I can hardly believe this.

I just got a voice mail from my child's school's vice principal (I have a home phone, but for some reason he felt the need to call me on my cell, which does not always get reception in my house). He called to inform me that my child had been in the office, speaking to both the principal and vice principal about his inappropriate behavior on the playground at recess.

The vp went on to say that my child was in trouble for slapping other students (ok, that's bad). Then the vp adds, "Or as he calls it, playing tag."

OMG.

My child did not just get sent to the office to be scolded and psychoanalyzed by two different administrators for PLAYING TAG.

The note that was sent home calls his crime "physical contact/inappropriate behavior". Apparently the school is a "no tag zone". When I was in first grade I chased a boy, knocked him down, and kissed him. Wonder if that would be considered "physical contact/sexual assault"?

The vp implored me to talk to my child and support the school in this matter.

I support the school in that whatever the rules are, my child must obey them. But I'm not going to punish my child for playing tag. It's what kids do. They chase each other around and play tag. It's not slapping. It's a game played by children around the world. It has dozens of variations and goes by dozens of different names.

It's La Anda in Costa Rica, Fangen in Germany, Kucing-Kucingan in Indonesia, Hippa in Finland, Berek in Poland, and Pega Pega in Brazil. You can play it in the dark and call it Kabuki. You can wear a blindfold and call it Marco Polo. You can join hands and call it Blob Tag. You can stand still and call it Freeze Tag.

Tag is as fundamental as children's games get. It's at the core of almost every active game a child could possibly play.

So, I did indeed talk to my son, and he knew he was not allowed to play tag. He saw some other children playing it in front of a teacher without the teacher intervening so he and some other children decided tag was back on the menu. He tagged another child in the course of the game, and he (and he alone) was sent to the office.

I am surprised that they've made this big a deal out of a game of tag.

I'm all for safety, but I think this is more than just a little bit silly. I'm not going to ground my child or make him write an essay for playing tag with a bunch of other kids and have the misfortune of being the one singled out for it. I'm not one of those moms who believes my child never does anything wrong. I live with him; I know better. I do think he's getting crapped on in this situation, though.

I reminded him that the rules always apply to him no matter what, and that was that.

It's frickin' tag. It's not inappropriate behavior.