities, but that doesn't mean that you child will be any less likely to be assaulted or shot. When will leadership and legislators realize that you cannot protect everyone all the time. When I went to school, we were still allowed to play tackle football at recess and weren't allowed to talk disrespectfully towards teachers. If anyone cursed at a teacher it was an automatic suspension.

Look what goes on in schools now. Dodgeball is banned, recess is relegated to sitting in a corner so no on gets hurt and the students treat the teachers like 3rd class citizen instead of like role models and authority figures.

Yeah, let's stay on the same course we're on. It seems to be working really well.

I know this did this in the city which I thought was ridiculous, but here? They draw more attention to an innocent kids game when the kids thought nothing of it. As for those in this house, it will always be 'rock, paper, scissors, shoot'!! And I, my brother, and my father were all held up at gunpoint (with the gun being held to our head) throughout the years and we take no offense to this childhood game!!!

Shoot...this is the most rediculous thing I have ever heard!!!! What's next "eenie, meenie, minie, moe"...I'm sure some idiot can find something offensive about that!!! Get a clue folks!!!!

When my daughter learned to play this game at school, she kept saying "shoe." I asked, don't you mean "shoot?" She said, "No, Mom, it's shoe." Now I understand why.

More absurdity from our public schools. I can only laugh, and keep de-programming my kids of some the utter nonsense that they are taught. I find it hard to believe that someone actually came up with this rule and did not realize how irrational it really is.

How did us older folks ever manage to grow up normally when we played all these horrible games. But it's okay to let the youngsters of today park their butts in front of a TV and play video games for hours where they shoot, stab, run over with a car and many other forms of killing people. Just a thought.

Really!!!! Have we become this paranoid and delusional!! This is ridiculous!!!

I guess all of these phrases and activities will also be banned: shoot photographs or video, shoot hoops or baskets, shoot pool, shoot a round of golf, shoot rapids (kayaking), shoot the breeze, shoot for the sky, shoot from the hip. Which words are next?

So glad my child is grown and out of the school system. I have a feeling I would be spending a lot of time in the principal's office discussing the stupidity of topics like this.

I just want to say, that I hope there are no negative repercussions. I also have to say that I have met the principal on multiple occasions in our short tenure at the school, I haven't had any issues or concerns, in fact, as I was in the room during the conversation, I was very impressed with how she explained the new rule to the class. I have no real complaints with the school. As this is our first year in the public school system, I have been more than impressed with the teachers, curriculum, even the cafeteria lunches. My son is absolutely loving school, and I couldn't be more thrilled, learning should be fun. I think that is why I was so taken aback by this new rule. Clearly I don't know the full context as to why the school doesn't want the game played. But, kids are kids, these games have been around long since before I was in elementary school, and it just seems like overkill. Society is shell-shoked by what happened at PHHS, I get that, but it seemed like there are bigger things to be concerned about. BTW, they now play Mercy constantly, and Rock-Paper-Scissors-GO has replaced the offending game terminology, so the kids are unphased by the restriction.

I'm surprised they haven't made Gunpowder Elementary change its name. I mean how could anyone send their child to a place with such a violent name! Oh the humanity! This is political correctness gone too far.

Are kids still allowed to play "Chutes and Ladders"?

Ok! Everyone, listen up! The writer of this article hasn't the slightest idea of how wrong she is about the rules in her own son's school. Its NOT because the players say shoot, and it IS in fact because the winner bashes the looser's hand! The EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT SHE SAID! In her "righteous indignation" and over abundance of free time, she seems to have essentially fabricated a story about saying "shoot" at the end of "rock, paper, scissors", and how that's somehow forbidden. She needs to take two seconds to understand that this is NOT the case. And secondly, SHUT UP ABOUT THIS SMALL, INCONSEQUENTIAL, MINOR THING AND GET LIVES OF YOUR OWN YOU WHINNY INSUFFERABLE BLEATING SHEEP!!

UPDATE (3:48 p.m.)—Gunpowder Elementary responded to the column. Find the full article here, Gunpowder Elementary: 'We Didn't Take Away Rock-Paper-Scissors' - http://patch.com/A-y3Dk

I'm sorry. I just don't enjoy watching people get into this pitchfork and torch mentality about a thing that doesn't even exist. The amount of stress this must have put on the administration would be ludicrous. Especially considering the fact that they are already RUNNING AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!

I would be happy if they just did their job...you know teach my kids math, science, reading etc...I got the rest of it

Actually Stacy, as I understand it, they have taken away Mercy.

Stacy,
You are entitled to your opinion, sure, but there is a difference between having an opinion and being utterly wrong about a situation. My opinion is that the sky is more of an aqua-marine and not blue. Does that mean I am accurate in my interpretation? The answer is no. And in this case, you are wrong.

time to disengage

Tim, you seem like you're on the same ridiculous level as Michael up there. Maybe we all need to relax. The school has already responded and the whole issue is pretty clearly resolved. Micheal, you're clearly pretty whinny yourself, and could take a lesson from your own words. Tim, were you there? Have you spoken to the administration? Micheal, please don't respond to this, its getting out of hand.

Anybody care that kids are sitting in their classes absolutely bored to tears as they are trained for the next test? Sad...

I find this article completely ridiculous. Not what the teacher did, but the response of this parent. The kindergarten teacher simply wants his/her room to be as safe as possible. This is one of the ways the teacher is doing this. School is meant to be a place where children can go to feel safe. This teacher is doing exactly that by reducing any harm in the classroom. Considering everything that has happened with Perry Hall High, you would think of all people a PARENT would understand the teachers defense. If this is seriously your biggest concern with the school (which I am assuming it is since you wrote a big article about it), then you are pretty lucky.

Sincerely yours,
Someone who is disappointed in parents in the school system