I was just born when slap bracelets were all the rage, however when I was in 4th and 5th grade they came back for a little bit, before teachers realized what they were again and they got banned. It was such a fun thing to trade bracelets with you friends, match them to your outfits and just play with them during class. I never really saw the harm in them. Until now.
OoOoOh! So many possibilities.
What I didn't know, nor experience, was children slapping them SO hard on their wrists or their friends wrists to the point where they needed stitches. I just read this article that was published in the New York Times on October 11, 1990 titled "Principal Puts a Halt To Slap-Bracelet Fad". The article talks about the West Orchard Elementary School in Chappaqua, N.Y. where officials said a pupil who had removed the cloth covering required three stitches in her hand after she was cut with an exposed bracelet edge. Ouch! Why would anyone do that to themselves?
Well it may have not been on purpose. The article does into depth about how "the metal is inferior, low-grade caliber steel with poor-quality fabric. The sealing is also inferior. The steel can either break through or snap through and cause injury.''
Looking at it now I can definitely see why schools would ban them and some retailers would take them off the shelves. Children are very curious and even if you teach them and tell them the proper way to use things they will most likely test things out for themselves eventually. It's how we learn.
This made me think about how I would approach the situation had I been I teacher back then. What would it take for me to go to the Principal with the issue? Would it be something that I could change for everyone? Am I strong enough to take the blame for all the children's things to be taken away from them?
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