I suppose it's because of that awful chaffing of the sack cloth against the children's knees. Sack cloth injuries may not be life threatening but they are detrimental to the children's quality of life. After all, we all know what it's like to try and sit cross legged in a packed assembly hall with a scab on the knee. The first few times, the scab will crack and hurt like hell and that pain is the only thing you can concentrate on.



After a few days of this, it will start to heal in the bent position and then you will be compelled to pick it. Next thing you know, you are so engrossed in this activity that everyone else has stood up for singing except you and you are the only child stood at the front of the hall and made a spectacle of for not listening. Still, all you can hear is the call of the scab.

For the scabbed knee reason alone, it is easy to see why health and safety chiefs want the activity banned. Add to that the danger of the new type of hard grass we now have and there is no telling where it will all end. Special grass is bred for schools and high traffic areas that may resemble normal grass but is pointy, and slicey and downright dangerous. For anyone who has ever fallen on grass and experienced a grass blade up the nostril, they will appreciate the need to ban sack races.

Another of those really dicey school events is biology lessons. For those who just don't give a fig for health and safety rules, any manner of messy events could occur in a biology room. There is nothing to be gained from learning from mistakes anymore. Any mistake that occurs will see health and safety officials clamping down and stopping the activity before someone gets seriously hurt. Yay, the health and safety officials!

One primary school intended to show their children the miracle of life by hatching out chicks from eggs and watching their development. However, those brilliant people that decide on health and safety issues could spot the potential danger a mile away and are insisting that biological, electrical, child and teacher risk assessments should be carried out before the lessons went ahead. They also could see the possible risk of infection should the children be touching the eggs.

Aren't we lucky we have these people to watch out for our welfare? Where would we be without them? Where would our children end up? Would we really want well-adjusted children that understand painful things hurt, dirty things need cleaning and that life, in general, is messy and risky and fun? Heaven forbid!

What we really need to do is bring our offspring into line with the healthy and safety rulings that will see them have a long, dull, risk free life by wrapping them in cotton wool, exposing them to nothing more than soft food taken from rounded spoons that have had the edges smoothed off and play them sweet, delicate music to protect their ear drums. Do not allow them to see anything slightly antagonistic for fear they will grow up as criminals - and yes, that means no Tom and Jerry cartoons. We have a duty to protect the next generation!