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twister: I like the clear backpack idea. I've seen mesh backpacks that might work too. It's not THE answer to the problem, but it is something that would help. It might also cut down on other issues as well. So, why not?

CrustyOldFart: I was the victim and the victimizer at different stages of my life. I don't blame those who victimized me and I don't feel at all guilty for having inflicted swirlies on others either. It's just a game that was played. I'm sure some sensitive souls took it too seriously and feel like they were bullied, but that's just blowing things up out of proportion. It's important in life to put thing in their proper perspective and not make a big deal over a small thing.

dzrtdwg: Pranks kids play should not be misconstrued as serious issues. Of course if someone actually gets hurt as a result of horseplay that's a different thing altogether.

I received a number of swirlies at the hands of my older brothers and cousins when I was a child. Later on I helped give a few. It's one of those things that kids do. All the swirlies I was involved in happened at the homes of relatives or friends except one at a church and another at a public restroom in a park. Schools need to take this kind of thing serious, but not too serious unless someone gets hurt.

I survived my childhood without receiving a swirlie and I never gave one to anyone either. I heard stories about swirlies and mostly people thought of it as a slightly cruel joke and no one thought that it was anything serious. Just horseplay and not much more, but now it seems things get blown out of proportion quite easily.

New movement puts more risk into kids playtime
Sounds great until a kid gets a serious injury and the parents file a lawsuit!

drdesert: Exactly. BTW, I like the fact that you list your location as inhospitable desert playground.

RISKY PLAYGROUNDS? Schools get sued all the time over injuries that occur on their playgrounds. Most schools have eliminated most of the fun equipment that we enjoyed as children and replaced it with equipment that meets higher safety standards. Lots of companies made a lot of money as a result. Not that there was a push from the playground equipment industry to encourage lawsuits, but they probably were involved in developing laws and policy which mandated that schools purchase their equipment. No conspiracy, just good ole American entrepreneurialship in action!

Parents juggle pros and cons of kids' technology use
Kids can be total brats when they don't get their daily fix of video games and/or social media. At least that's true to the ones who are allowed to become addicted to that kind of thing.

Texas teacher suspended for sexual orientation talk with students
It's definitely inappropriate to talk about this kind of stuff with elementary kids. The teacher should have known better. There's a time and a place for everything and she made a big error in judgement.