Ruckus Raising is Essential for Good Health

When I was in elementary school, back before electricity, we didn't have to sit quietly and eat our lunch. We had no cafeteria monitors glaring at us if we had a negotiation with our table over a bag of cookies someone brought. I don't remember any food fights happening; most of us kids were starving by lunch and would have bit any hand that attempted to grab our sammich or apple. I got to sit with my friends, whoever they were on that particular day. When I was finished eating, I got to rush joyfully outside to the playground and raise a ruckus, which at that time meant that I ran, jumped, hollered, laughed, and had an all-around good time.

These days, however, kids are escorted into the cafetORIUM, marched through the cafeteria line, and then seated at assigned tables and expected to eat quietly without raising a ruckus. There are adults who monitor the tables to make sure that there's no ruckus raising. Anyone who starts to raise a ruckus is escorted out of the cafetORIUM(can you tell I hate that word?) and sent to the office for the standard beration and consequence. I've been in these places during lunch. It is a sadly unappetizing place. It should be outlawed on elementary campuses(but strictly enforced on middle school campuses, because those teenagers talk to darn much about nothing as it is).

What adults seem to have forgotten is that kids need to raise a ruckus at least once a day for optimal health. Most of them can raise a ruckus when they are at recess, unless their recess is as severely curtailed as their lunch. But a ruckus, even a small one such as a whoop of joy, must occur at some point during the day. If a kid doesn't get to raise any ruckus, their brains are stifled and they will not learn. It has been proven scientifically that running, jumping and other aspects of ruckus raising result in higher scores on standardized measures. Some schools have even purchased treadmills or other exercise equipment specifically for this purpose, but I could tell these places not to waste their money. All that is needed for proper ruckus rasing is wide open space in which to run, jump, and holler. Or a grassy hill to roll down while hollering. Or climbing to the top of the monkey bars while hollering. You get the idea. Hollering out your joy is at the heart of all ruckus raising.

I try to let Zane raise as many ruckuses as he can. I let him just run around the kitchen hollering at the top of his lungs for a minute or two before dinner. I let him run around the backyard, and some times I will chase him with the hose. He likes that, and I enjoy it as well. I guess that inside, I am still a kid who likes to raise a ruckus.